“And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons: Simon whom he surnamed Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-anerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.[1]
When the Apostles began to follow Jesus, He renamed them because He had a special purpose for them in their missionary lives.
“Jesus did not greet the Apostles, “Simon” or “John.” Rather, he referred to them by their Hebrew or Aramaic names, as follows: Simon was Shimon. James was Yakov (that is, Jacob). John was Yochanan. Bartholomew was Bar-Talmai (son of Ptolemy). Matthew was Mattityahu, meaning, “gift from God.” Thomas was Tau’ma, an Aramaic name. Thaddaeus was a variant of Theudas, which was a Grecian version of Judas or Yehuda. Andrew and Philip are of Greek derivation, their names are Andreas and Filippos; there are no Hebrew equivalents. Thus, we may surmise that Andrew and Philip were either Grecian-Jews or Grecian-Gentiles. In all probability, we may discount the theory that they were Gentiles: Jesus was a Jew who saw his mission as teaching and healing his fellow Jews. “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”[2] It would be hard to imagine preaching to Jews while having Gentile Apostles. “Judas Iscariot was Yehuda.”[3]
[1] Mark 3:14-19.
[2] Matthew 15:24.
[3] http://www.jesusandtheprofessor.com/2011/03/hebrew-names-for-jewish-apostles.html#tp