Documents discovered in the 20th century in the Cave of Letters give his original name, with variations: Simeon bar Kosevah (), Bar Koseva () or Ben Koseva () [REF].
The Jewish sage Rabbi Akiva indulged the possibility that Simon could be the Jewish messiah, and gave him the surname "Bar Kokhba" meaning "Son of the Star" in Aramaic, from the Star Prophecy verse from Numbers : "There shall come a star out of Jacob" [REF].