The name of Jerusalem (Yerushalayim) was first referred to in the Egyptian Execration Texts of the 19th-18th centuries BCE as urushalim. In the 14th century BCE it was mentioned in the El-Amarna letters. The Assyrian account of Sennacherib's military expedition to Judah refers to urusalimmu. It also appears on a Hebrew inscription found in a cave in the Lachish area and on stamped jar-handles. The name Jerusalem is thrice mentioned in the Biblical sources: Jeremiah 26:18, Chronicles 32:9 and Esther 2:6.

The Hebrew suffix im in Yerushalayim is a commom suffix in place-names in Israel and expresses duality. The element Shalem is the name of a Canaanite deity mentioned in texts from Ugarit. Shalem (possibly sunset) is a twin of Shahar (dawn; Yeru means to establish and includes a theophoric element. Thus, Yerushalayim should be interpreted: 'the city established by the god Shalem'.

Prior to King David's taking of the city, Jerusalem was known as Jebus, the city of the Jebusites. After victory he renamed it 'the City of David'. In the Babylonian Chronicle accounting the capture of the city by Nebuchadnezar, it is referred to as al iahudu, i.e., the City of Judah.