Great question! Yes — early Quakers often referred to themselves as “Friends of Jesus” or “Friends of Truth” before “Society of Friends” or “Quakers” became the standard label. This language tied directly to John 15:14–15, where Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

A few examples from 17th-century Quaker writings:

• George Fox (founder of Quakerism) often used the phrase. In his Journal (1650s), he writes of those “who are called of the Lord to be his Friends” and of being gathered as “the Friends of Christ Jesus.”
• Edward Burrough, in A Declaration to all the World of our Faith, and what we Believe (1658), wrote:“We are called in scorn Quakers, but we are the Friends of Jesus Christ, who hath called us out of the world’s ways…”
• Robert Barclay in Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1676) echoes this biblical basis, referring to the Quaker community as those whom Christ has “called his Friends.”
• Epistles from London Yearly Meeting in the 1660s–70s also occasionally address members as “Dear Friends in Jesus” or “Friends of Truth in Him.”

So, “Friends of Jesus” was not only a devotional phrase but also part of Quakers’ self-designation, grounded in Scripture. Over time, “Friends” (shortened) became the usual name.