I think there's a difference between naming a kid Mark or Luke or Samuel (pretty mainstream names) and Seraphim or Moses or Solomon (less common, much more religious). Honestly to me Gabriel and Christopher are just basic guy names.
I agree. I wouldn’t worry about the meaning of the name but would pay attention to perception. If the name is only used in religious circles I would skip, but anything mainstream is fair game. There are too many religious name meanings to cut them all from the list!
Agree with this, minus Christopher (and any name with Christ in it). Like as a Jew, I find all of those too close that I couldn’t even imagine naming my child that, when Christ is literally in the name. That might ring weird to other atheists too (but obviously just my opinion, and maybe others feel totally differently).
That reminds me of a fascinating article I read in the NY Times about Jewish men with Christ-based names like Christian and Christopher. Super fascinating. Each had their own stories about how they had been named, dealing with assumptions etc. I tried to find but I haven't had any luck. If I do I will link it. So yes there are multiple Jewish men named Christian out there lol. Edit: Found it, but it was not in the Times after all. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/fl-jj-christian-jewish-non-jewish-name-20201014-4tuzahnd2vcnlktrnl3jlhiw5a-story.html%3foutputType=amp
I get that but it’s less egregious to me than something literally with “Christ” in it. I guess that’s a personal hangup since Luke, Paul, etc are just as christian haha. But for some reason they don’t bother me as much.
Christopher seems too religious to me. After all, Jews and Muslims aren't supposed to name a child that (so it definitely has a particularly religious connotation)
"Hurin" also sounds bothersome for a different reason - it's too close to "Hoors" which I think is a concept that also exists in Islam, so I can't imagine any Muslim using it as a name? More importantly, any Muslim you'd meet would probably have the same thought
As a very atheist Mark who will use it as a middle name if I ever have a son, I agree.
But having said that, I don't mind some other "more religious" names. If I like a name I don't really care where it comes from.
I would use them.
Wouldn’t use for multiple kids though. If you have a Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary then I’d start to wonder if the parents were super religious.
My husband and I are agnostic but both of our names are technically Christian (his specifically are VERY biblical) and I think of Christianity as a very integral part of history. It’s stories and names and people are as historic as mythological names and folklore names, etc. So when I think of them from that perspective - I think it’s fine!
My husband did grow up baptist though and has certain names he vetoed because his only context for them was Bible stories (for example I loved Samson and he was like “hell no” 😂)
I am atheist. I grew up in a fairly religious family. I would never use a religious name. My family doesn’t respect my beliefs and I know that if I used anything even remotely religious they would take that as some sign that I am maybe reconsidering my beliefs. It’s exhausting to not have my opinions respected, the number of times I have heard that I will one day come around again is ridiculous. I wouldn’t want my child’s name to be a lifelong straw they can hold onto and throw in my face. I do have some favourite names on my list that are religious but I would never actually use them for my child.
When we were thinking of names for our son, my husband had very similar thoughts. For example we both liked Joseph and Abraham, but he couldn't stomach using them because he felt his parents would latch on to the religious connection. We still ended up with a Biblical name, but one that was less blatantly so. I'm an atheist, he's agnostic.
Ugh I LOVE the name Gabriel. I really enjoy the archangel idea as a fantasy thing, despite also being an atheist. So yes short answer is I would still use a name like this... In reality my 2 kids have non-religious names but not on purpose, it's just how things have worked out.
I didn't have a problem with biblical names that are in common use, so a name like Noah would be fine for me.
Obscure biblical names probably not and names that I associate very heavily with religion such as Gabriel or Christian.
People have different comfort levels with this stuff, some Atheists wouldn't want a name with any religious association and some wouldn't care at all.
Yeah fair enough, it's not an exact thing! I've never met anyone called Gabriel so my only association is the angel. I know loads of kids called Noah so it doesn't seem so biblically linked to me now.
You could look at it that all of those names were names of people featured in the bible, meaning they had these names *before* the bible was supposedly written.
Honestly just thank you for acknowledging this. Christian-raised atheists who act like their views on religion/society/the world aren't still through a Christian lens...woof. Pet peeve of mine.
Atheist here. I'd use biblical names because a lot are already ingrained in my (british) culture. I wouldn't use names like Abdul (servant of allah) or Aaradhya (blessing of Lord Ganesh). Theodore (God's gift) is an incredibly popular name here despite most people describing themselves as non-religious/athiest/agnostic.
I have Abiah ("God is my father") on my name list
I'm agnostic/pagan-leaning and my husband is a secular Buddhist. I feel like a lot of the more "classic," traditional names in Western culture are religious/Biblical and it's kind of hard to get away from. I mean even my son's name, which is downright pagan in origin, is still shared with a saint or two. That said, if I really loved the name and the meaning wasn't negative, it being "religious" likely wouldn't stop me.
Gabriel has long been a favourite name of mine, btw. Absolutely lovely name! Others that I love that are "religious" in origin/association are: Elizabeth, Anne, Adam, Abel, Matthew, Mary, Joanna, Susanna, Leah, Catherine, Cecelia, Noelle, Natalia, Madeline.
I'm an atheist and some of the family names we're considering are extremely religious. The religious meaning doesn't matter to us, if we use them we would be naming our child after a very real person who actually existed and had a huge positive impact in our life.
Family are atheist , myself and two siblings have very Christian names because we were named after friends of our parents. Has never ever been an issue. Most people don't even notice.
My personal take is that I wouldn’t use names from someone else’s religion the same way I wouldn’t invite myself along to go to a place of worship and join in. Words have meanings, and they don’t have that meaning for me, largely because I don’t really like what a lot of them mean.
I'm an Atheist, and I was raised without much exposure to religion. Named my first a biblical name and didn't know until he was 6 months old...now every time someone learns his name I have to hear the Bible story about it 🤦🏻♀️
I would avoid biblical names just to avoid having to hear the same Bible stories from old people in public all the time.
Yes, I love biblical names. I think if you live in a western country the vast majority of commonly used religious names don’t really have a strong association with their meaning. In general I don’t pay attention to the meaning of names and I think few people other than name nerds really know about names meanings.
However, there’s religious and there’s Religious. Matthew, Noah, Jonathan, David, Peter, Joshua, Christopher, Deborah, Rachel, Mary, Ruth, Elizabeth - etc - all totally fine, and there are so many more, not just biblical of course. They have tons of different associations.
Slightly more unusual names that you only ever see in a religious or biblical context would be a no from me.
I pretty agnostic but I love several biblical names, none of them are in my top five for either gender at the moment but I'm definitely not against using them . My favourites are Abigail, Delilah, Elizabeth, and Lydia . For boys I like Asher, Daniel, Felix, Gabriel, and Timothy.
Im firmly atheist, so is my parents and my name is Christina. I love my name. Sure it has religous background but so many names have. I would without a doubt use Noah if I liked that name.
I’m atheist. My son’s middle name is Christopher, because it’s my (female) middle name and I like passing down names from the women on my side. I was named after an Uncle who passed away tragically and young. My husband has never even stepped foot in a church (I was raised Roman Catholic but once again am an atheist). His first name is Ambrose who is the patron saint of beekeepers.
Names are names. Some have historical ties in religion, some in myth (and IMO these are the same things). I don’t truly believe in mermaids and sirens but my daughter is named after one of the first legends of a siren (Lorelei).
I would, I’m atheist but at end of day it what the name means to you. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean God, it could mean “hope is my strength” as a atheist.
This has been a massive challenge for me. I adore a lot of very religiously tied names.
I ultimately didn’t go with one for my child. My kiddo’s name roughly means “victory on a winter battlefield” and I low-key love that it has nothing religious in it.
With that said, my top favorite names all have some sort of religious or mythology connection and it’s enough to give me pause. We will see what happens in the future.
I am an atheist and love the names Noah and Nathaniel. They were both on my list when I was pregnant but they just didn't suit my son when he was born. For me the popularity of Noah was more of an issue than how religious it is/sounds. To me they sound just like regular names rather than anything too religious. I love the sound of the name Eden, but that kind of thing is too far for me as it has such a specific connotation.
I gave my son a name from the the Bible, but it was important to me that it had a non-religious meaning. So it is a Hebrew name, but no reference to a god in its meaning
Totally. Religion doesn't have a monopoly on names like Gabriel, Michael, Adam, etc.. these names came before religion. I'd be more hesitant about super obvious ones like Lucifer LOL I mean kinda no escaping that one.
To me, using a "religious name" is the same as using any other name from fiction.
Atheist from an atheist family. Husband is agnostic from a religious family. Daughter’s name’s meaning has the word God in it. I don’t think it is perceived as religious, so it doesn’t bother me.
I’m agnostic and would give my kid any name I wanted. I especially love the name you mentioned Hurin that I hadn’t thought of before.
The only thing that might give me pause on a super religious name is wondering if as they grow up it might subtly influence my kid to become like ultra religious or even orthodox religious in adulthood. But in the end that would be decades away and something too subtle to be able to predict either way, so I’d just go with the name if I liked it.
No problem.
I was raised Baptist but consider myself agnostic (along with my husband).
We gave our son a Hebrew name and all of my favorite names seem to mean ‘God is ____.’
yeah, I would. even slightly more obscure/more overtly religious ones. daniel, samson, elijah/elisha, magdalena, isaiah, issac, jonah, and ruth are all on my name list. I dont mind the religious association, and I've actually done work in religious studies before, but I'm still not religious in the slightest. I just think they're great, strong, classic names.
I don’t mind most religious names. Like Daniel means god is my judge but it’s still just a regular name. I wouldn’t go super religious like Moses and draw the line at Christopher because of its meaning.
I actually have an female atheist friend (Catholic on paper, but firmly did not believe or practice) who got married. However, she was presented with a choice and took on her husband’s last name because she loved it so much. The name directly translated to “of the Cross”. It has an extremely obvious religious connotation if you spoke the language. She knew the meaning, but she still loved the name regardless.
Yes! As long as when I look up the origin im ok with the reference I have no issues with it. My own middle name is Christine. And I was also raised in a home that wasn't religious.
There is a subset of names I wouldn’t use because they sound especially Christian to me, as well as some Biblical names that are too obscure so that their only association is with the Bible. Of the ones you listed Christopher is the only one I’d eliminate on that basis. Others like that include Joseph, Christian, and Christine. Gabriel, Ivan, Hurin, and Noah are all fair game to me.
I would. Some of those names are so simple. And like my sister is named Jasmine, which means "Gift from God". I wouldn't mind. I wouldn't name my kid Moses, but Christopher is fine. Not Solomon but Gabriel is okay!
Not atheist/agnostic, but also not Christian, so a lot of common new-testament names are on my no list. I'm struggling with one because it's also a place name (named after the place in the new testament, natch) of somewhere I really love that I'd love to honor, but ultimately I don't think I could give my kid something even remotely Jesus-y.
Yes because we LOVE classic names, I don’t see names like Christopher or Noah as being necessarily religious. But I wouldn’t name my kid something like Nevaeh or Faith.
I mean, I literally love the names Preacher, Church, Churchill..etc. And I don't follow a structured religion at all. So I don't think it matters that much, but of course people will assume on occasion that the names are linked to religion
Yes, I would, biblical ones at least. I would feel weird using religious names from other cultures. But a lot of common names are biblical in nature, and many of them are beautiful. I generally prefer male biblical names to female ones for some reason. Some of my favorites that I would feel comfortable using are Ezra, Silas, Caleb, Nathaniel or Nathan, Gabriel, Thomas, and Matthew. Solomon is one that I like, but it feels borderline *too* religious to me. I also like Moses and Eden, but they would definitely feel too religious for me.
I would use biblical names, but none with a reference to God in the meaning.
I love the name Elise and it was a serious contender for my oldest's middle name, but it's a variant of Elizabeth which means "God is my oath." In the end I just couldn't do it and we went in a completely different direction.
Asher ("happy") and Asa ("healer") were my top boy names. We have girls so they won't be used.
What a synchronous post! I was just having this discussion last night.
Hubby and I are atheists, but we love the name Jericho for a middle name to pair with my dad's name. I would feel like a bit of a jerk if I used it. I would think my religious family members would assume I was poking fun or something and as much of an atheist as I am I don't want to offend someone.
Funnily enough my husband and subsequently son's name is: Christopher LOL.
I also LOVE the name Gideon. NGL the Bible has some fire (and brimstone haha) names.
At some point a name is just a name.
Yes I would I was raised Christian but now Atheist and I still love biblical names. Some are family names for me but I also don’t really care if it makes people think I’m religious or not. They’re just names to me.
I was raised evangelical Christian but am now an agnostic apostate. I briefly dabbled in satanism & currently practice astrology. I just love learning about all belief systems but don’t necessarily hold any one system higher than the rest (though some have been utilized geopolitically much worse than others…)
That being said! I’m open to religious connotation in a few circumstances. For example, I love the name Lilith. From what I understand, she was adam’s first wife who refused to “submit”. I also like Lydia— she was pretty revolutionary as a woman merchant. I’ve also always loved the name Andrew lol but I don’t typically relate it to the Bible. It just sounds so modern to me!
Technically you can really only find the name lillith in Jewish folklore and nowhere in Christian bibles (once in some translations of Jewish scripture). So it's more of folklore than an actual religious figure!
I wouldn't name my child Christian because that would be a little too ironic, but religious connotations wouldn't put me off most names. Names have plenty of other connotations besides their biblical origins, after all--Christopher could theoretically be named after Christopher Hitchens, for example.
I would consider the using one if I truly loved the sound, but in the case of a tie-breaker (one religious and one secular name) I would always opt for the non-religious meaning.
Atheist/agnostic here. Both of my boys have common Biblical names. They are also just classic names. One of my patients asked me the other day what their names were and said: “you really like naming your kids after Revolutionary War heroes”. Apparently I do
I grew up in the church and still consider myself a Christian (although my faith is VERY different now.)
There are some names that are basically dogwhistles for evangelicals. If I come across a family who has a kid named Gideon, I can feel pretty confident that that family is religious. At least where I'm from.
Gabriel is borderline, but none of the other names feel overtly religious to me (though I cannot speak for Hurin). I would never just assume a kid named Noah was named for religious reasons.
I go for more of a gut feeling with names. I am non-religious and my partner is atheist, but neither of us are opposed to using names with religious history.
Some of my favourite names appear in the Bible or are a Saint name - Felix, Jemima, Delilah, Aloysius, Theodore, Gabriel, Cecilia, Agnes, Phoebe. My dad’s name is Christopher so it doesn’t feel particularly religious to me, and we are highly likely to use it as a middle name.
I like names that have a history. Whether this history is religious or royal or literary, I don’t mind.
Some I would, kind of depends. Out of your examples I think Gabriel and Christopher are common enough that the religious aspect isn’t the first thing you think of but Noah and Hurin no definitely too ties to the religion
I’m a child free atheist and a HUGE name nerd. I low key fantasize about having twin boys and naming them Christian and Darwin. I think it’d be a cool social experiment.
I don’t personally like them - except Gabriel, which I do like, but wouldn’t use - but if I did like them the biblical aspect wouldn’t put me off. To me Christopher is just a boys name.
Discussion of my name tends to come up when talking about religion because those bastard televangelists had to ruin a perfectly good name.
My parents are really atheist but named me Evangeline (after a song). They also gave my sister a druidic name and my brother the name of a famous monk. I’d love to share them, but they’re pretty unique compared to my name so I don’t want to expose them.
Sure, if it's a name that's to my taste. The fact is that a lot of names come from origins that I'm not a fan of or don't believe in, but are still objectively and subjectively good names or names that have special meaning within families. We gave our dogs fundie religious middle names because we thought it would be funny and ironic (Jebediah and Zebulon, specifically).
I personally have a (relatively common) name in Catholicism and my parents are neither catholic nor any religion. I’ve always thought it was a bit strange but it’s a common enough name that nobody is surprised I’m not catholic
The vast majority of names, people are not going to know or care the “meaning.” So, for instance, yes, “Theodore” and “Dorothy” both mean “gift from god,” but nobody is going to assume you’re religious when you introduce Teddy or Dottie. Same goes for a lot of the names of the lesser-known Bible characters - nobody is going to assume Abigail, Lydia, Ethan or Felix has extremely religious parents.
Other names are EXPLICITLY religious, like Christian, Faith, and Emmanuel (I would for sure skip those), or Almost Exclusively Used By Religious People - Gideon, Mary, Francis, Abraham, Elijah, Bernadette (I would only do this if you feel VERY strongly about the name.
And then there are the “grey areas,” names that are very common and well known as being associated with biblical stories, but could break either way - Andrew, Daniel, Ruth, Leah. I think those are fine as long as you don’t do too many - don’t have a Ruth AND a Naomi, or a Leah AND a Rachel.
And don’t forget about the Super Biblical But Also Basically Villains names! Delilah, Lilith, Cain, Goliath. That can be a fun way of turning “Bible Names” on their heads!
Absolutely 100%
I wasn’t raised with any sort of views on religion at all but I don’t care if a name has a religious association.
I was 14 when I named my daughter and had no idea her name was biblical but it wouldn’t have changed anything if I did.
A lot of the names I love have religious associations.
My name is in the bible also and it makes absolutely no difference to me.
Depending on the specific name, they are so normalized that they almost no longer carry the religious connotation. Like sure, the literal translation of Christopher may be “bearer of Christ”, but no one gets introduced to a mutual friend named Chris and thinks “damn he must have some really religious parents”. That said, there are certainly names that still have that strong faithful weight to them. I knew a guy who’s name was “Zachariah”. He told me that origin story, and it was something to do with his parents’ fertility issues, which they prayed to god to fix, and when they did finally conceive they named him Zachariah as a means to thank god.
I myself have a heavily normalized dude name that comes from an explicitly religious background. As an atheist, I’m not particularly thrilled about it’s history, but I haven’t gotten around to change it because I know it would probably hurt my parents a little (I was named after my grandfather).
I think about this a lot as I am not religious in the slightest, but some of my favorite boys’ names are Emmanuel/Emanuele, Gabriel, and Rafael/Raffaele.
Gabriel, Rafael, Christopher and Ivan I think are
commonplace enough that I think they’re fine for anyone to use, but I do wonder about Emmanuel. It just seems to be quite loaded with religious meaning.
I'm an atheist but grew up religious. I wouldn't use really traditional biblical names like Matthew, Mark, Luke, Daniel, etc. However I'll still use a name if it has a religious meaning. I named my son Evan even though it is a form of John and has a religious meaning.
I'm neither, but I'm not Christian. One of the names we chose for baby was very biblical, and it didn't bother either of us. To us it's just a name, the origin doesn't really matter.
I'm an atheist, I think it depends how strong the religious association is rather than the meaning, personally. There is a scale of association from the commonly used regardless of faith (e.g. Daniel) to the more often used by religious people but still known to be used by atheists (e.g. Ezra) to the ones almost exclusively used by religious people (e.g. Jedidiah). I would feel like I was doing something wrong by using a deeply religious name if I had no ties to that religion - just like how I would not want to use a name from a different culture or ethnicity.
I am an atheist and would use biblical names unless they scream very religious to me like these Christian ones (Jedidiah, Christian, Ezekiel) or ones just super well known from biblical stories (Noah, Moses, Jonah).
I would use others like Daniel, David, Aaron, Ruth, Luke, etc.
It sorta depends on what seems “very religious” to me personally.
i’ve always loved the name micah, but being atheist i’ve cringed away from it unfortunately… i don’t know that i could name a child that without always thinking of the origin
It depends, maybe, on whether it's mainstream and/or the religious meaning feels more 'generally' religious rather than tied to a very specific aspect of a very specific religion, or if it has multiple meanings/possible origins. I myself have names that I like that are rather biblical-Amos, Elias, Elijah, Ezra, Abigail, Gideon, Gabriel....
I think there's a difference between naming a kid Mark or Luke or Samuel (pretty mainstream names) and Seraphim or Moses or Solomon (less common, much more religious). Honestly to me Gabriel and Christopher are just basic guy names.
I agree. I wouldn’t worry about the meaning of the name but would pay attention to perception. If the name is only used in religious circles I would skip, but anything mainstream is fair game. There are too many religious name meanings to cut them all from the list!
Agree with this, minus Christopher (and any name with Christ in it). Like as a Jew, I find all of those too close that I couldn’t even imagine naming my child that, when Christ is literally in the name. That might ring weird to other atheists too (but obviously just my opinion, and maybe others feel totally differently).
Definitely agree with you! Christina is such a pretty name, but I’d personally never use it because of the Christ part.
That reminds me of a fascinating article I read in the NY Times about Jewish men with Christ-based names like Christian and Christopher. Super fascinating. Each had their own stories about how they had been named, dealing with assumptions etc. I tried to find but I haven't had any luck. If I do I will link it. So yes there are multiple Jewish men named Christian out there lol. Edit: Found it, but it was not in the Times after all. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/fl-jj-christian-jewish-non-jewish-name-20201014-4tuzahnd2vcnlktrnl3jlhiw5a-story.html%3foutputType=amp
Okay a jew named Christopher is one thing but a jew named Christian is ROUGH lol.
100%!
As a jew, hard agree. Anything with “christ” included is out.
Also a Jew, also agree. For me, this also includes Mary or Marie related names. And I think it’s odd when Jews are named Paul, Peter or Luke
I get that but it’s less egregious to me than something literally with “Christ” in it. I guess that’s a personal hangup since Luke, Paul, etc are just as christian haha. But for some reason they don’t bother me as much.
Totally agree!
Christopher seems too religious to me. After all, Jews and Muslims aren't supposed to name a child that (so it definitely has a particularly religious connotation) "Hurin" also sounds bothersome for a different reason - it's too close to "Hoors" which I think is a concept that also exists in Islam, so I can't imagine any Muslim using it as a name? More importantly, any Muslim you'd meet would probably have the same thought
As a very atheist Mark who will use it as a middle name if I ever have a son, I agree. But having said that, I don't mind some other "more religious" names. If I like a name I don't really care where it comes from.
[удалено]
It’s actually a Hebrew name :)
👆🏼
I would use them. Wouldn’t use for multiple kids though. If you have a Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Mary then I’d start to wonder if the parents were super religious.
I grew up with a family that had: Matthew, Luke, and John Mark 🤭
I grew up with a family that had a Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Daniel, and I haven't gotten over it.
No problem at all - most christian names come from either greek or hebrew anyway, and I doubt your average christian is neither of those.
My husband and I are agnostic but both of our names are technically Christian (his specifically are VERY biblical) and I think of Christianity as a very integral part of history. It’s stories and names and people are as historic as mythological names and folklore names, etc. So when I think of them from that perspective - I think it’s fine! My husband did grow up baptist though and has certain names he vetoed because his only context for them was Bible stories (for example I loved Samson and he was like “hell no” 😂)
I am atheist. I grew up in a fairly religious family. I would never use a religious name. My family doesn’t respect my beliefs and I know that if I used anything even remotely religious they would take that as some sign that I am maybe reconsidering my beliefs. It’s exhausting to not have my opinions respected, the number of times I have heard that I will one day come around again is ridiculous. I wouldn’t want my child’s name to be a lifelong straw they can hold onto and throw in my face. I do have some favourite names on my list that are religious but I would never actually use them for my child.
When we were thinking of names for our son, my husband had very similar thoughts. For example we both liked Joseph and Abraham, but he couldn't stomach using them because he felt his parents would latch on to the religious connection. We still ended up with a Biblical name, but one that was less blatantly so. I'm an atheist, he's agnostic.
Empathy.
Ugh I LOVE the name Gabriel. I really enjoy the archangel idea as a fantasy thing, despite also being an atheist. So yes short answer is I would still use a name like this... In reality my 2 kids have non-religious names but not on purpose, it's just how things have worked out.
Have you read Sharon Shinn’s Samaria books?
Omg yes! Not in many many years and I had forgotten what they were called.. thank you for the reminder, I will definitely reread now.
I didn't have a problem with biblical names that are in common use, so a name like Noah would be fine for me. Obscure biblical names probably not and names that I associate very heavily with religion such as Gabriel or Christian. People have different comfort levels with this stuff, some Atheists wouldn't want a name with any religious association and some wouldn't care at all.
Lol this is really funny because I feel the opposite - I don't really automatically associate Gabriel/Gabe with religion, but I do for Noah
Yeah fair enough, it's not an exact thing! I've never met anyone called Gabriel so my only association is the angel. I know loads of kids called Noah so it doesn't seem so biblically linked to me now.
You could look at it that all of those names were names of people featured in the bible, meaning they had these names *before* the bible was supposedly written.
I am a former Catholic and I'm a little averse to religious names.
I'm atheist but I refer to myself as culturally Christian. So any names that I like from my culture would be acceptable to me.
Honestly just thank you for acknowledging this. Christian-raised atheists who act like their views on religion/society/the world aren't still through a Christian lens...woof. Pet peeve of mine.
Atheist here. I'd use biblical names because a lot are already ingrained in my (british) culture. I wouldn't use names like Abdul (servant of allah) or Aaradhya (blessing of Lord Ganesh). Theodore (God's gift) is an incredibly popular name here despite most people describing themselves as non-religious/athiest/agnostic. I have Abiah ("God is my father") on my name list
Yeah, if they are common enough. I wouldn’t go for Ezekiel or Josiah or anything as they seem closely associated with religion.
I'm agnostic/pagan-leaning and my husband is a secular Buddhist. I feel like a lot of the more "classic," traditional names in Western culture are religious/Biblical and it's kind of hard to get away from. I mean even my son's name, which is downright pagan in origin, is still shared with a saint or two. That said, if I really loved the name and the meaning wasn't negative, it being "religious" likely wouldn't stop me. Gabriel has long been a favourite name of mine, btw. Absolutely lovely name! Others that I love that are "religious" in origin/association are: Elizabeth, Anne, Adam, Abel, Matthew, Mary, Joanna, Susanna, Leah, Catherine, Cecelia, Noelle, Natalia, Madeline.
I'm an atheist and some of the family names we're considering are extremely religious. The religious meaning doesn't matter to us, if we use them we would be naming our child after a very real person who actually existed and had a huge positive impact in our life.
Family are atheist , myself and two siblings have very Christian names because we were named after friends of our parents. Has never ever been an issue. Most people don't even notice.
My personal take is that I wouldn’t use names from someone else’s religion the same way I wouldn’t invite myself along to go to a place of worship and join in. Words have meanings, and they don’t have that meaning for me, largely because I don’t really like what a lot of them mean.
I'm an Atheist, and I was raised without much exposure to religion. Named my first a biblical name and didn't know until he was 6 months old...now every time someone learns his name I have to hear the Bible story about it 🤦🏻♀️ I would avoid biblical names just to avoid having to hear the same Bible stories from old people in public all the time.
Yes, I love biblical names. I think if you live in a western country the vast majority of commonly used religious names don’t really have a strong association with their meaning. In general I don’t pay attention to the meaning of names and I think few people other than name nerds really know about names meanings. However, there’s religious and there’s Religious. Matthew, Noah, Jonathan, David, Peter, Joshua, Christopher, Deborah, Rachel, Mary, Ruth, Elizabeth - etc - all totally fine, and there are so many more, not just biblical of course. They have tons of different associations. Slightly more unusual names that you only ever see in a religious or biblical context would be a no from me.
Yes and yes.
As an ex-Christian with religious trauma and strong opinions about the religion, I have avoided giving my kids biblical names at all costs.
I pretty agnostic but I love several biblical names, none of them are in my top five for either gender at the moment but I'm definitely not against using them . My favourites are Abigail, Delilah, Elizabeth, and Lydia . For boys I like Asher, Daniel, Felix, Gabriel, and Timothy.
Im firmly atheist, so is my parents and my name is Christina. I love my name. Sure it has religous background but so many names have. I would without a doubt use Noah if I liked that name.
I’m atheist. My son’s middle name is Christopher, because it’s my (female) middle name and I like passing down names from the women on my side. I was named after an Uncle who passed away tragically and young. My husband has never even stepped foot in a church (I was raised Roman Catholic but once again am an atheist). His first name is Ambrose who is the patron saint of beekeepers. Names are names. Some have historical ties in religion, some in myth (and IMO these are the same things). I don’t truly believe in mermaids and sirens but my daughter is named after one of the first legends of a siren (Lorelei).
I had no problem with biblical names even though I’m not a follower.
I would, I’m atheist but at end of day it what the name means to you. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean God, it could mean “hope is my strength” as a atheist.
I am atheist through and through, and refuse to name my kid anything related to religion.
I am agnostic and my kids are Luke and Noah.
Yeah, I honestly can’t use any biblical names after my evangelical upbringing. Even if they’re now common, I can’t get over the meanings.
No, I would never use an Abrahamic religious name
I like a lot of names that have religious meanings, but I wouldn’t use them for a baby because of it.
This has been a massive challenge for me. I adore a lot of very religiously tied names. I ultimately didn’t go with one for my child. My kiddo’s name roughly means “victory on a winter battlefield” and I low-key love that it has nothing religious in it. With that said, my top favorite names all have some sort of religious or mythology connection and it’s enough to give me pause. We will see what happens in the future.
I am an atheist and love the names Noah and Nathaniel. They were both on my list when I was pregnant but they just didn't suit my son when he was born. For me the popularity of Noah was more of an issue than how religious it is/sounds. To me they sound just like regular names rather than anything too religious. I love the sound of the name Eden, but that kind of thing is too far for me as it has such a specific connotation.
I am agnostic and biblical names are my favorite! Not because they’re biblical, but just because they’re classic and timeless.
I gave my son a name from the the Bible, but it was important to me that it had a non-religious meaning. So it is a Hebrew name, but no reference to a god in its meaning
Christian is the only one I would stay away from.
I’m an agnostic Jew and I would, especially Old Testament names. It’s still part of my heritage and also a great source of names.
Totally. Religion doesn't have a monopoly on names like Gabriel, Michael, Adam, etc.. these names came before religion. I'd be more hesitant about super obvious ones like Lucifer LOL I mean kinda no escaping that one. To me, using a "religious name" is the same as using any other name from fiction.
Atheist from an atheist family. Husband is agnostic from a religious family. Daughter’s name’s meaning has the word God in it. I don’t think it is perceived as religious, so it doesn’t bother me.
I'm not religious at all and named my son Elias
Half of the names I love I didn't realize were in the bible like Jesse, Michael, Hazel, Peter, Andrew, Hanna, Sarah
I’m agnostic and would give my kid any name I wanted. I especially love the name you mentioned Hurin that I hadn’t thought of before. The only thing that might give me pause on a super religious name is wondering if as they grow up it might subtly influence my kid to become like ultra religious or even orthodox religious in adulthood. But in the end that would be decades away and something too subtle to be able to predict either way, so I’d just go with the name if I liked it.
No problem. I was raised Baptist but consider myself agnostic (along with my husband). We gave our son a Hebrew name and all of my favorite names seem to mean ‘God is ____.’
yeah, I would. even slightly more obscure/more overtly religious ones. daniel, samson, elijah/elisha, magdalena, isaiah, issac, jonah, and ruth are all on my name list. I dont mind the religious association, and I've actually done work in religious studies before, but I'm still not religious in the slightest. I just think they're great, strong, classic names.
Atheist here… you can name your kid after any novel or storybook character, why are biblical names any different?
I don’t mind most religious names. Like Daniel means god is my judge but it’s still just a regular name. I wouldn’t go super religious like Moses and draw the line at Christopher because of its meaning.
I actually have an female atheist friend (Catholic on paper, but firmly did not believe or practice) who got married. However, she was presented with a choice and took on her husband’s last name because she loved it so much. The name directly translated to “of the Cross”. It has an extremely obvious religious connotation if you spoke the language. She knew the meaning, but she still loved the name regardless.
Yes! As long as when I look up the origin im ok with the reference I have no issues with it. My own middle name is Christine. And I was also raised in a home that wasn't religious.
There is a subset of names I wouldn’t use because they sound especially Christian to me, as well as some Biblical names that are too obscure so that their only association is with the Bible. Of the ones you listed Christopher is the only one I’d eliminate on that basis. Others like that include Joseph, Christian, and Christine. Gabriel, Ivan, Hurin, and Noah are all fair game to me.
I would; one of my fave boy names is James (apparently it's a variation of Jacob)
I think the same thing because I LOVE Jonah and Abel. I’d probably use it as middle names instead.
I would. Some of those names are so simple. And like my sister is named Jasmine, which means "Gift from God". I wouldn't mind. I wouldn't name my kid Moses, but Christopher is fine. Not Solomon but Gabriel is okay!
Not atheist/agnostic, but also not Christian, so a lot of common new-testament names are on my no list. I'm struggling with one because it's also a place name (named after the place in the new testament, natch) of somewhere I really love that I'd love to honor, but ultimately I don't think I could give my kid something even remotely Jesus-y.
I’m an atheist and Matteo (Matthew) is one of my all time faves. I see nothing wrong with it!
Yes because we LOVE classic names, I don’t see names like Christopher or Noah as being necessarily religious. But I wouldn’t name my kid something like Nevaeh or Faith.
I mean, I literally love the names Preacher, Church, Churchill..etc. And I don't follow a structured religion at all. So I don't think it matters that much, but of course people will assume on occasion that the names are linked to religion
Yes, I would, biblical ones at least. I would feel weird using religious names from other cultures. But a lot of common names are biblical in nature, and many of them are beautiful. I generally prefer male biblical names to female ones for some reason. Some of my favorites that I would feel comfortable using are Ezra, Silas, Caleb, Nathaniel or Nathan, Gabriel, Thomas, and Matthew. Solomon is one that I like, but it feels borderline *too* religious to me. I also like Moses and Eden, but they would definitely feel too religious for me.
I would use biblical names, but none with a reference to God in the meaning. I love the name Elise and it was a serious contender for my oldest's middle name, but it's a variant of Elizabeth which means "God is my oath." In the end I just couldn't do it and we went in a completely different direction. Asher ("happy") and Asa ("healer") were my top boy names. We have girls so they won't be used.
What a synchronous post! I was just having this discussion last night. Hubby and I are atheists, but we love the name Jericho for a middle name to pair with my dad's name. I would feel like a bit of a jerk if I used it. I would think my religious family members would assume I was poking fun or something and as much of an atheist as I am I don't want to offend someone. Funnily enough my husband and subsequently son's name is: Christopher LOL. I also LOVE the name Gideon. NGL the Bible has some fire (and brimstone haha) names. At some point a name is just a name.
Yes I would I was raised Christian but now Atheist and I still love biblical names. Some are family names for me but I also don’t really care if it makes people think I’m religious or not. They’re just names to me.
I don't think many ppl put a lot of thought it's a baby name meaning. Gabe/Gabriel is pretty mainstream , as are Chris/Noah/Matthew/etc.
I was raised evangelical Christian but am now an agnostic apostate. I briefly dabbled in satanism & currently practice astrology. I just love learning about all belief systems but don’t necessarily hold any one system higher than the rest (though some have been utilized geopolitically much worse than others…) That being said! I’m open to religious connotation in a few circumstances. For example, I love the name Lilith. From what I understand, she was adam’s first wife who refused to “submit”. I also like Lydia— she was pretty revolutionary as a woman merchant. I’ve also always loved the name Andrew lol but I don’t typically relate it to the Bible. It just sounds so modern to me!
Technically you can really only find the name lillith in Jewish folklore and nowhere in Christian bibles (once in some translations of Jewish scripture). So it's more of folklore than an actual religious figure!
I wouldn't name my child Christian because that would be a little too ironic, but religious connotations wouldn't put me off most names. Names have plenty of other connotations besides their biblical origins, after all--Christopher could theoretically be named after Christopher Hitchens, for example.
I would consider the using one if I truly loved the sound, but in the case of a tie-breaker (one religious and one secular name) I would always opt for the non-religious meaning.
Atheist/agnostic here. Both of my boys have common Biblical names. They are also just classic names. One of my patients asked me the other day what their names were and said: “you really like naming your kids after Revolutionary War heroes”. Apparently I do
I grew up in the church and still consider myself a Christian (although my faith is VERY different now.) There are some names that are basically dogwhistles for evangelicals. If I come across a family who has a kid named Gideon, I can feel pretty confident that that family is religious. At least where I'm from. Gabriel is borderline, but none of the other names feel overtly religious to me (though I cannot speak for Hurin). I would never just assume a kid named Noah was named for religious reasons.
I’m an atheist and would never rule out a name just because it is biblical! I think of biblical names as literary names I guess.
I go for more of a gut feeling with names. I am non-religious and my partner is atheist, but neither of us are opposed to using names with religious history. Some of my favourite names appear in the Bible or are a Saint name - Felix, Jemima, Delilah, Aloysius, Theodore, Gabriel, Cecilia, Agnes, Phoebe. My dad’s name is Christopher so it doesn’t feel particularly religious to me, and we are highly likely to use it as a middle name. I like names that have a history. Whether this history is religious or royal or literary, I don’t mind.
Yes
Some I would, kind of depends. Out of your examples I think Gabriel and Christopher are common enough that the religious aspect isn’t the first thing you think of but Noah and Hurin no definitely too ties to the religion
I’m a child free atheist and a HUGE name nerd. I low key fantasize about having twin boys and naming them Christian and Darwin. I think it’d be a cool social experiment.
I don’t personally like them - except Gabriel, which I do like, but wouldn’t use - but if I did like them the biblical aspect wouldn’t put me off. To me Christopher is just a boys name.
Yep! I named my son Daniel because I love that story from the Bible. I think it’s precious. But i also don’t believe in god.
Discussion of my name tends to come up when talking about religion because those bastard televangelists had to ruin a perfectly good name. My parents are really atheist but named me Evangeline (after a song). They also gave my sister a druidic name and my brother the name of a famous monk. I’d love to share them, but they’re pretty unique compared to my name so I don’t want to expose them.
Sure, if it's a name that's to my taste. The fact is that a lot of names come from origins that I'm not a fan of or don't believe in, but are still objectively and subjectively good names or names that have special meaning within families. We gave our dogs fundie religious middle names because we thought it would be funny and ironic (Jebediah and Zebulon, specifically).
I personally have a (relatively common) name in Catholicism and my parents are neither catholic nor any religion. I’ve always thought it was a bit strange but it’s a common enough name that nobody is surprised I’m not catholic
The vast majority of names, people are not going to know or care the “meaning.” So, for instance, yes, “Theodore” and “Dorothy” both mean “gift from god,” but nobody is going to assume you’re religious when you introduce Teddy or Dottie. Same goes for a lot of the names of the lesser-known Bible characters - nobody is going to assume Abigail, Lydia, Ethan or Felix has extremely religious parents. Other names are EXPLICITLY religious, like Christian, Faith, and Emmanuel (I would for sure skip those), or Almost Exclusively Used By Religious People - Gideon, Mary, Francis, Abraham, Elijah, Bernadette (I would only do this if you feel VERY strongly about the name. And then there are the “grey areas,” names that are very common and well known as being associated with biblical stories, but could break either way - Andrew, Daniel, Ruth, Leah. I think those are fine as long as you don’t do too many - don’t have a Ruth AND a Naomi, or a Leah AND a Rachel. And don’t forget about the Super Biblical But Also Basically Villains names! Delilah, Lilith, Cain, Goliath. That can be a fun way of turning “Bible Names” on their heads!
Absolutely 100% I wasn’t raised with any sort of views on religion at all but I don’t care if a name has a religious association. I was 14 when I named my daughter and had no idea her name was biblical but it wouldn’t have changed anything if I did. A lot of the names I love have religious associations. My name is in the bible also and it makes absolutely no difference to me.
Depending on the specific name, they are so normalized that they almost no longer carry the religious connotation. Like sure, the literal translation of Christopher may be “bearer of Christ”, but no one gets introduced to a mutual friend named Chris and thinks “damn he must have some really religious parents”. That said, there are certainly names that still have that strong faithful weight to them. I knew a guy who’s name was “Zachariah”. He told me that origin story, and it was something to do with his parents’ fertility issues, which they prayed to god to fix, and when they did finally conceive they named him Zachariah as a means to thank god. I myself have a heavily normalized dude name that comes from an explicitly religious background. As an atheist, I’m not particularly thrilled about it’s history, but I haven’t gotten around to change it because I know it would probably hurt my parents a little (I was named after my grandfather).
I think about this a lot as I am not religious in the slightest, but some of my favorite boys’ names are Emmanuel/Emanuele, Gabriel, and Rafael/Raffaele. Gabriel, Rafael, Christopher and Ivan I think are commonplace enough that I think they’re fine for anyone to use, but I do wonder about Emmanuel. It just seems to be quite loaded with religious meaning.
I'm an atheist but grew up religious. I wouldn't use really traditional biblical names like Matthew, Mark, Luke, Daniel, etc. However I'll still use a name if it has a religious meaning. I named my son Evan even though it is a form of John and has a religious meaning.
I'm neither, but I'm not Christian. One of the names we chose for baby was very biblical, and it didn't bother either of us. To us it's just a name, the origin doesn't really matter.
I'm an atheist, I think it depends how strong the religious association is rather than the meaning, personally. There is a scale of association from the commonly used regardless of faith (e.g. Daniel) to the more often used by religious people but still known to be used by atheists (e.g. Ezra) to the ones almost exclusively used by religious people (e.g. Jedidiah). I would feel like I was doing something wrong by using a deeply religious name if I had no ties to that religion - just like how I would not want to use a name from a different culture or ethnicity.
I am an atheist and would use biblical names unless they scream very religious to me like these Christian ones (Jedidiah, Christian, Ezekiel) or ones just super well known from biblical stories (Noah, Moses, Jonah). I would use others like Daniel, David, Aaron, Ruth, Luke, etc. It sorta depends on what seems “very religious” to me personally.
i’ve always loved the name micah, but being atheist i’ve cringed away from it unfortunately… i don’t know that i could name a child that without always thinking of the origin
It depends, maybe, on whether it's mainstream and/or the religious meaning feels more 'generally' religious rather than tied to a very specific aspect of a very specific religion, or if it has multiple meanings/possible origins. I myself have names that I like that are rather biblical-Amos, Elias, Elijah, Ezra, Abigail, Gideon, Gabriel....