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Would you avoid naming your child a name with religious connotations?

I don't have children, but there are many times I'm writing a story and I use baby names to help me come up with good names. Sometimes there are names with religious connotations, so I got to thinking... would you avoid them? Do name meanings matter?

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silvereyes 8 Mar 9
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62 comments

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0

My older daughter is Rebecca but I call her Becky. My younger daughter is Jessica but I call her Jesse which was probably somewhere in the Old Testament. However, both names really were based on characters from "One Life to Live."

don't christen Jewish children-Jewish mothers-didHebrew name for Rebecca to make grandparents happy

0

Why not? I really like the name Amos.

That made me think of "Amos Moses". (Jerry Reed song from the 70s)

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I would definitely avoid it. One thing is that theists could use it against my child at some point in future.

@silvereyes If you get into a religious argument with them, they can throw it in, using either its meaning or the fact that you even chose it and so "you must have some belief."

0

Well, I have a Jewish friend whose parents named her Christine because they just liked the name. Yeah, she never understood that, but it was never a problem.

I can’t imagine any Jewish parent doing that or naming a girl Mary. My dad always wrote X-mas and G-d. Even as a kid I could not believe a lot of the superstition. It was one of the many things that turned me off to the religion .

0

You mean the name, John Paul Luke Jesus Mother Mary Sister Christian is out of the question to name a child?

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My name's Ian, Scottish for John who 'wrote' a gospel and was a saint, my second name is Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, my third (confirmation name) is Declan, also an Irish saint and the first three letters of my surname spell 'God' There's not point in me making a stand over a religious name! lol

I love the name Declan!! Though there's nothing wrong with Ian or Patrick either. 😉

1

Or pets? A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables when a voice in the dark said, "I can see you and Jesus can see you too" He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more, he shook his head and continued. Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard 'Jesus is watching you.' Startled, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot. 'Did you say that?' he hissed at the parrot. 'Yes', the parrot confessed, then squawked, 'I'm just trying to tell you that Jesus is watching you.' The burglar relaxed. 'huh? Who in the world are you?' 'Moses,' replied the bird. 'Moses?' the burglar laughed. 'What kind of idiot would name a bird Moses?' 'The kind of idiot who would name a Rottweiler Jesus.'

0

So I'll preface this by saying I'm trying my hardest to never have children ever, so bear with me on that point. That being said, if I did happen to have a kid, I would want to name them after things that are significant to me and my life (or my parter and hers), and totally disregard whether it was a religious name or not. Example: Were I to have a girl, I would name her Alice Liddell, after the character from American McGee's Alice, because that game is awesome.

2

I named my daughter after Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was a God so I guess I would.

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Along those lines, I think it's really interesting that the name Jesús is very common in Spanish- speaking countries, but, at least to my knowledge, is almost never given to children by English speakers (at least not by christians). I've even know or known of at least three women named Jesús-- not Maria de Jesús, which is common enough -- just Jesús.
A look at any list of arrests and detentions shows that it certainly doesn't keep people out of trouble.
Another interesting point is that "It is estimated that more than 150 million men and boys in the world bear the name Muhammad." [Wikipedia] It is also one of the most popular baby names in regions of growing muslim communities in Western countries.

About 1 in 26 Men were named Jesus/Joshua in antiquity. Jesus is just a variant of the Name Joshua.

0

I am named after a scientist Lord Kelvin. One of the last great 19th century thinkers. He had over 200 papers puplished before he was 21. Did work on superconductivity (hence the SI unit) and helped design the 1st trans-atlantic phone cable. How many other scientist names would make good 1st names? Ohm perhaps? Watt maybe? Newton for sure. Wouldnt it be great if our kindergarden classes were full of Dawkinss, Darwins, Rutherfords and Curies. Cricks, Mendels and Pastures?

2

It's hard to find one not seeped in religion somewhere

0

I don't care about the background but the baby should be happy about the name I kept. Actually im thinking of my parents name to my children unfortunately they are religious names!

Uday Level 2 Mar 9, 2018
0

I'd prefer not to, but... Well, my name is Joseph. "God will increase". My brother's is Matthew. "Gift of Yahweh". My sister has the less religious but even more ironic name of Naomi; "Pleasantness". It's not easy. But, there are pretty good names that aren't religious. Andrew. Charles. Lewis. All those things.

0

Daughters... Leah Kelly... Marina Ivonne... Alexandra Rachel... Son... Oscar Isidro...

1

It's a non-issue for me.

0

I would not have a child. 61 and so far so good.

2

It's funny for me. My oldest son Christopher, was named after a fertility doctor who helped bring Christopher into the world. My second son James, was named after a famous historical figure, so I have two sons: Christopher- Named after Christ James - Brother of Jesus and we had no religious motivation for either name.

BD66 Level 8 Mar 9, 2018
1

What about naming a child after family - not necessarily a religious connection there.

jeffy Level 7 Mar 9, 2018
0

What suits them to be quite honest

0

I care about both the meaning of the name, AND the sound of it...and therefore it's gonna be a hard pass on religious names, or just anything naming in relation to religion.

0

I care more about how it sounds. Michelle -- Named after a hockey player only pronounced differently. his is MEE-SHELL Julia -- Named after my mom Steven -- Stevie Ray Vaughan lol...yep his middle name is Ray too. My siblings and I... Remember my mom was raised Catholic. Daniel, Patricia, Mark, Paul, and Jeffery. Jeffery is the oddball because they let me choose between two names when I was 4 years old. I thought Jeff sonded like Jet so I picked that one. lol I don't remember what the other name was. He might as well have the odd name since the boy ain't right anyway. 🙂

4

At the time my husband and I became parents, we were practising pagans. We chose the names of pagan deities for our two children. My father and his parents were horrified, and asked why we would do such a thing. "To bring the gods alive" we responded. Naming them after pagan deities occasioned numerous opportunities to have discussions about those names, those deities and their significance, which led into wider discussions of mythologies and religious beliefs in general.

0

I better not have kids cause I have awful name ideas in mind..I mean, I want a cat to name itb Mewphistopheles.

0

I wouldn't avoid names with religious connotations at all. In fact many of my favourite names are from religious mythology: Rebecca (I prefer Rebekah), Ruth, Athene, Artemis, Phoebe, Eve, Rachel, Abigail, Persephone, Hannah, Esther, Lilith, Magdalena... and various others.

Jnei Level 8 Mar 9, 2018
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