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?
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.
Why not? I really like the name Amos.
That made me think of "Amos Moses". (Jerry Reed song from the 70s)
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.
Daughters... Leah Kelly... Marina Ivonne... Alexandra Rachel... Son... Oscar Isidro...
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
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.
It's hard to find one not seeped in religion somewhere