What are your thoughts on the name [name_u]Athaliah[/name_u]?
I recently came across it in a list of Biblical girls names, and I quite like it. It sounds very sweet, and it’s rather unusual, which I like. It is an Old Testament name, so I’m not sure how usable it’ll be for someone who identifies as [name_u]Christian[/name_u] (I’m always pretty confused on where that line is drawn?), but I do think it’s beautiful.
How do you feel about [name_u]Athaliah[/name_u]? Is it usable?
Is it ah-tha-LYE-ah?
I quite like it! I haven’t heard it before and I would probably guess at it being a male name if I read it out of context — probably because of that familiar -iah ending — but the sounds certainly work on a girl too. You might get a few different pronunciations.
I would say it’s usable based on sound and wearability! I don’t know much about the religious point of view on that, so I’ll leave that up to others who are better informed than me.
Ooh [name_u]Athaliah[/name_u] is intriguing. I quite like it
I like the name a lot!
Coming from a [name_u]Christian[/name_u], here are my thoughts on your queries:
I personally follow the [name_u]New[/name_u] Testament FAR more closely than the Old Testament, but that wouldn’t necessarily stop me using an Old Testament name. [name_f]Eve[/name_f] is frequent throughout the Old Testament, yet remarkably infrequent in the [name_u]New[/name_u]. This doesn’t put me off what I consider to be a beautiful name.
Christianity as a widespread religion began in 1AD, after [name_m]Jesus[/name_m] died and was resurrected. That is the [name_u]New[/name_u] Testament. (I’m sure you know that, just including this for people that don’t know!) It “came” from Judaism- who follow the Old Testament, but not the [name_u]New[/name_u].
Christians ALWAYS follow the [name_u]New[/name_u] Testament. Most Christians do take the time to learn and read about the Old Testament, as, after all, it was the foundation of Christianity. I consider it the overlap between Judaism and Christianity, and names from the Old Testament can be considered both a [name_u]Christian[/name_u] and a Jewish name.
This is all just my opinion though, so take it with a grain of salt. 
From what I’ve found (could be wrong though!) it’s [name_m]Ah[/name_m]-tha-lay-ah! 
It does definitely share the common -iah ending which is why I was kind of surprised to learn that [name_u]Athaliah[/name_u] was a female figure (a Biblical queen, daughter of [name_f]Queen[/name_f] [name_f]Jezebel[/name_f]!).
That makes much more sense! Thank you!! I’m sort of new to my faith (I was religious as a child but then became disconnected from it for a variety of reasons!) and now I’m rediscovering it again, so some of this stuff is a bit new to me, like Old Testament vs. [name_u]New[/name_u] Testament, etc.!
My instinctual pronunciatiom is [name_m]Ah[/name_m]-thay-lee-uh, which seems to be wrong. I do like it, though!
Read the Bible story about the original [name_u]Athaliah[/name_u] before you decide. It is the story of an incredibly evil woman who murdered all but one of her own grandchildren so she could seize the throne.(She tried to kill the last one too but he was hidden by a heroic couple and was later able to defeat her.) I wouldn’t want anyone to use the name without knowing that backstory! Since I know that story, I would be honestly horrified to meet a real little girl with that name.
I have read the story, but I do still quite like the name. I’m not planning on using it for an actual child at the moment, but I was genuinely curious about it. 
I know not everyone is familiar with the initial story 