Biblical boys name help!

[name_m]Hi[/name_m] there,

[name_m]Long[/name_m] time background observer on here but now finally in a position where I need to decide on on actual name and need help please!!!

22 weeks pregnant with a little boy so in one sense have plenty of time but I’m the most indecisive person there is so really need to seriously start narrowing it down now!

Basic requirements are as follows:

  1. Good strong Biblical/Hebrew name
  2. Meaning of the name is really important to me
  3. Good nickname potential
  4. Middle names will be [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] so needs to flow well with them too
  5. Nothing too popular

So far my short list is as follows:

[name_m]Aaron[/name_m]
[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m]
[name_m]Caleb[/name_m]
[name_m]Ethan[/name_m]
[name_m]Jacob[/name_m]
[name_m]Nathan[/name_m]
[name_u]Seth[/name_u]
[name_m]Zachary[/name_m]

Any help and/or other suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

[name_m]Josiah[/name_m], [name_u]Jo[/name_u]
[name_m]Ezra[/name_m]
[name_u]James[/name_u], [name_m]Jim[/name_m], [name_m]Jimmy[/name_m]
[name_u]Asa[/name_u]
[name_m]Levi[/name_m]
[name_m]Asher[/name_m], [name_u]Ash[/name_u]
[name_m]Judah[/name_m], [name_u]Jude[/name_u]
[name_m]Abram[/name_m], [name_m]Abe[/name_m]
[name_u]Jude[/name_u]
[name_m]Tobias[/name_m], [name_u]Toby[/name_u]
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], [name_m]Nate[/name_m]
[name_u]Noah[/name_u]
[name_m]Daniel[/name_m], [name_u]Danny[/name_u], [name_m]Dan[/name_m]
[name_m]Elijah[/name_m], [name_m]Eli[/name_m]
[name_m]David[/name_m], [name_m]Dave[/name_m], [name_m]Davey[/name_m]
[name_m]Joseph[/name_m], [name_m]Joe[/name_m], [name_u]Joey[/name_u]
[name_m]Gabriel[/name_m], [name_m]Gabe[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m], [name_u]Sam[/name_u], [name_u]Sammy[/name_u]

I love [name_u]Seth[/name_u] from your short list. All the rest are very nice too, [name_u]Seth[/name_u] just stands out.

Some others:
[name_m]Ezra[/name_m] - “help”
[name_m]Joel[/name_m] - “Yahweh is God”
[name_m]Jared[/name_m] - “descent”
[name_m]Simeon[/name_m]/[name_m]Simon[/name_m] - “He has heard”
[name_m]Malachi[/name_m] - “My messenger”/“my angel”
[name_m]Gideon[/name_m] - “feller”/“hewer”
[name_m]Eli[/name_m] - “ascension”
[name_m]Elijah[/name_m] - “My god is Yahweh”
[name_m]Gabriel[/name_m] - “God is my strong man”
[name_m]Isaiah[/name_m] - "Yahweh is salvation.
[name_m]Jeremiah[/name_m]/[name_m]Jeremy[/name_m] - “Yahweh has uplifted”
[name_m]Rueben[/name_m] - “behold, a son”
[name_m]Levi[/name_m] - “joined, attached”

(Meanings taken from behindthename.com, might differ from other sources)

My favs are:

[name_m]Adam[/name_m]
[name_m]Timothy[/name_m]
[name_m]Phillip[/name_m]
[name_m]John[/name_m]
[name_m]Ezekiel[/name_m]
[name_m]Ezra[/name_m]
[name_m]Gideon[/name_m]
[name_m]Joseph[/name_m]

[name_m]How[/name_m] popular is too popular for you? [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m], and [name_m]Ethan[/name_m] are on the top 10 for the US, [name_m]Caleb[/name_m] and [name_m]Nathan[/name_m] are within the top 50, and [name_m]Aaron[/name_m] and [name_m]Zachary[/name_m] are within the top 100. [name_u]Seth[/name_u] ranks at 278, so if you’re wanting a less-used Bible name, that may be your best bet?

Other Biblical names of varying popularity:

[name_u]Noah[/name_u] (although this is THE most popular boys’ name, so maybe you wish to avoid it?)
[name_m]Boaz[/name_m] (I think it has a lot of the appeal of [name_u]Noah[/name_u], with much less popularity–plus, [name_u]Bo[/name_u] as a nn is adorable!)
[name_m]Isaac[/name_m]
[name_m]Joel[/name_m]
[name_m]Ezra[/name_m]
[name_m]Ezekiel[/name_m]
[name_m]Thomas[/name_m]
[name_m]Peter[/name_m]
[name_m]Daniel[/name_m] (again, very popular)
[name_m]Gabriel[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m]
[name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m]
[name_m]Samson[/name_m]
[name_m]Judah[/name_m]
[name_m]Jonah[/name_m]/[name_m]Jonas[/name_m]
[name_m]Josiah[/name_m]
[name_m]Isaiah[/name_m]
[name_m]Asher[/name_m]
[name_m]Levi[/name_m]
[name_m]Reuben[/name_m]
[name_m]Israel[/name_m]
[name_m]Matthias[/name_m]
[name_m]Paul[/name_m]
[name_m]Thaddeus[/name_m]
[name_m]Theophilus[/name_m] (sort of eclectic, but I love him anyhow!)
[name_m]Andrew[/name_m]

For what it’s worth, if you’re naming for religious value, I’d probably avoid [name_m]Eli[/name_m] (although [name_m]Elijah[/name_m] is nice–popular, but nice) and [name_m]Tobias[/name_m]–just because I find the Biblical characters to be unsavory, but I suppose I could be the only one. [name_m]Eli[/name_m] was a glutton, a terrible father, a pushover. And [name_m]Tobiah[/name_m] hated the people of God and tried to destroy them as they tried to build the wall around Jerusalem. They’re still pretty names, though. :wink:

Good luck!

Thanks for all your responses!

Should have probably included in my original post the names that have already been used by friends/family:

[name_m]Josiah[/name_m]
[name_m]Joseph[/name_m]
[name_m]Ezra[/name_m]
[name_u]James[/name_u]
[name_m]Daniel[/name_m]
[name_m]Elijah[/name_m]
[name_m]David[/name_m]
[name_m]Gabriel[/name_m]
[name_m]Samuel[/name_m]
[name_m]Jared[/name_m]
[name_m]Reuben[/name_m]
[name_m]John[/name_m]
[name_m]Adam[/name_m]

Also I live in [name_f]Ireland[/name_f] so I think maybe the popularity of names is slightly different over here :slight_smile:

Out of the rest I actually really love [name_m]Boaz[/name_m] but not sure how it goes with my common Irish surname!! Also love [name_m]Joel[/name_m] but my dad’s name is [name_m]Joe[/name_m] so not sure if it’s a bit too close to that. Ahhh so many to chose from and none that are really screaming to me yet :frowning:

Ohh, I’m glad! I think [name_m]Boaz[/name_m] is seriously cool–I’ve got it on my list for my grandmother, who was a [name_f]Ruth[/name_f], and I think the whole [name_f]Ruth[/name_f] and [name_m]Boaz[/name_m] thing is adorable. :wink: I don’t know, I think something like [name_m]Boaz[/name_m] [name_m]Callahan[/name_m] works really well, but I feel like [name_m]Boaz[/name_m] is one of those names that would knock just about anyone’s socks off, so you’d have to be brave to use it, haha.

And good point about popularity differences! I don’t know if you’ve seen statistics in [name_f]Ireland[/name_f], but I was able to find this regarding popularity in 2015. It looks like [name_m]Aaron[/name_m], [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m], [name_m]Nathan[/name_m], [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], and [name_m]Ethan[/name_m] all make this list, but [name_u]Seth[/name_u] and [name_m]Caleb[/name_m] don’t. :wink: So maybe either of those would be good options for you, if you’re trying to avoid popular. [name_m]Caleb[/name_m] would get my vote, but I’m obviously biased, since he’s my favorite boys’ name. :wink:

I really love [name_m]Jonah[/name_m] from the other suggestions.

[name_m]How[/name_m] about [name_m]Amos[/name_m]?

My favorite names on your list are:

[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] (love nn [name_m]Ben[/name_m])
[name_m]Caleb[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] (nn [name_u]Cal[/name_u] is very cool)

Perhaps:

[name_m]Abel[/name_m]
[name_m]Abner[/name_m]
[name_m]Abraham[/name_m]
[name_m]Bartholomew[/name_m]
[name_m]Benedict[/name_m]
[name_m]Cain[/name_m]/Cainan
[name_m]Canaan[/name_m]
Cryus
[name_m]Darius[/name_m]
[name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m]/[name_m]Immanuel[/name_m]
[name_m]Felix[/name_m]
[name_u]Ira[/name_u]
[name_m]Jason[/name_m]
[name_m]Jebediah[/name_m]
[name_m]Jedidiah[/name_m]/[name_m]Jed[/name_m]
[name_u]Jesse[/name_u]
[name_m]Joshua[/name_m]
[name_m]Josiah[/name_m]
[name_m]Jonah[/name_m]
[name_m]Jonas[/name_m]
[name_m]Lucas[/name_m]
[name_m]Luke[/name_m]
[name_m]Mark[/name_m]
[name_m]Phineas[/name_m]
[name_m]Raphael[/name_m]
[name_m]Rufus[/name_m]
[name_m]Saul[/name_m]
[name_u]Shiloh[/name_u]
[name_m]Silas[/name_m]
[name_m]Solomon[/name_m]
[name_m]Stephen[/name_m]
[name_m]Titus[/name_m]

[name_m]How[/name_m] long is your last name? A lot of your options are two syllables, so if you have a last name like “[name_m]Glover[/name_m]” it might be a little monotonous… [name_m]Ethan[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_m]Glover[/name_m]. Not the worst though! From your list I like [name_m]Aaron[/name_m] and [name_m]Caleb[/name_m] best, and I like the suggestion of [name_m]Amos[/name_m].

[name_m]Aaron[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u]
[name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u]
[name_m]Caleb[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u]
[name_m]Jacob[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u]
[name_u]Seth[/name_u] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u]

From other’s suggestions, I REALLY love [name_m]Elijah[/name_m] and [name_u]Noah[/name_u] <3

Surname has 3 syllables - very Irish - think Mc*** or O’***! :slight_smile:

I think you have a lot of great options, @wishing_well! [name_m]Caleb[/name_m] is my favorite, especially with your surname.