I do consider it Biblical, but so popular that I would not assume “religious”? I’ve never heard the “devotion to God” meaning—[name_m]Caleb[/name_m] was my favorite boys’ name for almost a decade and always heard “dog” or “whole heart”. At one point I heard that in Hebrew, the idea behind it is “loves as wholeheartedly as a dog”, which I think is really lovely? Bottom line, it is a Bible name, the original [name_m]Caleb[/name_m] is from the Bible, but I don’t think that should stop someone who isn’t religious from using it. [name_m]Caleb[/name_m]’s a great name!
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As others have said, I would consider it a biblical name but I wouldn’t necessarily assume someone was religious if they used it. [name_m]Plenty[/name_m] of biblical names are used all the time by those who don’t consider themselves religious. I think names like [name_m]Isaac[/name_m], [name_u]Jonah[/name_u], or [name_u]Ezra[/name_u] are more obvious, but many popular names right now (like [name_u]Asher[/name_u] and [name_u]Levi[/name_u]) are definitely being used for their style and not necessarily their religious connotations.
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