So, I have a religious name and until recently, I didn’t grasp the full meaning behind it. It became a lot more personal to me, and I decided I wanted to give Biblical/religious names to my children.
I was just curious whether you felt having a religious name affected your faith or if you have or plan to give your children names with a spiritual meaning or connection?
My name is Biblical (although the actual meaning does not directly mention God) and it had absolutely no effect on my spiritual development. I believed in God when I was little, because I was told that it was real and I was a child, and then I started asking questions and I grew out of it. Simple as that. I am completely confident that this would all have happened the same way no matter what name I had.
If you are religious, I appreciate that you could find a lot of meaning and support in a religious name, but having a religious name, even one as obvious as [name_m]Christian[/name_m], never stopped anyone becoming an atheist. I would guess that having a non-religious name never stopped anyone from having religious faith either! It is more to do with how you raise your children, and their own personal decisions in life.
But if you give your children Biblical names and then teach them to understand the meaning and the stories behind the names, I am sure they will appreciate that no matter what they decide they believe or don’t believe when they grow up. It is a sweet thought and it reflects what is important to you.
My middle name is biblical, well the feminized version of a biblical name ( “[name_f]Danielle[/name_f]- God is my [name_m]Judge[/name_m]”). I wouldn’t say that it has directly affected my faith, although occasionally I will think about it. Some may find it negative, but I don’t. Anyhow, I don’t really buy into the argument that having a biblical, religious, or virtue name applies pressure to the person to live up to it. The way I see it, some parents put a lot of thought into choosing a name that reflects a quality they admire, is inspired by a person in the bible that they admired or found inspirational, or so on. Nothing wrong with that. For instance, my fiance is really inspired by [name_m]Paul[/name_m] of the bible…we could very well one day name a son [name_m]Paul[/name_m], because his daddy identified with [name_m]Paul[/name_m] and found inspiration and comfort in stories about him. I don’t find it different than choosing a family name or a literature name.
All that being said, we aren’t going out of our way to choose biblical or religious names. I mean, we aren’t just going to choose names from the bible and disregard all non-biblical names. We may choose them or may not.
My middle means “pledged to God”, but I’m not religious. Like jackal, I went to church when I was little because that was what was done. [name_m]Even[/name_m] when I was little, church never connected with me so my name had no real difference when it came to faith. The one thing I do like about religious names is that because religion is widespread they are less likely to be unknown or butchered with pronunciation. If I were to use one, it would be because I liked the name or it is an honor/family name.
It doesn’t have to be “Spiritual” but it has to be meaningful
We name our children biblical names in the hopes that our children will grow up to emulate their namesakes and their noble traits. We take into consideration carefully which biblical namesakes we choose, and have particular reasons for wanting to use each one.
Hopefully our children will grow to appreciate it, and perhaps even connect in a special way with those personalities. At the very least we hope they’ll inherit the basic traits for which they were bestowed.
I’m a [name_m]Christian[/name_m]. Only one of my children’s names has been directly inspired by my [name_m]Christian[/name_m] faith: the middle name [name_f]Grace[/name_f], which was specifically chosen because its the most important facet of my [name_m]Christian[/name_m] faith. Some of the other names I have chosen have religious meanings, but weren’t chosen for that reason. Most names I’ve chosen have special meaning to me, but its not necessarily tied to the actual meaning of the name (e.g. they are family names or the name of a favourite book character). I would avoid names that contradicted my [name_m]Christian[/name_m] faith though - e.g. I like [name_f]Camilla[/name_f] but it means “attendant at a sacrifice” which has too much of a pagan connotation for me.
I am (somewhat) religious (but not mainstream [name_m]Christian[/name_m]), and I would rather name my children names that are close to my family or my heart. And if those were influenced by my religion, then yes, I guess you could say that. But most names I like? I just like them!
I know people with religious names but chose to be atheist when they grow up, so no, the religious connection doesn’t mean much to me. I am an agnostic and I have no problem giving my future kids a name with religious feel, as long as they aren’t very important characters in the religion because I think it’ll be just too much (e.g, I won’t use [name_m]Jesus[/name_m] or [name_f]Mary[/name_f] or [name_m]Mohammad[/name_m], but I’ll use [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] or [name_m]Thomas[/name_m], etc).
Two of the girls’ names in my signature mean ‘butterfly,’ and butterflies have a great deal of personal and spiritual significance to me and my journey. But other than that, no, I don’t plan on using religious names unless you count generic virtue ones like ‘[name_f]Hope[/name_f], [name_f]Faith[/name_f], [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_f]Mercy[/name_f], [name_f]Joy[/name_f],’ etc. etc. I come from a very [name_m]Christian[/name_m] background, but I don’t identify as a [name_m]Christian[/name_m] anymore in the way most people think of it; haven’t since I was a small child.
Speaking for myself, I would never give a child any name that was blatantly and inescapably tethered to any one religion because you have no way to know what kind of adult that child is going to grow into. No matter how much you try to instill a particular set of beliefs, they could grow up to be atheist, or agnostic, or convert to a very different religion, or choose a path in life that does not align precisely with their parents’ religious beliefs. To have an overtly religious name under those circumstances could be very uncomfortable, so I want to be respectful of my children’s right to explore those important questions for themselves when they are adults without feeling like their names are an impediment - if that makes any sense.
I’m in no way saying it’s wrong to give a child a religious name, especially if it has great significance for you. If you have very well thought-out reasons for doing so, your child will probably be deeply moved that you put so much consideration into it and it might be a really nice connection and opportunity to share your faith. But no, I don’t think that the simple act of choosing a religious name over a nonreligious one is going to sway the child towards or away from a particular belief system. That is up to the child to decide.
I don’t think that bestowing a particular name on a child will have an effect upon their religious/spiritual beliefs. I have several Biblical names on my list and would ideally like to include one in the names of all of my children. For me it’s more of a heritage thing than a religious thing if that makes sense.
The only thing that’s important is that the name you choose in meaningful to you in some way. A name doesn’t have to be from the Bible–or any other religious text–to be spiritual.
My first name is not spiritual but my middle name ([name_f]Marie[/name_f]) is spiritual (after [name_f]Mary[/name_f]) and meaningful (family tradition). My son’s first and middle names are both names of Catholic Saints. I like the connection a lot, they are both good men that I hope he strives to be like. They also are both family names, which is awesome as well. We’re going to try to keep up the Saints/Biblical names thing in at least one name for each of our future kids.
I love a lot of biblical names because of the association to the godly people in the stories… But I feel similarly toward characters from [name_m]Shakespeare[/name_m] and Arthurian Legends.
In some ways I am indirectly deterred from using biblical names by my [name_m]Christian[/name_m] community because there are already an overabundance of biblical names in every generation.
That being said, I am intentional about the meaning of names - as name meanings are consistently stated in the bible, and I see them as a wish for children.
ie: choosing [name_m]Declan[/name_m] (man of prayer) over [name_m]Daniel[/name_m].
My name is not Biblical, but I come from a conservative [name_m]Christian[/name_m] background. To me, names don’t define your beliefs. I don’t really tend judge a person based on their name (unless it’s something like [name_f]Jezebel[/name_f] or [name_m]Lucifer[/name_m]…I wouldn’t assume those parents were religious at all). But, if you use something very Biblical, I’d think that you’re [name_m]Christian[/name_m]. These are names like [name_m]Jeremiah[/name_m], [name_f]Ruth[/name_f], [name_m]Elijah[/name_m], etc. If it were a name like [name_f]Mary[/name_f], [name_m]Mark[/name_m], [name_m]Luke[/name_m], or even [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], then it wouldn’t faze me because they are so widely used already.
Personally, I would like there to be a Biblical or at least a meaningful name for my future children. 
I don’t feel the need to have a religious name, even though my faith means a lot to me and religious names always are a bonus. I think of it more as a bonus than a necessity. All my siblings have a Biblical name (my brother and sister are [name_m]John[/name_m] and [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f], and my other sister has the MN [name_f]Ruth[/name_f]), but it took me a while to realize that I have a variation of one ([name_f]Marie[/name_f]). I love names that remind me of scripture, though–like [name_f]Tess/name_f/[name_f]Theresa[/name_f], which means “harvester” (reminds me of the passage where [name_m]Jesus[/name_m] says the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few), or [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] (which means “messenger”), or [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] (which reminds me of one of [name_m]Jesus[/name_m]’ titles, [name_f]Lily[/name_f] of the [name_f]Valley[/name_f]), etc.
I agree with @jackal - I don’t think having a non-religious FN really affected me, and I don’t think it’ll determine the faith of your child, but I think it does reflect your faith and your interests, and I think it’s sweet to put so much love and thought into your child’s name. I would go out of my way to get a Biblical name for my child, but if I find one I love, it would just make the choice that much more meaningful to me. Much like I didn’t go out of my way to find [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] or [name_u]Finley[/name_u], both of whose meanings (“noble strength” and “fair hero”, respectfully) sort of honor my family members’ service in the military.
I feel like that really sums it up well!
My brothers and I all have some names with religious connotations and some without. They have a few Biblical names, one of my middles means ‘pledged to God’ and one of my brother’s first names is actually [name]Christian[/name] - but we’re all atheists. My dad is religious and my mum is kind of agnostic and she was the one who chose all our names. I asked her about the reasons once and she told me it was simply because she liked the names, no religious motivations at all. Names are important, sure, and should mean something, but I don’t think they have any real impact in terms of faith. That’s all about the kind of upbringing and education you receive.
I’m Wiccan, and my children have names that are spiritually/religiously significant to that faith. I do hope that knowing the meanings behind their names will aid them at some stage of their development. I remember going through that teenage “finding who I am” stage, and things like my baby book, star sign etc really helped me begin to define myself. I know they likely will not grow up to be Wiccan, but I hope that their names will bring a connotation of warm childhood memories, fun, safety and that kind of thing. I also acknowledge that they may change their names as adults, like I did, and I will try and be cool with that.
As they are named after Goddesses, I hope to impart to them that divinity is within them, that they are inherently good rather than inherently flawed and full of sin… that they should honour and respect themselves, and surround themselves by people who do the same. I hope, somehow, they will find some kind of confidence and strength in their names.
With that said, my name is a biblical name. I had no issue with that when I chose it (and for the most part still don’t because it is very much me) but people (strangers) do assume I’m Catholic simply based on my name. I’ve had people make comments like “I hope you’re upholding the sanctity of your name” and “I hope you realise the full weight of bearing such a name and live as a good [name_m]Christian[/name_m] should” which is irritating as hell because it always seems to happen when I’m at work and can’t tell them where to go haha. So I can see the downside of giving children obviously religious names when there is no guarantee they will follow that religion as adults.