Bump from the depths because we’re expecting baby #7! Update in post #108.
I’d love to have some help brainstorming…
We’re expecting baby #5. We’re conservative, Reformed Christians and wish to choose meaningful names that reflect our faith.
So far, our two boys have uncommon, but not outlandish, Bible names. [name]Both[/name] are in the top 1000, neither are in the top 100 (yet). Our older daughter has a rarely used botanical name with Biblical references. Our younger daughter has a rarely used Hebrew name that reflects on one of the Psalms. [name]Both[/name] of their names are decidedly feminine. Neither are in the top 1000. I hesitate to share them on this forum for privacy reasons.
Anyway, I’m having a really hard time coming up with a girl’s name that we can agree on. We like Bible names, but I’m feeling pretty uninspired in that department right now. I love [name]Hadassah[/name]–[name]Esther[/name]'s Hebrew name–but my husband doesn’t. It would fit perfectly with our current sibset, I think, but he’s already nixed it twice, so I’m pretty sure he’ll shoot it down again.
He’s also not really into virtue names, except for as a middle name possibility. [name]Virtue[/name] names are pretty common in our circles, so all but the most “out there” choices have lost their originality to me, anyway.
We’re really open to names from church history–particularly Reformation history–though (obviously) not looking for anything too [name]Roman[/name] Catholic.
I feel like I’ve read every baby name book and website that there is, but I know there has to be more out there. Can anyone help me out?
Have you considered any of the place names in the Bible? [name]Shiloh[/name]? Jerusalem? [name]Zorah[/name]? Other ideas: Hosanna, [name]Selah[/name], Chapel (imagery of little church in the woods), [name]Sunday[/name], [name]Heaven[/name]. I’ve been loving the Biblical name [name]Jerusha[/name] lately.
Or perhaps, since your Reformed confession is very important to you, you could borrow a name from one of the women of the Protestant Reformation, like [name]Olympia[/name], [name]Ursula[/name], [name]Jane[/name], [name]Katherine[/name], or Idelette.
OK, reading between the lines, your boys are named something like [name]Josiah[/name] & [name]Malachi[/name], one daughter is named [name]Selah[/name], and the other daughter is named something like [name]Acacia[/name], [name]Cassia[/name] or [name]Olivet[/name].
Actually none of this screams “Reformed movement” to me. I don’t know how strongly you’d like to go there ([name]Martina[/name] or [name]Jan[/name]?) but here are some nouveau bibilical thoughts:
[name]Jubilee[/name]
[name]Galilee[/name]
[name]Johanna[/name] (after Tetzel)
[name]Simone[/name] (after [name]Simon[/name] [name]Peter[/name], and Menno Simons)
[name]Tyne[/name] (Tyndale)
[name]Geneva[/name] (the [name]Geneva[/name] Bible; also botanical from the meaning ‘juniper’)
[name]Jarah[/name] (Hebrew biblical name meaning honeysuckle)
[name]Tamar[/name] (biblical name meaning ‘palm tree’)
[name]Pia[/name] (‘pious, faithful’ in Latin)
[name]Olivet[/name] (if not your daughter’s name)
[name]Damaris[/name]
[name]Aquila[/name]
Netanya
Abilene (Hebrew: grass. Place name from the New Testament.)
Abishag (Hebrew: my father strays. New Testament woman who cared for King David in her old age.)
Abital (Hebrew: my father is night dew. From the Old Testament, fifth wife of David.)
Ahinoam (Hebrew: my brother is pleasant. From the Old Testament, the wifes name of Saul and David.)
Apphia (Hebrew: increasing. Mentioned in the New Testament, in Paul’s epistle to Philemon.)
Aquila (Latin: Eagle. In the New Testament, lived with Paul and his wife Priscilla.)
Basemath (Hebrew: fragance. From the Old Testament, a wife of Esau.)
Damaris (Greek: calf. In the New Testament, converted to Chistianity by St. Paul.)
Eprath (Hebrew: fruitful place. From the Old Testament, one of Caleb’s wives. Also, place where Rachel is buried.)
Keren-Happuch (Hebrew: horn of eyeshadow. Third daughter of Job in the Old Testament.)
Haggith (Hebrew: festive. From the Old Testament, one of King David’s wives.)
Helah (Hebrew: rust. From the Old Testament, one of wives of Asher.)
Keturah (Hebrew: incense. Wife of Abraham after Sarah died.)
Mahalath (Hebrew: lyre. Wife of Esau and mother of Ishmael.)
Orpah (Hebrew: back of neck. 2nd daughter-in-law of Naomi from the Book of Ruth.)
Peninnah (Hebrew: precious stone. From the Old Testament, one of the wives of Elkanah.)
Rahab (Hebrew: spacious. In the Old Testament, prostitute of Jericho who aided the Israelites.)
Tryphosa (Hebrew: softness, delicacy. New Testament, companion of Tryphena.)
Saints Names:
Dymphna (Irish: fawn. Patron saint of the mentally ill.)
Euphrosyne of Alexandria (Greek: merriment. Belonged to a legendary group of virgins who dressed as men to refuse marriage.)
Frithuswith (Credited with establishing Christ Church in Oxford, England.)
Scholastica (Latin: orator, rhetorican. Twin of Saint Benedict.)
Good point; I always thought it was a reference to [name]Titus[/name] chapter 2, verses 4 & 5:
4so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,5to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Seems like the type of passage she would find inspiring.
I love [name]Noa[/name] for a girl. It’s the most popular girls name in [name]Israel[/name] and has no relation to the boys name [name]Noah[/name]. [name]Read[/name] Numbers 36 for the story of [name]Noa[/name] and how she was the first woman in history to inherent.
