I’m almost certain this kind of question will have been asked, but I’m going to just be lazy and ask again! What do you think about names with very clear religious connotations- not names like [name_u]Noah[/name_u] or [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f] or [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], or even [name_f]Grace[/name_f], names that explicitly bring religion to mind. I really love [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] but am very weary about the religious implications of the name. I’m an athiest, but my DH is (a fairly ambivalent) Episcopalian. We’re raising our children without religion (I was raised Catholic and hated it) and I don’t want our naming choices to seem like we’re forcing religion on to our kids. Am I overthinking this?
Yes, I think you’re overthinking this. Honestly, names like [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f], [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], and [name_f]Grace[/name_f] are so common that I don’t tend to associate them with religion anymore. I truly don’t think if you give your child a “religious” name that anyone will think you’re forcing religion on them.
I think you are overthinking it. [name_u]Noah[/name_u], [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f], [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], and [name_f]Grace[/name_f] are all so common that I don’t associate them with religion at all, personally. I don’t associate [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] with religion either. In fact, most of the people I know named “[name_m]Christian[/name_m]” had athiest parents. With the vast majority of “religious” names, most people won’t even think about the religious connotations, much less that you are forcing religion onto your kids.
I don’t necessarily associate “virtue” names with religion–who wouldn’t want to be graceful or hopeful?–but certain names do have very strong religious connotations to me, so much so that I would probably avoid them unless I wanted to make a religious statement. Examples include: [name_f]Faith[/name_f], [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], [name_f]Gloria[/name_f], [name_m]Christian[/name_m], and Fidelma, [name_f]Perpetua[/name_f], [name_f]Dolores[/name_f], and [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f].
There are certain names that I associate with religion. But, [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] is not one of them. I’ve met a few and none of them were extremely religious, and one wasn’t even religious at all.
[name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] makes me think of the star in Disney’s frog princess movie. Which is sweet and pretty 
It means “bearer of good news” which could be taken as a way to stay positive… not that most of us are conscious of the meaning of our names. Plus, you never know if your child is going to grow up and be religious and it might not matter to them at all anyway.
But like most everyone has said, these names are common enough that I don’t think of religion. Names like [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f], [name_f]Rachel[/name_f], [name_f]Sarah[/name_f], [name_f]Ruth[/name_f], [name_m]Daniel[/name_m], [name_f]Naomi[/name_f], [name_m]Simon[/name_m], [name_m]Peter[/name_m], [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m], [name_m]Nathaniel[/name_m], [name_m]Samuel[/name_m], [name_m]Gabriel[/name_m] and [name_m]Matthew[/name_m] are all religious names, but no one really thinks of them like that anymore. The only ones that make me think “their parents are definitely religious” are the more obscure names like [name_m]Gideon[/name_m], [name_m]Ezekiel[/name_m], [name_m]Ezra[/name_m], [name_m]Barnabas[/name_m], [name_u]Messiah[/name_u], [name_m]Lazarus[/name_m], [name_u]Jericho[/name_u], etc.
I don’t assume that someone with a Biblical or virtue name is religious. I also don’t assume that parents who’ve given their child a name with religious connotations is forcing religion on their child.
For me, the names you’ve mentioned remind me of the religious association, but not exclusively.
I do think you’re overthinking the forcing thing. As parents, we force things on our kids all the time - that sports are important (or not), that sharing is essential, that they’ll go to college, that museums are boring (or fun); we teach them our political views, our social views, our philosophical views, our educational views, our vocational views, and our religious views. Religion seems to be the only one singled out as being ‘forced,’ that I’ve ever heard.
We’re not forcing our kids to be Irish if we name them [name_u]Finn[/name_u], or to become rockers if we name them [name_m]Axel[/name_m] or [name_u]Lennon[/name_u] or [name_m]Bowie[/name_m]. It’s really more in the day-to-day that ideas are transmitted - if your heritage is Irish and you visit the British Isles regularly, or you consistently play certain music.
If you want to use [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], do it and don’t worry; you’re not forcing her to be an evangelist.
Agreed with above posters. There are some names that I would first (but not exclusively) associate with religion, but [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] is not one of them. It helps to have a celeb like [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] [name_f]Lilly[/name_f] to make the name more widely familiar.
If you named your children [name_f]Grace[/name_f], [name_m]Christian[/name_m] and [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f]…then I’d probably make some assumptions.
I am an agnostic myself and as you can see I have names like [name_f]Seraphina[/name_f], [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] and [name_m]Gabriel[/name_m] on my short list. I don’t think it’s a big deal though. They have religious connotation, but not like… [name_m]Jesus[/name_m] or [name_m]Muhammad[/name_m]. To me, their religious connotation isn’t nearly as strong. [name_m]Hence[/name_m] I have no problem using them.
Thanks for your feedback! I know I’m slightly paranoid but we live in the Bible Belt where religion reigns supreme, so.
Mm, I get your point, but as I said, I was raised super Catholic and hated it. I would never want my kids to feel like I was imposing my (nonexistent) religious beliefs onto them. Politics, philosophy, social issues, ditto.
I am an atheist too, and personally am quite wary of religious names as well. There are names I associate with religion but [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f] is not one of them - didn’t even cross my mind - don’t worry!
I agree that names with religious connotations that are more popular are fine, since there are other associations. I wouldn’t think [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f]'s parents were religious either, unless they had more children with obviously religious names. [name_m]Even[/name_m] then I wouldn’t think they were intentionally forcing religion on their children. I also worry sometimes about the same thing (being agnostic) and it has made me doubt some more unusual but religious/Biblical names like [name_m]Ephraim[/name_m]. But I think you’ll be fine with [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f].
I wouldn’t worry about it. I am not religious but some of my favorite boys names could be the names of Catholic schools. For example [name_m]Xavier[/name_m], [name_m]Ignatius[/name_m], [name_m]Vincent[/name_m], but I only realized that when someone pointed it out to me. I also love Old Testament names, lke the aforementioned Ephraim (I really may use it one day). I wouldn’t worry about it.