Traditional, non-biblical names?

Hi everyone,
I love traditional names for boys and have a lot of ones that lean Christian, especially into my Catholic upbringing (someone named it Papal style at one point!). We’re talking Blaise, Pascal (future Blaise Pascal the second maybe?), Gregory, Anselm, Crispin, Clement - as well as more common Biblical classics like Joseph. Let’s face it, if a Medieval Pope was named it, I’ll like it.

Only problem is that I ideally want to avoid a biblical name for various reasons if I was to actually use a name. I have enough on my girls’ list I could probably avoid the religious connections but not so much on the boys’ list.

Any thoughts?

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I see [name_m]Ambrose[/name_m] mentioned on here a lot and it seems to fit this style. Maybe also [name_m]Theodore[/name_m], [name_m]Edmund[/name_m], [name_m]Frederick[/name_m], [name_m]Hugh[/name_m], [name_u]George[/name_u], [name_m]Charles[/name_m]?

ETA: [name_m]Edgar[/name_m]? [name_m]Clarence[/name_m]? [name_u]Michael[/name_u]? (I know [name_u]Michael[/name_u] is an archangel, but I don’t think that’s most people’s association with it.)

2nd ETA: I keep thinking of more: [name_u]Robert[/name_u].

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[name_m]Alexander[/name_m], [name_m]Charles[/name_m], [name_u]Dylan[/name_u], [name_m]Albert[/name_m], [name_m]Hugh[/name_m], [name_m]Frederick[/name_m], [name_m]Adrian[/name_m], [name_m]Arthur[/name_m], [name_m]Louis[/name_m], [name_m]Edward[/name_m], [name_m]Duncan[/name_m], [name_u]Jasper[/name_u], [name_m]Dominic[/name_m], [name_m]Kenneth[/name_m], [name_m]Malcolm[/name_m], [name_m]Philip[/name_m], [name_m]Anthony[/name_m], [name_m]William[/name_m], [name_m]Martin[/name_m], [name_m]Walter[/name_m], [name_m]Andrew[/name_m], [name_m]Vincent[/name_m]

Apologies if any biblical names slipped in. I don’t consider any of these to be biblical or religious.

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[name_m]Edwin[/name_m]
[name_m]Henry[/name_m]
[name_m]Andrew[/name_m]
[name_u]Oliver[/name_u]
[name_u]Lawrence[/name_u]
[name_m]Arthur[/name_m]

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[name_m]Henry[/name_m]! [name_m]Richard[/name_m], [name_m]Roger[/name_m], Lawrence/Laurence, [name_m]Alfred[/name_m], Elwin/Elwyn, [name_m]Lewis[/name_m], [name_m]Christopher[/name_m] (though its meaning might rule it out for you), [name_m]Patrick[/name_m], [name_m]Jack[/name_m].

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Blaise Pascal is adorable!!

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Let’s see…

[name_m]Arthur[/name_m]
[name_m]Victor[/name_m]
[name_u]Julian[/name_u]
[name_m]Oscar[/name_m]
[name_m]Alistair[/name_m]
[name_m]Frederick[/name_m]
[name_m]Otto[/name_m]
[name_m]Vincent[/name_m]
[name_m]Harvey[/name_m]
[name_m]Augustus[/name_m]
[name_m]Hugo[/name_m]
[name_m]Louis[/name_m]

I’m not sure if any of these have biblical associations, sorry if they do!

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Huge thank you everyone.

@lisshie I had [name_m]Ambrose[/name_m] on my list for a while but originally came across it through the [name_m]Saint[/name_m], which slightly puts me off. I’ll need to poll friends to see if they remember his existence or not. I do love [name_m]Edgar[/name_m] and [name_m]Clarence[/name_m] and [name_u]Robert[/name_u] is definitely good MN territory, thank you!
@Radar7 Thanks for all these! I like [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], [name_m]Hugh[/name_m], [name_m]Frederick[/name_m] and [name_m]Malcolm[/name_m] as firsts.
@Greyblue [name_m]Arthur[/name_m], [name_m]Edwin[/name_m] and [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] definitely fit the bill, thank you.
@auroradawn [name_m]Christopher[/name_m] is already out as it’s a close family member’s name so that’s solved that conundrum! I like [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] (bit sainty but also a family name so there’s that), [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] and [name_m]Roger[/name_m] - wouldn’t have thought of [name_m]Roger[/name_m] by myself either, so thank you.
@tfzolghadr so many wonderful names here, thank you. [name_f]My[/name_f] favourites are [name_m]Wilfred[/name_m], [name_m]Edmund[/name_m], [name_u]Lionel[/name_u], [name_u]Quentin[/name_u], [name_m]Ernest[/name_m], [name_m]Graham[/name_m] and possibly [name_m]Leonard[/name_m].
@Mar it is! [name_m]Just[/name_m] a bit philosopher-y for me!
@ethelmary thank you, I do love [name_m]Alistair[/name_m] and [name_m]Augustus[/name_m] - and will think about [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], [name_m]Vincent[/name_m] and [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] too.

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I think Biblical names are a bit hard to avoid because there are so many of them. Especially when you consider the more obscure Biblical figures. Until recently, I didn’t even know that there was a [name_f]Julia[/name_f] in the Bible.

If you want a traditional name that’s not Biblical, then I think royal names or saints’ names (if you’re okay with saints’ names) would be a good place to start.

[name_m]Louis[/name_m]
[name_m]William[/name_m]
[name_m]Henry[/name_m]
[name_u]George[/name_u]
[name_m]Charles[/name_m]
[name_m]Edward[/name_m]
[name_m]Edgar[/name_m]
[name_m]Edmund[/name_m]
[name_m]Albert[/name_m]
[name_m]Clarence[/name_m]
[name_m]Arthur[/name_m]
[name_m]Nicholas[/name_m]
Lawrence/Laurence
[name_m]Sebastian[/name_m]
[name_m]Maximilian[/name_m]
[name_m]Gerard[/name_m]
[name_m]Eugene[/name_m]
[name_m]Benedict[/name_m]
[name_m]Cyril[/name_m]
Sylvan/Silvan
[name_m]Adrian[/name_m]
[name_u]Julian[/name_u]
[name_m]Alban[/name_m]
[name_m]Alfred[/name_m]
[name_u]Augustine[/name_u]
[name_m]Augustus[/name_m] (Caesar [name_m]Augustus[/name_m] is mentioned in the Bible which makes this technically a Biblical name, but clearly he was a historical figure)
[name_u]Basil[/name_u]
[name_u]Constantine[/name_u]
[name_m]Damian[/name_m]
[name_m]Demetrius[/name_m]
[name_m]Leander[/name_m]
[name_m]Evander[/name_m]
[name_m]Victor[/name_m]
[name_m]Theodore[/name_m]
[name_u]Milo[/name_u]
[name_m]Leon[/name_m]
[name_m]Leo[/name_m]

Apologies if some of these are not to your taste.

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