The World's Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

What's in a name? (If you are atheist BUT your given name has religious meaning)

I am one of those free-thinking individuals christened as "Dominique" -- ah, how godly indeed.

I was baptized and confirmed at the age when I could not protest, hence am stuck with the name (for now).

I wonder if anyone of you share the same experience about having a "religious" name and if so, what do you think about it? Are you considering having it changed?

Come to think of it, there aren't many atheist names apart from the obvious (viz. Darwin)

Tags: name, naming

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on May 15, 2009 at 11:17pm

"Call me Ishmael" - The most famous opening lines, in one of the most important books in the English language. Moby Dick. Maybe you should try going by it for a while, and see how people react to you! It's a cool sounding name, to me.

I did not used to like my middle name, Edwin. For about, say, 30 years. Now I like it, partly because I have never known someone personally with the name. It's not the same as Eduardo (Edward) but is close. Neither name is Biblical.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dr. Ned Kelly on May 16, 2009 at 2:21am

A lot of Puerto Rican guys have that name Edwin, I think it might be a popular choice by those in New York City, selected by parents one or two generations removed from the island.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Eduardo on May 16, 2009 at 9:44am

The problem is that I'm pretty sure that neither of my parents has ever read Moby Dick and I believe they chose Ismael because of one character in the bible. If I read Moby Dick I might come to like my name but it I think it would still be considered a biblical name by everyone here in México. In fact, doesn't the ending "el" in some names mean "god"?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on May 16, 2009 at 9:52pm

Eduardo,
You are probably right. Is it just the association with christianity or islam, or with religion? For esample, if your name was Thor, or Apollo, or something similar that had nonchristian connotations, would it be objectionable?

I like the stories around my name, even though it's biblical. I suppose that if it was Jesus I might feel differently about it!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dr. Ned Kelly on May 15, 2009 at 8:26pm

I named my dog Jesus. When he died he never came back.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on May 16, 2009 at 9:52pm

Maybe you just didn't believe hard enough?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Claudia M. Mazzucco on May 16, 2009 at 11:13am

I am Claudia.

My name is not mentioned in the Bible but the name of Pilate’s wife was also Claudia.

Three years ago I thought of changing my first name for Sidney but then I read a story about her.
Claudia saw in a dream that the trial of Jesus would be trouble and could lead her husband career to a disgraceful end –as it was. She got premonition and tried to make justice to an innocent man, despite political pressures. So, I decided to keep my name.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Claudia M. Mazzucco on May 22, 2009 at 3:19pm

Ha, ha, ha, ha. You are hilarious, Alex!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on May 16, 2009 at 9:56pm

There were a number of high ranking Roman women named Claudia. You have a wikipedia write-up here.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Rev Hellbound Alleee on May 16, 2009 at 1:19pm

My husband's name means Free God-Lover, or French God Lover. (Francois Theodore). My name means Truth Faith, or Princess Fairy, depending on the country. (Alison Faye). I could be a Disney Doll.

I suppose if you go back far enough, names have something to do with religion anyway.

But we were named for conventional reasons. My Gramma and a friend, his popular name in his province, I guess. I think his Grandpere's name was Theodore. That's how most people do it.

We planned on naming our son, if we had one, Thomas Carl, after Thomas Paine and Carl Sagan (and my dad's family name, Charles). Thomas, as a biblical name, would be okay by us! A girl would be Ann Hypatia. Hypatia for obvious reasons, Ann because I think it's a beautiful english name that sounds good, plus it tickled my husband's former Objectivist self that her name would be Ann Randall. Not that he's a fan of her anymore, but it's still amusing, and kind of musical and kickass. (Yes, we would go by my family name, not his, by his own wishes.) Ann is also the name of Mary's mother, but no big deal to me.

However, since we've both rejected breeding on principle, only our pets would take those names, so it's kind of moot.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on May 17, 2009 at 9:34am

Congratulations on your husband's decommissioning as a Randroid.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on May 18, 2009 at 11:26am

Evidently Morocco has a list of approved names from which you can name your children. None of the approved names in Morocco are Amazigh. However, the majority of people in Morocco are Amazigh.

Disappearing the Amazigh.

Morocco bans Berber names on birth certificates.