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HelpRe: Do your religious beliefs influence your name choice?
in reply to a message by InvisibleDreamer
I don't practice a religion.
The influence on me is like: If I feel like a name seems associated with religion, then also I feel I need to have at least a little understanding of what it means in that religion, before I would use it. Similar to how I feel about names from other cultures - I need to know that it isn't terribly freighted for people who recognize it as "their own" ethnically, before I use it. Like, if I liked the name Jeremy, I'd want to at least go and read about Jeremiah of the Bible, and take that into account before deciding whether to use Jeremy.
Tons of Bible names seem just normative and not religious. Like Sarah, or John - I'd use them.
Mary seems religious-ish despite being very normative - more religious seeming than say, Eve or Ruth does. But I like the religious meaning of Mary well enough to use even Maria.
I think I'd use, say, Matthew if I liked it - but I would want to at least have in mind a Bible verse I liked. Because Matthew just seems so recognizably New Testamenty to me. I like having some array of small meaningful connections to offer the child when he asks about his name, not just "I liked how it sounded." I don't think I need to be a religious person, to respect a bit of the Bible that can have a universal meaning.
The vast majority of my name list is names that are not of Hebrew origin, so, not too many names I consider religious or Biblical.
I'm not sure why, mostly I think names of other origins just hit my comfort zone or taste better.
Almost my entire family (whose lifetimes have overlapped mine) have non-Hebrew-origin names.
- mirfak
The influence on me is like: If I feel like a name seems associated with religion, then also I feel I need to have at least a little understanding of what it means in that religion, before I would use it. Similar to how I feel about names from other cultures - I need to know that it isn't terribly freighted for people who recognize it as "their own" ethnically, before I use it. Like, if I liked the name Jeremy, I'd want to at least go and read about Jeremiah of the Bible, and take that into account before deciding whether to use Jeremy.
Tons of Bible names seem just normative and not religious. Like Sarah, or John - I'd use them.
Mary seems religious-ish despite being very normative - more religious seeming than say, Eve or Ruth does. But I like the religious meaning of Mary well enough to use even Maria.
I think I'd use, say, Matthew if I liked it - but I would want to at least have in mind a Bible verse I liked. Because Matthew just seems so recognizably New Testamenty to me. I like having some array of small meaningful connections to offer the child when he asks about his name, not just "I liked how it sounded." I don't think I need to be a religious person, to respect a bit of the Bible that can have a universal meaning.
The vast majority of my name list is names that are not of Hebrew origin, so, not too many names I consider religious or Biblical.
I'm not sure why, mostly I think names of other origins just hit my comfort zone or taste better.
Almost my entire family (whose lifetimes have overlapped mine) have non-Hebrew-origin names.
- mirfak
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Thank you.