Are you searching for a religious baby name to pay homage to your spiritual beliefs? Organized religion is the backbone of people around the world and the names from religions find their way onto birth certificates worldwide. Come check out the most interesting names for boys and girls that come from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and more!
Christianity is the world’s largest religion with over 2.1 billion adherents. Christians of all denominations turn to the Bible for guidance and comfort and it is no wonder that so many people around the world have a Christian- or Bible-based name.
Christian baby names
The name Mary comes from the Bible as the mother of Jesus. She has inspired parents around the world who have bestowed that name, or one of the many variations of it, on their girls. Mary is a Hebrew name meaning, “wished for child” or “rebellion.”
The older version of the name is Miriam, which is a Hebrew name, and is also the name of the sister of Moses. Maria is another version of the name and is widely used around the world as well — for example, in some countries, such as Mexico, it is a tradition to name the firstborn daughter Maria. Another version, Marie, is a popular choice as a first name and even more popular as a middle name.
Other verions of the name Mary that are just as wonderful but a little less common are Mari, Marianne, Maura, Moira, Molly, Marin, Marianna, Marilyn, May, Marla, Meridel, Maritsa, Muriel, Marybeth, Marya, Malia, Marilla, Maureen, Mamie or Marietta.
Another beautiful Biblical girl name is Rebecca. The name as it appears in the Bible is Rebekah and it is Hebrew meaning, “captivating” or “knotted cord.” Other versions of this name that you might want to check out are: Becca, Riva, Rivi, Rivka, Reba, Ree, Rebekha, Rebba, Rivy and Rivekka.
A Biblical name that has been popular with boys for centuries is Joseph. It has Hebrew roots and means “Jehovah increases.” It also has quite a number of variations to choose from. Check these other forms of Joseph out: Che, Iosef, Joss, Joe, Giuseppe, Yusuf, Seppi, Joey, Pino, Jodie, José, Josep or Pipo.
Abraham is another major Biblical figure and there are several other versions of that name as well: Ibrahim, Avi, Avram, Bram, Abe, Abarran and Abran.
Other Biblical boy names that are popular and have been for many years are: Jacob, Isaac, Jesus (popular in Spanish-speaking countries), Eli, Samuel, Simon, Peter and David. If you want a different version of some of these names, how about: Cobb, Jacoby, Seamus, Iago, Zack, Elijah, Shem, Simeon, Symon, Per, Piotr, Davon, Davi and Daviel.
For more ideas, check out our list of top Hebrew baby names.
Islamic names
The religion of Islam has over 1.5 billion followers. Its founder, the prophet Muhammad, has been the namesake of countless boys. The name has a few different versions and spellings, such as Hamid, Mohammed, Mehmoud, Mehmet, Mahmoud, Hammad and Mehmood.
There are many different “attribute names” of Allah, or God, and some of the more prevalent ones are Ali, Kadir, Quadir, Rahim, Wahib, Azim and Hakeem.
For girl names, we only have to look so far as Muhammad’s family tree. Khadija, his first wife, means “early baby” and she is known as one of the four perfect women according to the Koran — the others being Mary (mother of Jesus), Fatima (daughter of Muhammad) and Aisha (another wife of Muhammad). In Islam, Mary is more commonly known as Maryam, the Arabic version of her name.
For more ideas, check out our list of Muslim baby names.
Hindu names
Hindu is the third largest world religion with around a billion followers. The religion has a large number of deities — over 300,000 in fact!
Some girl names that come from Hindu goddesses are: Kali,Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Devi, Sita, Radha, Parvati and Matrikas.
Some Hindu god names for boys are: Deva, Shiva, Rama, Indra, Surya, Brama, Krishna, Murugan, Hanuman and Ganesha.
Bestowing a religious name on your child is a wonderful way to honor your religion. Whatever religion you follow, look to holy scriptures and important figures in your quest.
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