Biblical names

My favourite biblical name is Mahallaleel so I can't judge 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ it's not up to your in laws anyway. If you like the name go for it. Even if you end up using it as a middle name is some kind of compromise

Sorry for your loss OP. I like Josiah. As well as the Biblical association, I associate it with President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing (known as Jed) - which is a very positive association for me! Good luck with your rainbow baby 🌈

I associate Josiah with Josiah Wedgewood who had a brilliant mind and was a great artist. He was a cousin of Charles Darwin.
I love the name and much prefer it to the similar Joseph

You don't have to wholeheartedly believe in something to be able to appreciate the beauty of it.

This is true. But most people will assume that if your child has an obviously religious name then you and your family are religious. Or, at least, that you endorse that religion. This may not bother you. But it obviously bothers your partner and MIL which I think is fair enough if they don't want the child to be associated with any particular religion before the child has had chance to choose for themselves.

The Josiah I know is known as Joss.

I font know any Josiahs, but I like it and it seems to fit with the other old testament names being used., it makes a change from Joshua and Joseph.

More my son’s name is biblical (a saints name actually) but I’m not religious. My daughter’s name means bird-I don’t like birds. Not everyone cares about meanings. Some people pick a name just because they like the sound of it or it holds a specific meaning to them. Some people don’t even look up what their children’s name means prior to choosing them.

I have 2 primary school age DC and I am a Cub leader. Old Testament nines are very popular amongst my DC’s peers; I know at least 2 of Elijah, Noah, Jonah, Issac, Samuel, Reuben and Malachi, and a Zebulon. I went to school with an I love that name, but have never met another.

It’s more about the meaning than the appearance in the book. If you don’t believe in (any) “God” why would you deliberately choose a name because it has a meaning directly related to one? “God is great”/“God’s blessing” etc?

If I named a child Cushelle I’d expect the connotation with toilet roll to be pretty constant. Why is it any different?

@MoreSlidingDoors

We're atheists and initially my husband argued that he didn't want any biblical names because of the association. I then pointed out that we both have names that appear in the Bible (mine is a fairly common Hebrew one), neither of us have been christened and it had no impact on us whatsoever. Also, many classic names, particularly for boys appear in the Bible so if he could find something timeless that we could both agree on,that didn't appear, I'd love to hear his suggestions.
We have two boys, both have names that appear in the Bible. He's never mentioned it since.

I think dismissing a huge number of names, just because they appear in a book is rather narrow minded.

Always look up the meanings.

Malachi wasn’t a name at all. It was a translator thinking it was a name. It meant dust.

I like it. I really wanted Elijah or Micah for ds2. But dp said no as he’s not religious. Then came out with his fav name- Seth! 😂

Josiah is lovely. I know one who goes by Jed.

I don’t think biblical names are going anywhere in terms of popularity. Isaac remains ubiquitous, and previously unusual names like Eli and Ezra have been climbing steadily.

I can’t imagine that all of the parents of the Joshuas, Josephs and Samuels born over the last twenty years are deeply religious. You don’t have to be religious to recognise the cultural importance of the Judeo-Christian bible in western civilisation.

I too like biblical names. My DH and three of our DCs have a biblical first name.

Josiah is lovely. Currently, I also rather like Isaac, Jethro, Phineus, Malachi and Gideon.

I'm not religious myself, but I am a teacher of religion at secondary level.

it will be a way of God saying we are supported, and that we have healed.

Is that not a contradiction?

I find it weird that DH’s atheist brothers have named their children with Hebrew/Old Testament names (eg Isaac, Elijah). As atheists we didn’t want anything with any sort of religious connotation.

Josiah is a beautiful name.

I wouldn't worry about the name 'going out of fashion'. Probably a good thing.

Always choose biblical names. They're the best. Josiah is ace.

Love Josiah.

Josiah is fine. I like it. The only thing I’d say is that I think Old Testament names for boys are going out of fashion now - they’ve been in fashion for about 25-30 years, so this style of name is going downhill.

I have a Jonah and I love it. It's a lovely name with a lovely meaning (Hebrew for dove/ peace).