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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Boy's names - Judah and Isaiah

107 replies

Balonzette · 24/09/2021 11:01

I know several American children with these names but no British! I love them both. (Before anyone says they're very religious - I know. I like that bit Grin)

What do you think? Are they usable in the UK or too uncommon?

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mishmased · 24/09/2021 22:30

Judah and Isaiah are great names. My two boys have OT names one a prophet/book in bible and the other her one of the 12 sons of Jacob. My daughter has a Hebrew name as we couldn't agree on a biblical girl name.
I love Elisha, Elijah, Ezekiel and the meanings are important to me.
Meaning of my first is angel/messenger and he is linked to tithes in the bible. The second means Happy as the 'women will call me blessed' paraphrased 😂

Rachellow · 24/09/2021 22:06

Love Isaiah! Beautiful meaning and the book is pretty good! I’ve heard of one Isaiah, met 2 wee Judahs. If I heard the name I’d def assume he was from a Christian family

Fivebeanchilli · 24/09/2021 20:31

I've never heard Isaiah pronounced other than eye -z - EYE - uh.

campion · 24/09/2021 20:12

The wrong attempts at spelling and pronouncing Isaiah could be an ongoing annoyance. Nothing wrong with the name itself.

minatrina · 24/09/2021 19:58

Both gorgeous names, OP! Smile

I was christened, I got married in a church, I celebrate Christmas and Easter, and I accompany my grandparents to church every now and then. I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a practicing religious Christian, but I'd still definitely class myself as culturally Christian. After all, they taught us about the Bible in my primary school, and I celebrate Christian holidays.

So therefore I've always see choosing biblical names as being part of my culture rather than to do with how religious I may or may not be.

I definitely wouldn't assume someone was particularly religious, or indeed religious at all, just because they chose a biblical name for their child.

trumpisagit · 24/09/2021 19:42

@BrilliantBetty Interesting you think Jude is "a happy sort of name", it makes me think of Hardy's Jude the Obscure, not so happy.
By the way I love both Judah and Isiah.

DominicRaabsTravelAgent · 24/09/2021 19:40

I like them both and can't see why you can't use them.

I like Josiah as well, which is also underused Smile

Ubercornsdiscoball · 24/09/2021 19:27

I have a Jude and we call him Judas when he is being horrid Blush

NigellaSeed · 24/09/2021 19:27

I love Isaiah. But I'm pronouncing it in my head eyes-eyer not eyes-ayer

Retrievemysanity · 24/09/2021 19:25

DD goes to school with a Judah. I hate it and always think of Judas. His brother’s name has also been mentioned up thread which is better. But I was in a choir with a Joachim, love that and never met another one!

umberellaonesie · 24/09/2021 19:23

I also love be Zephaniah
We have old testament names in our family but fairly safe ones.
Asher, Seth, Caleb, Joseph, Eli, Dan, Jude, Issac, Reuben
People think we are religious, we are a little bit.
But really I chose mine cos they were uncommon boys names but still quite traditional

17caterpillars1mouse · 24/09/2021 19:16

I've come across 3 children in the UK called Isaiah - all black children and of a religious background if that makes any difference.

I know one Judah who is 6 and a lovely little boy. He is always Judah, never Jude. Mum is Christian. I think it's a lovely name

YesDearNoDear · 24/09/2021 17:45

I really like the name Judas, but I suspect it's always going to have negative connotations in the UK - being a Judas is part of most people's vocabulary. I really liked Isaiah, but DH vetoed as too religious 🙄

SlidDownTheElephantsTrunk · 24/09/2021 17:39

I'm not religious so I don't really know any names in the bible save the Apostles. I never see a name and associate it with any religion.

I love the name Hezekiah !

Chilldonaldchill · 24/09/2021 17:30

I know quite a lot of young Judahs and didn't realise it would be perceived as such a niche name (though I would assume someone was religious if they chose it).
I'm not a huge fan of Isaiah - the spelling errors could be annoying but the sign language for it is very cool! - but it's ok.
I prefer Ezekiel, Josiah, Amos or Ezra as biblical names.

Stokey · 24/09/2021 17:27

I have always thought, and heard it in church, as I-seye_ah @Balonzette

I'd forgotten Balthazar, so cool.

Caszekey · 24/09/2021 17:24

Name your baby Balthazar!!!! I wanted Balthazar and Thadeus. We went fake biblical naming the other twin after a TV angel 😂😇

Stokey · 24/09/2021 17:24

I think the old testament names are great. We had Malachi & Reuben on our list despite not being remotely religious. I know a baby called Asa too, which I really like.

I wouldn't go for Titus, I know it's not pronounced like that, but would expect tit jokes in secondary.

Original poster
Balonzette · 24/09/2021 17:19

Well, I always used to pronounce it I-s-eye-ah, and I like this more! But I think it's supposed to be I-say-ah, isn't it? So I suppose I'd go with that. (but if anyone wants to come along and tell me that I-s-eye-ah is equally correct then I'd be very happy and choose that version for sure!)

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GobbledyGeek · 24/09/2021 17:17

I love the name Balthazar!

Original poster
Balonzette · 24/09/2021 17:17

@Caszekey

Nehemiah is gorgeous but then I'll always regret not using Balthazar
Balthzar would be the coolest kid in the playground by FAR.

It doesn't even matter who else is in the playground.

Balthazar always wins.

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MoltenLasagne · 24/09/2021 17:16

Love both names personally and a lot of biblical names. I know many people who have names linked to a religion but only because it's part of their cultural heritage so no idea why this would be different.

With Isaiah would you pronounce it I-s-eye-ah or I-say-ah? And be aware you'll have it mispronounced a lot...

Caszekey · 24/09/2021 17:14

Nehemiah is gorgeous but then I'll always regret not using Balthazar

Original poster
Balonzette · 24/09/2021 17:13

@speakout

Balonzette

You "as a family" may not be planning to move away from religion- your children may have other ideas. Great that it is a huge part of your identity, but you can't make such assumptions for your children when they are an age to decide for themselves.

Again, really not an issue or a concern of mine, but thank you for your thoughts nonetheless!
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Original poster
Balonzette · 24/09/2021 17:12

@celestebellman

I love Isaiah, but was not allowed to use it! Two of my kids have slightly ‘safer’ Old Testament names. I also liked Asher and Ezra. I think you’d have to be braver to use Judah because of the Judas similarity even though it’s a different names. Thinking of the sons of Jacob, I also liked Naphtali and Issachar…
Nehemiah is almost on Habbakak and Keren-Happuch level Grin Just in terms of usability. I actually would be really impressed with the parent of a Nehemiah as it's so unusual, a brave choice!

I suppose I didn't think too much about the Judah/Judas similarity because I live abroad in a weird place where, without being too outing, all of the people I know here either

a) would hear the name Judah and know exactly where it came from and would never mistake it for Judas brcause they're all practicing Christians

or

b) would hear the name Judah and never think of Judas because they've never heard of either Judah or Judas or maybe even Jesus so there's no worry with whatever biblical/English name is chosen really!

So it's really helpful for me to see these comments from the UK as this is where most of my old friends and relatives still are, and where I might return at some point, so it's useful to hear these things from a UK point of view and take them into account.

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