Theo or Noah if not religious

[barca123]

Given Theo actually means God and Noah obvs has the ark link, would it be odd for an atheist to use both/either? Would you think of these as religious names? Thanks!

I'm an atheist and didn't know that Theo was a religious name! Wouldn't consider it odd for an atheist to use Noah either.

Yes I didn’t realise about Theo either until it was pointed out but then seemed obvious given the word theology etc

Names only have the meaning we assign them - as a religious person I'd have absolutely no judgement on hearing an atheist use those names, they're just lovely names! ☺️

Noah is literally the most popular name in the country so there must be a fair few atheists using it.

Not religious in the slightest and they were our top 2 names if we'd had a boy. I don't think most people would even think of the religious associations.

No, similar to PP I wasn't aware that Theo was religious. Both are in heavy enough use (by non-religious people) that it they don't make me think that. Sometimes names grouped together make me wonder - Gabriel, Ethan, and Noah as brothers would make me think the parents are religious, but in this case no.

On Theo - both the prefix and the full name Theodore come from pre-Christian Ancient Greek and mean ‘god’ / ‘gift from the gods’ in the general sense of ‘deity’ rather than necessarily the Jewish / Christian God.

Our ds all have 'Old Testament' names but we are not religious and did not really think about them being religious names. They are also all 5 letters, start with a vowel and have 2 syllables but again we did not realise this when we chose them!

Oh that’s interesting!

I can’t even guess one of those names!

I have a Theo and a Noah (in that order), and I’m not religious.

I wouldn't use as a first name as an atheist.

I also think Noah is a bit lame - my DH suggested it, firm no from me.

Mine all have religious middle names (one of them is Adam) but DH is Muslim. He'd have had all religions names if he'd had his way.

I know there are longer versions on Theo in the bible but i don’t see it as a religious name whereas i would guess Noah is 100% a religious name. I’d assume your DC’s family is religious

I don't care about name meaning, no one ever thinks of the meaning when they meet a person with a particular name. I think names really just take on their own meaning of the person that has them. Noah and Theo are really popular and very usable names. I prefer names with the full version though rather than only the shortened version/nickname so would go for Theodore of Theophilus or something.

Noah is very popular, along with lots of other old testament names, and I would not assume that you are religious.

It never occurred to me that Theo is a religious (as in Christian) name, isn't it from an ancient Greek word, and the ancient Greeks were pagans who believed in lots of gods? (I am prepared to be corrected here!).

I like both but prefer Theo, and it seems slightly less common than Noah.

The vast majority of names in use in the UK are either from the Bible or they are the names of Christian saints.

Theo is not a biblical name. The gospel of Luke is addressed to someone referred to as ‘Theophilus’ but this is an honorary title meaning something like ‘loved by God’, not a given name.

Theo isn’t a Christian name. It means ‘god(s)’, and more widely, all religion, not specifically God. Theology is the study of religion. Atheism is the belief in no god of any kind, not just the Christian God.

Noah is biblical, so avoid it if you want, but only if you would also avoid James, and Thomas, and Matthew, and Andrew…

Interesting - thank you!

Both overused, and I wouldn't expect the parents to be religious.

Very popular. But biblical names for boys have been the most popular names for centuries. John, David, Paul, James, Michael

Old Testament names like Noah, Isaac, Joshua, Jacob are so secular now that no one would assume the family were religious

Can't stand the name Noah. Theo is not great but slightly better.

I wouldn’t make that association at all.

I wouldn't give it a second thought if someone used a currently popular name with a religious connection - and I would put both these names in that category.

I might assume someone was religious if they used a very obscure biblical name that was not currently fashionable - Ebenezer maybe or Nicodemus.

In my generation a lot of boys were called John, David, Paul, Andrew, Mark or Simon - all biblical names and I doubt if very many of them were religious.

What names do you like out of interest?