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!

Noah is possibly my most disliked boys name. It sounds like a strained protest. Whiny.
I love biblical names usually and my two DS are Adam and Luke.
Also like Isaac, Zachary, James.

No, they are both very popular (overused really). But anyway you can have a cultural affiliation with them, without buying into the bible.

I have a Noah and whilst we are Christian I didn't choose his name from the bible...I named him after Ryan Goslings character in the notebook... it's a beautiful name!

Lots of names both in the past and now are used without any thought of the religious significance. So I wouldn't worry too much about it.

They're both very popular names and have been for about the past twenty years. So I wouldn't make any assumptions. Some names do seem religious to me - rarely-used Biblical or saints' names, for example - but these two don't.

I wouldn't worry about religious associations but I would worry about overuse - both Noah and Theo are starting to sound dated as they fall out of fashion.

They aren't falling out of fashion @Reddahlias , they're the most popular boys' names, if you count Theo and Theodore together, using the latest ONS data.

Well Theo seems to have peaked and the other two are probably very close to the peak. To me they are starting to sound dated already

I think they sound dull and unimaginative.
Over the years, new parents have announced the name, with some expression indicating that the name is a bit unusual.
These include 'Noah. I'm a bit worried that it's too out there, but my wife loves it.' in about 2014. I already knew of 2 of primary school age.
'Theo, we wanted something different' in 2008
and the best one 'Lindsay, you won't believe how we're spelling it, LINDSAY' in about 1989! (I was an adult by then and there was a Lindsay and a Lynsey at school with me)

Noah sounds feminine to me. I prefer Noa for a girl.

You’d be either brave or foolhardy to give a girl a name that’s an exact homophone for, and one letter away from, the most popular boys’ name in country.

A few years ago an acquaintance announced on their social media the birth of their new baby Noa. This was then followed a week or so later by a terse clarification that Noa was a girl. They had received a lot of blue ‘it’s a boy!’ cards and gifts.

I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. Just fairly nice boys names.

It’s more popular now. I know a few babies and little ones with this name. It’s very popular in the Jewish community and very pretty. I don’t think it’s so unusual as to make you brave to use it. It’s a girls name in its own right.

I also know a little Noa. Not sure if her family is Jewish?

Just to be clear, I don’t dispute that Noa is a name in its own right. I’m thinking about the experience of a Noa born in the UK in 2023, who is going to spend her life meeting a lot of Noahs, and clarifying and correcting the spelling of her name, and being known as Noa B in the classroom as neither name lends itself to diminutives or alternative forms, in comparison to (for example) Alexander and Alexandra.

I also realise that folk use ‘a few years ago’ to mean anything from five to twenty years previously but I did mean it literally. The anecdote is from 2020.

In 2021, darkgreener says there were 232 babies called Noa registered, of which 53 were boys.
There were 4525 babies called Noah, none of which were girls.
That's 4578 boys called Noah/Noa an 179 girls called Noa/Noah.

I think the boy's name Noa might be Albanian

Yes I understand. I don’t think you would need to be brave or foolish though. In my son’s primary school there is one Noa and one Noah, not in the same class, nobody seems to confuse them. There are also two Charlie’s (one boy one girl) and two Aria’s, again one boy one girl. I wonder where Noah is popular as I don’t know any other Noah’s but two more Noa’s.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/babynamesenglandandwales/2021
You'll need to scroll down to see the 'by local authority'

Noah has been in the top 20 boys' names for nearly 15 years, and top 10 for 8 years, so cumulatively, there are lots of boys called Noah.

How interesting. I would automatically assume religious parents - especially for Theo - but it seems that most people don't have that association.

Muhammad is also a very popular name but I don’t know any Muhammad’s either. I guess it depends on your region

We have a Jesuit missionary, a Jewish archangel and a prophet of God.
All chosen because we like them. One child is christened CofE cos he nearly died at birth and the other two aren't because I'm agnostic and DH is less so. It never occurred to me someone might think I was doing religious appropriation when I named them

2 of mine have saints names, one is the diminutive of a saints name.
My name is in the bible, as is my husbands, mum's, dad's, and both brothers.
Totally normal in this country isn't it? Most of our most popular names over the years are Christian names.

Well yes, it would be interesting to see the list left if you removed anything of religious origin, anything taken from another culture, etc.
We'd end up with names made up by British authors (all the Olivia's are safe) and some old classics from here maybe www.behindthename.com/names/usage/ancient-celtic

I'm a practicing Catholic, but I wouldn't presume parents choosing these names were religious. They are really common names. A vast number of names have a biblical origin/meaning m, eg Elizabeth means 'oath or promise of God' and Dorothy means 'Gift of God'.