Most popular bay names in the UK - Is Noah particularly religious?

[mids2019]

It looks like Mohammed and Noah are the two most popular names in the UK. It got me thinking whether baby names are really embedded in our particular background, culture and race?

I don't know to what extent people pick names like Matthew or Mark for particularly religious religions but it would seem Mohammed is popular because of its time to Islam and there are very specific religious reasons for its pipularity.

I was wondering do those of faith select baby names outside their religous scope?

Do people with no faith consider any refligous origin when naming?

Is it important to maintain your culture and ancestral ties by using names familiar from different parts of the world?

Because they are popular names. I don’t think many people picking Ezrah or Joshua as a name really think about the deeper religious meaning much more than anything else.

I think one reason Noah is so well used is that it's popular across different sections of society. I know black Noah's (not sure what if anything their religion is) and Muslim Noah's. I don't actually know any white British or definitely Christian Noah's but I'm sure there are plenty out there.

I think of of the reasons for the rise in Old Testament names are the ones which are rising are generally soft sounding names. Jonah, Noah, Ezra etc. fit in with the trend for softer sounding boys names, while still being classic. I also think that fewer people mind using a name which might have been seen as too religious a generation ago because society is so secular now. I love Moses as a name, but am not religious at all and don’t see that as a problem. It’s really only a specific type of biblical name which is rising; I haven’t noticed a run of young Nebuchadnezzars running around!

There is a plethora of boys with strong biblical names in our wider family. Although many of us had a vaguely Christian upbringing (grandparents were regular church goers) none of us would consider ourselves religious/ practicing Christians.

We have the following: Noah, Elijah, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph.

I think there are a few reasons for particular names.

One is obviously religion.

I'm surprised by the comment about 'Noah' marking people out as 'Christian', to me, before it became popular, it would be a Jewish name.

But then you have culture, a friend who was married to a Palestinian didn't have middle names for her children as they had their own name, followed by their father's name and then their grandfather's name.

In some cultures the first child often has the name of a grand parent.

Some families have 'family names' so one pops up in every generation.

There is also history and or politics. After WWII I think there were more children given names like David and Daniel in Jewish communities that allow a child to, I hate this word, 'pass'.

I don't think there were many, if any, 'Neil's in the UK until the moon landings.

British children in WWI often had the name of a battle in their names if their father had fought there or if they had died in that battle.

I know quite a few muslim Noahs. The Arabic spelling is Nuh so most people just want the name to be pronounced properly.

Do you mean Jesse? Grandson of Ruth and Boaz, father of David, ancestor of Jesus, according to the Bible. Hence the 'Tree of Jesse' stained glass windows found in many churches.

Like Jesse James, for instance. It does seem to have been more popular in the US historically - but then that is true of many Old Testament names.

Jessie is a diminutive of Jessica, or is sometimes considered the feminine form of Jesse.

Jessie was within the 40 most used names for girls in the UK at the beginning of the 20th century.

Edited after finding popularity figures.

A lot of biblical names are just names that have been around a long time. Some do seem very biblical as you don’t hear them much but ones that are more mainstream no longer have a religious feel. Noah is one of those. I would include things like Joseph, Matthew, mark, Luke , John, Sarah, Rebekah, Mary in those (at least in the uk)

I think Jesse is becoming relatively well used now. I know of two under 10 personally.

Mohammed being ‘most popular’ is a bit of a misnomer given that this is really only prevalent in Muslim families. Noah is popular because of Americanisation and evangelical religious beliefs. British people just see these names as cool names, like Noah, Zachary, Isiah etc. without the religious connection.

I'm sure you could see my comment was in reply to 'Jessie' not being popular due to being blasphemic. I did assume it wasn't the diminutive of Jessica being discussed, yes. As a child of the 80s, I'm aware that for girls Jessica/Jess/Jessie was pretty popular.

In Scotland, Jessie has for centuries been used as a nickname for Janet, which is one of the very many variations of Joan/Jane/Jean.

Nothing to do with Jessica, which was a name first used (so far as it is known) by Shakespeare, for the daughter of his Jewish character Shylock. It is thought that Shakespeare based the name on the 16th cent English pronunciation of the Jewish female name Iscah (which was Jeshca): www.behindthename.com/name/jessica

In date order, Jewish, Christian and Muslim people all respect the ancient Hebrew scriptures, known in English as the Old Testament. So what we call in the UK "Old Testament" characters such as Noah or Jesse or Miriam or Hannah appear in the religious literature of all three faiths, but spelled differently, according to local language conventions.

Every decade has a trendy OT name. Noah has been the biggie recently, Ezra is the new kid on the block. In the 90s it was Joshua and Jacob. Benjamin in the 80s.

But I wouldn't assume the parents of your average Noah were particularly religious.

This is an interesting thread. I tend to think of boys’ names as being either the name of a king or an apostle. Noah / Adam / Ezra / Isaac are a bit too Old Testament for my taste - and I suspect will go out of fashion.

Similarly, I used to meet lots of boys called Oscar or Oliver but I no longer do (at least in my area).

Someone on another thread was asking about the name Sonny. It used to be used as a nickname for Solomon and was popular in the Jewish community.