DH and I are leaning toward the name Abel for our baby, and some family members have been surprised by our choice. This made me start thinking about how certain Biblical names are disproportionately used more than others (in the UK). Some names also seem to generally be limited to Jewish communities or very insular Christian sects because the broader public does not use them. For example, John, Joseph, Ezra, and Noah are infinitely more popular than Moses, Ezekiel, Abel, and Micah. For the girls, Hadassah, Keziah, and Miriam are rarely used in comparison to Naomi, Eve, and Lydia. (It was harder to think of examples for girls, but they are there!) I understand that certain Biblical names are just too unusual to be used or have a negative association, but I'm referring to names that aren't too bizarre and have at least a somewhat positive or neutral association. I think a lot of these names (Moses, Abel, Micah, Keziah, etc.) have the potential to be popular but just aren't for some reason. Why is this?