Biblical baby names, sorted by what they actually mean.
Filter by meaning rather than scrolling an alphabet — grace, strength, joy, light, peace. Shortlist as you browse, then copy the list out with meanings and references attached.
Names from Scripture, by what they actually mean
Filter by meaning rather than scrolling an alphabet. Tap a name to shortlist it, then copy the list out.
117 names
How to actually use this
Start from the meaning, not the letter A
Most baby-name sites are alphabetical, which is a strange way to make this particular decision. Nobody says 'we'd like a name beginning with H.' They say something closer to 'we want it to mean something about grace,' or 'we'd like a name with some steel in it,' or 'her grandmother's name was Anne and we want something in that family.' So this browser filters by meaning first — grace, strength, joy, peace, light, gift, praise, comfort — and by language of origin second.
The shortlist is there because of how the decision actually gets made. Almost nobody chooses a name in one sitting alone; two people build competing lists over several weeks and negotiate. So you can tap to collect names as you browse and copy the whole list out with meanings and references attached — which is considerably more useful in a conversation than a list of bare names.
One practical note on the entries: each shows the person in Scripture who carried the name. That's worth reading before you commit, because the association travels with the name whether or not you intended it. Delilah is a lovely-sounding name attached to a story you may not want recited at a christening. Jael's meaning is 'mountain goat' and her story involves a tent peg. Knowing is better than finding out later.
What the browser does
Built for the way the decision gets made
Filter by meaning
Twelve themes drawn from the meanings themselves — grace, strength, joy, peace, light, gift, praise, nature, faithfulness, leadership, comfort, salvation. Combine with gender and origin to narrow quickly.
Shortlist and copy
Tap any name to collect it. One button copies the whole shortlist with meanings, origins and references — ready to text to someone, or paste into whatever document the two of you are arguing over.
The story attached
Every entry names who carried it and where to find them, so you can check the association before you fall in love with the sound. Some biblical names come with more baggage than others.
If you want a starting point
Five ways people usually narrow it down
Each of these maps to a filter combination in the tool above.
Names that mean grace or favour
Hannah, Anna and Joanna all share the root — 'Yahweh is gracious' — as does John. If you want a matched pair for siblings, this family is the deepest in Scripture.
Names with strength in them
Ezekiel ('God strengthens'), Gabriel ('God is my strength'), Boaz ('in him is strength'), Deborah and Jael for the women who actually led armies.
Names about answered prayer
Samuel ('God has heard'), Isaac ('he laughs'), Nathanael ('God has given'), Matthew ('gift of Yahweh'), Jonathan ('Yahweh has given'). The obvious cluster for a child who took a long time coming.
Names from nature
Jonah ('dove'), Tamar ('palm tree'), Rachel ('ewe'), Susanna ('lily'), Chloe ('green shoot'), Deborah ('bee'), Zipporah ('bird'). Gentler than the theological names and just as biblical.
Names that travel well
Names with easy short forms and cross-language recognition: Elizabeth, Benjamin, Naomi, Simon, Miriam, Levi, Ruth, Caleb. Worth weighing if the name has to work in more than one country.
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Questions people ask
About the biblical baby names
What are the most popular biblical baby names?+
Noah, Elijah, James, Benjamin, Levi and Ezekiel consistently rank near the top for boys in English-speaking countries; Elizabeth, Naomi, Hannah, Abigail, Leah and Eve for girls. Popularity moves faster than meaning does — the browser above lets you filter by what a name says rather than by how many other children in the class will have it.
What biblical names mean grace?+
Hannah is the root — Hebrew for 'grace' or 'favour' — and Anna is its Greek form. John means 'Yahweh is gracious', and Joanna is its feminine equivalent, which makes those four the most closely connected family of grace names in Scripture. Filter by the grace theme above to see the rest.
What's a good biblical name for a girl?+
That depends what you want it to say. For grace: Hannah, Anna, Joanna. For strength and leadership: Deborah, Esther, Priscilla, Lydia. For loyalty: Ruth. For joy: Abigail, Sarah. For nature: Tamar, Susanna, Chloe, Zipporah. The browser filters by all of those, and each entry tells you who carried it.
Should I check the story behind a biblical name?+
Yes, and it takes a minute. A name's sound and its associations travel together whether you planned it or not — Delilah, Jezebel, Ahab and Judas all sound perfectly reasonable to modern ears and come attached to stories you may not want retold at a christening. Every entry here names the person and gives a reference for exactly this reason.
Are Hebrew and Greek biblical names different?+
Yes, and the distinction is worth knowing. Old Testament names are overwhelmingly Hebrew and tend to be short sentences about God — Daniel, 'God is my judge'; Elijah, 'Yahweh is my God'. New Testament names include Greek (Peter, Philip, Stephen, Timothy, Phoebe), Latin (Paul, Mark, Priscilla, Claudia) and Aramaic (Thomas, Martha, Tabitha) alongside Hebrew ones, because that's the world the early church lived in.
Is my shortlist saved?+
Only while the page is open — nothing is stored on a server or written to your device. That's why the copy button exists: it puts the whole list, with meanings and references, on your clipboard so you can keep it somewhere that will still be there tomorrow.
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