Biblical names: 180+ Bible names for boys and girls with meanings

Biblical names in US data: the No. 1 names, the names with God in them, and which Bibles include which books

By The Nomezo Editors · Updated October 25, 2026 · How we research names

1. Step 1Pick a Testament or a storyProphets, Genesis, the Gospels or the women of the Bible.
2. Step 2Check how common it isNoah is No. 2; Keziah is rare.
3. Step 3Look for God in the nameEl and Yah, Yeho or Jo.
4. Step 4Check which Bibles include itTobias and Raphael come from Tobit.

The most popular biblical names in 2025

• Nearly every No. 1. John was the top US boys' name from 1880 to 1923, James from 1940 to 1952, Michael for most of 1954 to 1998 (David in 1960), Jacob from 1999 to 2012 and Noah from 2013 to 2016. Robert, in 1924 to 1939 and 1953, was the only exception before Liam took over in 2017.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Eden (No. 70) is the garden, not a woman. Mary, No. 1 for most of 1880 to 1961, was No. 125 in 2025.

The names with God in them

• El and Yah. El is the general Hebrew word for God, while Yah, Yahu, Yeho and Jo are short forms of God's own name, YHWH. That is why Elijah, Jonathan, Joshua and Jeremiah all contain God (Wikipedia).
• The Bible's own explanations. Genesis explains Jacob as holder of the heel, but the name may come from a phrase meaning may God protect (Behind the Name). Exodus explains Moses as drawn out of the water; the name most likely comes from Egyptian mes, son (Behind the Name).
• Yahweh in the notes is the scholars' spelling of God's Hebrew name. Many Jewish readers do not write it out and say HaShem or Adonai instead.

Which Bibles include which names

• Faith traditions. Ashkenazi Jews traditionally name a child only after a relative who has died, while Sephardi Jews often honor living grandparents; a boy's name is announced at his brit milah (Wikipedia). Catholic canon law asks parents and pastors to avoid "a name foreign to Christian sensibility" (Canon 855).
• In the Quran. Mary, as Maryam, is the only woman named in the Quran, and Sura 19 is named after her (Wikipedia). Many Bible names have Quranic forms, like Ibrahim, Yusuf and Dawud.

Source: Wikipedia: Deuterocanonical books. Jews and Protestants treat these books as Apocrypha. A man named Uriel and a Judith (a wife of Esau) also appear in books every Bible has.

Sources

• US Social Security Administration: baby names
• Wikipedia: Theophoric name
• Behind the Name: Jacob
• Behind the Name: Moses
• Wikipedia: Deuterocanonical books
• Wikipedia: Jewish name
• Code of Canon Law, Canon 855
• Wikipedia: Mary in Islam