Christian Christian Names: Baby Names inspired by the Bible and the Saints

Abraham (m)

[AY-bruh-ham] from Hebrew, meaning ‘father of many’.

The chief recipient of God’s promises in the Old Testament and regarded by Jews as the father of their people. Abraham lived in the early centuries of the second millennium BC. His original name was Abram (‘the father is exalted’). The story of Abraham in Genesis is organised around the theme of how God began to fulfil some of the promises he had made to him. When God called Abraham at Ur in Southern Iraq and at Haran, he promised him a land, many descendants, a great name, and said he would become a blessing to many peoples (Genesis 12:2–3). Abraham’s continuing childlessness, however, was a serious threat to all these promises, and during the period of waiting, he attempted to find his own ways of producing an heir (Genesis 15:1–4; 16:1–4, 15–16), though he also grew in faith as God confirmed his intentions in a covenant (Genesis 15:1–6; 17:1–27). Isaac was eventually born when Abraham was 100 years old, but God continued to test Abraham, commanding him to offer his son as a sacrifice.

Abraham’s obedience to God and his confidence that ‘The Lord Will Provide’ (Genesis 22:14) make him the supreme example of faith in the New Testament. Abraham’s final actions in buying a family burial ground and obtaining a wife for Isaac point to a future fulfilment of the promises of land and descendants.

Variant: Abe.

Absalom (m)

[AB-suh-luhm] from Hebrew, meaning ‘father of peace’.

David’s third son, who overthrew his father and was king for a brief time while David fled across the Jordan. David regained the throne as a result of Absalom receiving bad advice, but despite all this, David was grief-stricken at Absalom’s tragic death in an accident (2 Samuel 15:1–18:33): ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’

Adam (m)

[AD-uhm] from Hebrew, closely related to the word for ‘man’.

The name of the first man as well as the Hebrew word for ‘human race’. He was in the Garden of Eden and given Eve as a helper. They disobeyed God and so brought sin into the world. In the New Testament, Adam usually represents the human race in its sinful rebellion against God (Romans 5:12–21), though he is also the first man and ‘the son of God’ (Luke 3:38). Jesus Christ is described as ‘the last Adam’ (1 Corinthians 15:45).

Variant: Edom.

Adelaide (f)

[a-duh-LAYD] from an Old German name meaning ‘nobility’.

French empress of Germany (931–999). The daughter of Rudolf II of Burgundy, Adelaide became the wife of Prince Lothair of Italy and, after his death, married Otto the Great of Germany in 951. Otto was crowned emperor by Pope John XII shortly afterwards, with Adelaide as his empress. Otto’s family, led by his daughter Theophano, resented Adelaide’s influence and, after Otto’s death, spent the next 20 years working to alienate Otto’s son the emperor Otto II from his mother, finding fault for instance with her unstinting generosity to the poor. Adelaide was obliged to live for a time in retirement from the court but was reconciled with her son Otto before his death, after which she had again to go into retreat.

After Theophano’s death in 991 Adelaide finally returned as regent and used her authority to revitalise the religious establishment, founding and restoring monasteries and promoting the evangelisation of the Slavs. She died at a convent she had founded at Seltz in Alsace.

Variant: Ada.

Adlai (m)

[AD-lay] from Hebrew, meaning ‘my adornment’.

The father of Shaphat, who was responsible for David’s cattle in the valleys (1 Chronicles 27:29).

Adrian (m)

[AY-dree-uhn] from Latin Hadrianus, meaning ‘of Adria’ (the town in Italy that gave its name to the Adriatic Sea).

Adrian (died c.304), martyr of Nicomedia. According to legend, Adrian was a Roman officer stationed at Nicomedia who was so moved by the courage of the Christians he persecuted that he declared himself to be a Christian also. He was thrown into prison, where he was visited by his Christian wife Natalia. Further visits were barred after Adrian was sentenced to death, but Natalia continued to see him by disguising herself as a boy and bribing the gaoler. She attended her husband’s execution and retrieved his remains.

Also the name of the African-born English abbot Adrian of Canterbury (died 710). While serving as abbot of the monastery at Nerida in Italy he was twice offered the post of Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Vitalian, but turned down the offer both times. On the second occasion, however, he agreed to accompany the eventual choice, the Greek monk Theodore, to England and once there accepted the post of abbot of the monastery school of St Peter and St Paul (later renamed St Augustine’s) in Canterbury. Over the following 40 years he went on to consolidate his reputation as a scholar and administrator and to bolster the standing of Canterbury as a centre of religious learning.

Variant: Hadrian.

Feminine forms: Adriana, Adrienne.

Adriana, Adrienne feminine forms of Adrian.

Agatha (f)

[A-guh-thuh] from Greek, meaning ‘good’.

Sicilian martyr (third century). Tradition has it that Agatha was of noble birth but as a young woman incurred the wrath of a consul called Quintian after she refused his advances, having dedicated her virginity to Christ. Charging her with being a Christian, Quintian handed her over to a brothel-keeper but, when she emerged uncorrupted, had her savagely tortured instead. During the torture, St Peter appeared in a vision to heal her wounds. Her death in prison as she was rolled over hot coals was preceded by an earthquake.

Agnes (f)

[AG-ness] from Greek, meaning ‘pure’.

Agnes, Roman martyr (died c.304). Despite her fame, little definite is known about the life of St Agnes beyond the fact that while still a child she died the death of a virgin martyr in Rome and was buried in the cemetery on the Via Nomentana, where a church dedicated to her memory was later erected. Various embellishments have been added to the bare facts of her life story suggesting the reasons for her arrest and execution. According to one of these she was a beautiful young girl of around 12 years old who offered her life voluntarily in exchange for those of other victims of persecution. Another suggests she was put to death as a Christian in revenge after refusing all suitors on the grounds that she had dedicated her virginity to Christ. She became a lasting symbol of chastity and innocence and is honoured today as the patron saint of betrothed couples, virgins and gardeners.

Also the name of the Italian nun, Agnes of Montepulciano (c.1268–1317). Born into a wealthy family in Tuscany, Agnes was brought up by the nuns of Montepulciano and in due course became bursar and superioress of a new convent at Proceno. Widely known both for her humble lifestyle (she slept on the ground with a rock for a pillow) and for her visions, she was persuaded back to Montepulciano and there established a new convent in a former brothel, subsequently attaching it to the Dominican order and being appointed prioress in 1306. She became well known for her prophecies and as a worker of miraculous cures.

Aidan (m)

[AY-duhn] from Irish Gaelic, meaning ‘small fire’.

Irish missionary (died 651). Aidan served as a monk in the monastery on Iona before being sent to Northumbria as a missionary around the year 635. Raised to the rank of bishop, he chose the island of Lindisfarne as his base and there founded a monastery that became in due course one of the most influential religious centres in Britain. From Lindisfarne he conducted numerous evangelising journeys through the mainland, establishing many churches and monasteries with the support of St Oswald, king of Northumbria, and his successor Oswin.

A gentle and discreet man, according to the Venerable Bede, Aidan won many converts through his generosity towards the needy and through his opposition to slavery.

Variant form: Aiden.

Alan (m)

[A-luhn] from a Celtic name meaning ‘harmony’.

Breton saint (‘Blessed Alan de la Roche’) who belonged to the Dominican order, and was well known for his accomplished sermons. His special task was to advance devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the practice of the rosary.

Variant forms: Allan, Allen.

Alban (m)

[ALL-buhn] ultimately from Latin albus, meaning ‘white’.

Third-century English martyr. Alban was a prominent citizen of the Roman city of Verulamium (modern St Albans) who was beheaded for his faith around the middle of the third century, during the reign of Diocletian.

According to the Venerable Bede, Alban converted to Christianity after offering shelter to a priest hiding from Roman soldiers, impressed by the man’s piety and devotion. When the soldiers eventually called at his house to arrest the priest, Alban donned the fugitive’s gown and was arrested in his stead, allowing the real priest to escape. When the imposture was discovered, the authorities insisted that Alban should make a sacrifice to the gods and, when he refused, sentenced him to be tortured and put to death. A substantial church (later abbey) was subsequently erected on the site where Alban died, thus becoming the first martyr of the British Isles. He is honoured as the patron saint of converts and victims of torture.

Albert (m)

[AL-buht] from the Old German name Adalbert, from athal ‘noble’ and berhta ‘bright’.

German theologian and bishop, Albert the Great (1206–80). Born into a wealthy family in Swabia, Germany, Albert the Great (or Albertus Magnus) began his career in the church at the age of 16, when he became a Dominican friar. He spent the next 20 years teaching in Paris and at various German Dominican universities, earning a wide reputation as a scholar, his pupils including St Thomas Aquinas.