Since many atheist/agnostics here have presumably Christian names, what would your non-religious name be?

Question

I'd keep mine becasue my name is not Christian but has a Scots Gaelic origins.

I'm not talking about a serious name change--just a nickname.

Answer 1

Printninja is NOT a Christian name.

(my parents were ninja)

Answer 2

The idea of "Christian" name comes from the new name one got at baptism in the ancient church. Because it was illegal to be a christian...you would go by another name...because then when they would capture the christians...and try to discern all of who they were...they would not know who they were speaking of...because the Christians only knew one another by their new name...which was not christian...but different.

Later, they had the idea that those they deemed as Saints...would be what you could choose as your baptismal name. Which is fine...but there is a limited number of known Saints. There are thousands and millions of unknown Saints. But...I really like the idea of just choosing a different name.

So..originally it was just a type of street name so you would not compromise your fellow believers. Nothing particularly holy about it...just a way of functioning in a christian hostile world. But now...time has somehow made it into this thing.

So...all names are Christian...if you are a Christian...because by being a Christian with that name...that makes it a Christian name. Truly... For this is the way it has happened. With many things...this small t tradition has be overstated into now a Large T tradition...and hardly anyone knows why it is. Many of the names that Christians would choose were indeed Pagan. But...since paganism was so prevalient...it was kind of hard not to have a name that was not pagan, as your baptismal name.

So now...you can share your baptismal name with anyone because it is no longer illegal to be a Christian.

So...mine is Felicitas...and it means Lucky.

Answer 3

That's kind of a silly question. Whatever the origin of a name, the common names we have today are all so old that no one thinks of them as religious. I mean, for example, who thinks of names like John or Joe as anything but plain-old-American names?

Also, what about last names? They all mean stuff...usually they have some connection to the family occupation or location of their home from 300 generations ago. Like the name Smith. A smith is a black smith/metal worker. Are all the families named Smith gonna go change their name because that's not their occupation? Of course not. that'd be silly.

What's in a name?

Answer 4

Great question - and those names often have very little to do with who we are as people.

And maybe that's why we have a hard time remembering the names of others - because those names didn't really have a direct association with who that person was.

So maybe we should choose nick names that tell the world something about us?

Answer 5

I don't know about any Christian name, but I have a biblical name: Sarah. If I had to change it I'd probably go with something Greek. I've always liked Greek names.

Answer 6

I don't have a christian name. Some people do and some don't. It's just a name.

Answer 7

There are no Christian names. Names like Jesus or Peter or Paul were around before Jesus and Peter and Paul. 'Jesus' is a translation of Yeshua. The same name appears in the OT as 'Joshua' because the OT went through one less translation.

I'm happy for my name to be a diminutive of Justinian. He wasn't a bad emperor, especially when you consider most of the Roman emperors were homicidal maniacs.

Answer 8

Glad you want to keep your name, because you have a nice name.

ASP is mine after my initials, Cleopatra used them (small snakes) to poison herself, because she did not want to end up in the arms of her cruel enemies the Romans.

I think it is a good thing to hold onto our cultural history, Christian or not.

Besides what is in a name?

Stephen means crown.

Though I am often called Stevalia from my Italian side.

What does your name mean?

Answer 9

My name is Richard Julian Saunders III. None of these names are Christian, but I go by "Julien" anyway. Richard stems from the German "Reich" and "Heart" I presume, to mean Great King, Julian stems from "Julius" which has come to mean Caesar or Great King, and Saunders comes from Alexander, which means "Savior of Man."

Answer 10

I'd change my name to Odin. maybe i should consider doing that. i hate having a christian name.

oh if you mean a nick name i already have a nick name and it is Mad Man lol some of my friends don't even remember my real name they only remember that nick name lol