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Mar 25th, 2025
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Joined: Aug 2007
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What do you think of all these new Non-Christian names that everyone is now giving their children? How are they going to find a Saint to look up to? Most kids don't give a second thought to ancillary Baptismal names because their parents don't care about their religion. Well - let us see, what if you are an Arab like myself and have traditional Arabic names (and Arabic does NOT mean by anyway Islamic)? Most saints have non-Arab name (Though I am very proud of the few we have). So am I to call my son in a foreign name (that sounds very weird to my middle eastern ear) letting him forget his roots that accompanied the apostles and Christ for the past 2000 years in the Holy Land? The solution is simple - we name our children Arabic (meaningful) names, and an additional baptismal name (Melkite Church rule in the Holy Land)! What really angers me is the fact that most parents choose "meaningless" names - they like the sound of it so they choose it regardless of the meaning! It is more likely that I would call my son /A'bdalla/ (the servant of God) than calling him Nickolas - but I for sure will choose Nickolas as his baptismal name. (the irony is that my name [both baptismal and real] is Hebrew - but I love it anyways)
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Joined: Jun 2008
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The Italians have the right idea.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Since when is there a shortage of Saints' names in Arabic? Try the Bible for a source - and there are other sources.
Fr. Serge
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I'll just stick with the my family standards of Peter, Paul, John, Michael, and Andrew.
For girls, I'll stick with Teresa Benedicta, Magdalene, Sophia, Clare, Bernadette, or even Mary.
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Joined: Jul 2007
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What do you think of all these new Non-Christian names that everyone is now giving their children? How are they going to find a Saint to look up to? Most kids don't give a second thought to ancillary Baptismal names because their parents don't care about their religion. Well - let us see, what if you are an Arab like myself and have traditional Arabic names (and Arabic does NOT mean by anyway Islamic)? Most saints have non-Arab name (Though I am very proud of the few we have). So am I to call my son in a foreign name (that sounds very weird to my middle eastern ear) letting him forget his roots that accompanied the apostles and Christ for the past 2000 years in the Holy Land? The solution is simple - we name our children Arabic (meaningful) names, and an additional baptismal name (Melkite Church rule in the Holy Land)! What really angers me is the fact that most parents choose "meaningless" names - they like the sound of it so they choose it regardless of the meaning! It is more likely that I would call my son /A'bdalla/ (the servant of God) than calling him Nickolas - but I for sure will choose Nickolas as his baptismal name. (the irony is that my name [both baptismal and real] is Hebrew - but I love it anyways) Hmmm... Nicholas Abdalah... sounds alright
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Since when is there a shortage of Saints' names in Arabic? Try the Bible for a source - and there are other sources.
Fr. Serge Fr. The Bible names are Hebrew (old testament) and at best case Roman/Greek (new) Arabic has very little to do with the bible
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Joined: May 2007
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What about the shared Semitic roots?
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Joined: Nov 2001
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Some suggestions for different sounding names that are Christian Names:
Boys:
Abundius, Aedh (I wouldn't begin to try to pronounce that one, "Eth [soft th]) Bajulus, Byblig, Caedwalla, Cuthbert, Czeslaw, Dagobert, Duje, Egbert, Emygdius, Eochdaidh, Faelan, Frumentius, Gajan, Gualfardus, Habakkuk, Hroznata, Illidius, Iwigius, Jarlath, Judicael, Kamen, Kieran (a name that I and my identical cousin said we'd name our sons,) Landericus, Liborius (there is a St. Liborius Church in our Diocese,) Machabeo, Mochelloc, Nilus, Ninian, Odo, Onuphrius, Panteleimon, Pius, Quadragesimus, Quintilian (I know many little "Quints,") Rabanus, Remigius, Sair, Swithbert, Tabius (was that Tab Hunter's name?) Tron (for you 80s geeks,) Ulrich (one of my ancestor's names,) Ursicius, Vaat, Vitus (want your son to be a dancer?) Yakim, Yvo, Zebinus, and Zeno (I met a man with that name.)
There, the next time you want to give your son a "different" sounding name, please consider one of these. Dr. Eric--Tab Hunter's real name is Arthur Andrew Kelm! LOL. But it's a nice thought, as he was raised RC.
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Joined: Nov 2001
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I don't like it myself. I think that children can resent their "church name" that they must be called at Holy Communion because that isn't what others call them. I had a little William in one of my parishes who strongly disliked being called his baptismal name, Basil.
We named our own five children with Saints names and Matushka and I don't even use nicknames when addressing them because their names and Saints are so beautiful:
Emily (for St Emilia, mother of St Basil the Great),
Anna (for St Anna the Ancestor of God),
Katharine (for St Katharine the Great-Martyr),
Juliana (for St Juliana the Merciful of Lazarevo), and
Nicolas (for St Nicolas the Wonderworker - our family's Patron Saint).
Fr David Straut Father Bless! Why was little William given another Baptismal name? St. William Firmatus died in 1103 St. William of Dijon died in 1031 Don't forget St. William of York, Archbishop of York, died 1154!
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Dear Terry,
If you were of Greek background, your name would not be the diminutive of Terence, which I am assuming it is...it would be the given Americanized version of SoTIRI, which means Saviour!
Regards,
Alice
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Alice,
My parents where in a rush to name me. I was born at 32 weeks and they were undecided about a name, Terry is the full name. I don't know of any Saint Leroy either (my middle name is Lee), but I was raised in a Protestant home.
I want to be careful with naming my children. For a girl we have been thinking about Naomi.
Terry
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Don't forget St. William of York, Archbishop of York, died 1154! Not for the Orthodox. 1154 is almost a century too late. Fr David Straut
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Father Bless!
Why was little William given another Baptismal name?
St. William Firmatus died in 1103
St. William of Dijon died in 1031 Well, the boy in question had a Slavic family and there were some 'Basils/Vasils' in it and I think that they wanted St Basil the Great to be the Patron. I think that the Americans in the family didn't think 'Basil' would fly for an American boy, and so 'William' was to be his legal name. St William Firmatus is outside the period of the "Undivided Church" and so I wouldn't think him a possibility for Orthodox Christians. I'm interested in knowing more about St William of Dijon, so I'll look him up. Fr David Straut
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I'm interested in knowing more about St William of Dijon, so I'll look him up. Bless, Father, St William of Dijon, a Benedictine monk and one of those who implemented the reforms of Cluny, is noted, among other things, as one of the architects of the famous Mont St Michel; specifically, he directed the building of the church there. Also from the period of the Undivided Church was St William of Gellone, a kinsman to Charlemagne. He led several campaigns against the Moors and, later in life, entered a monastery. Many years, Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
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Dear Neil,
The Lord bless you!
Thanks for the information!
Fr David
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