Christian Names

Christian girls' names have one page for each initial letter from A to Z, and boys' names have one for each letter except X and Y.

On the boys' side, the J page shows how one Hebrew name, Ya'aqov, became both Jacob and James.

Each page sorts names by the kind of Christian connection they carry. Among names starting with A, Abigail and Anna are women in the Bible, Agnes and Agatha came into Christian naming through later saints, and Alice has documented medieval records.

A shared name family does not mean a shared person. Mary and Miriam belong to one name family, which runs from Hebrew Miryam through Greek Mariam and Latin Maria, yet they name different biblical women.

The original meaning of Mary is uncertain, and the origin of Esther is disputed between a possible Persian word for star and a proposed link with Ishtar.

Some names have no biblical woman behind them. Eden is a place in Genesis, Mercy is an English virtue name, and Ursula reached Christian use through a medieval saint cult.

The U page is short because standard English Bible translations give no familiar woman's name beginning with U, so it names the kind of connection each candidate has.