I have four uncles on my dad's side: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, although not in that order. There are enough religious names in my family, thankyouverymuch.

At the time my husband and I became parents, we were practising pagans. We chose the names of pagan deities for our two children. My father and his parents were horrified, and asked why we would do such a thing. "To bring the gods alive" we responded. Naming them after pagan deities occasioned numerous opportunities to have discussions about those names, those deities and their significance, which led into wider discussions of mythologies and religious beliefs in general.

Or pets? A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables when a voice in the dark said, "I can see you and Jesus can see you too" He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze. When he heard nothing more, he shook his head and continued. Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard 'Jesus is watching you.' Startled, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot. 'Did you say that?' he hissed at the parrot. 'Yes', the parrot confessed, then squawked, 'I'm just trying to tell you that Jesus is watching you.' The burglar relaxed. 'huh? Who in the world are you?' 'Moses,' replied the bird. 'Moses?' the burglar laughed. 'What kind of idiot would name a bird Moses?' 'The kind of idiot who would name a Rottweiler Jesus.'

It's hard to find one not seeped in religion somewhere

I named my daughter after Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was a God so I guess I would.

What about naming a child after family - not necessarily a religious connection there.

It's funny for me. My oldest son Christopher, was named after a fertility doctor who helped bring Christopher into the world. My second son James, was named after a famous historical figure, so I have two sons: Christopher- Named after Christ James - Brother of Jesus and we had no religious motivation for either name.

Why not? I really like the name Amos.

It's a non-issue for me.

I named mine Lilith cause my folks are to dumb to google lol and I only liked the storm goddess aspect of it more than the rest of the nonsense-

I would pick something out of my ethnic heritage.

Both our children are named a combination of grandparents names selected for the 'yellablity'. They ended up being the realatively biblically significant names of Anna and David for first names. Middle names were a mixed bag. To us the names mean only that we thought of people close to us... and that we couldn't agree on anything else!

Oh yes...it bothers me no end..

My name's Ian, Scottish for John who 'wrote' a gospel and was a saint, my second name is Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, my third (confirmation name) is Declan, also an Irish saint and the first three letters of my surname spell 'God' There's not point in me making a stand over a religious name! lol

I don't care about the background but the baby should be happy about the name I kept. Actually im thinking of my parents name to my children unfortunately they are religious names!

I always thought Matthias was a cool name. I care a little bit about meaning but only when the name is iffy to me anyways. So went with the first option.

I am named after my father. Our names mean "Messenger of God". We are both non-religious. I think I will follow and pass that name up to my son if I come to have one. I don't mind it being religious.

I would definitely avoid it. One thing is that theists could use it against my child at some point in future.

Maybe as long as it's not faith

I make my own destiny anyway. My name is Paul, the guy who in the Bible invented Hell, the worst concept that anyone could imagine up. Did one much better, named my Daughter Paloma, meaning White Dove. She is true to her name of love and Peace.

Meh. Yes, a lot of the older, more common names have some times to the bible. Not a big deal to me. Conversely, i'm setting on never having children, so kind of a moot point for me.

I went with "other". I would not name a child something like Christian or any other name that evokes thoughts of religion. However, Western society has been tainted by the church for so many centuries that there are religious meanings behind a large number of common names. For example, my given name, Danny (NOT Daniel, though it is a derivative), derives from Daniel which means "God is my judge."

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet"

You mean the name, John Paul Luke Jesus Mother Mary Sister Christian is out of the question to name a child?

Well, I'm named Crawley by my mother who is very religious...yet I'm an atheist. Could naming have been an influence😅?