Biblical Boys-names
Biblical Boys-names has during the last years become more popular, even rare names like Leah, Lucas and Noah. These names was almost unknown as babynames in Norway before 1990. The statistic shows that a lot of names from the Bible has been used for many, many years, even if we have to go back as far as 100 years or more to find some of them.
The Most Popular NamesThe number One Biblical name in Norway has varied a lot, but since 1880 the names Johannes, Andreas, Jacob (or Jakob), and Thomas (or Tomas) has been the winners when it comes to the original Biblical boys-names. Also Peter or Petter is very common as a boys name in Norway. From the name Johannes we also find Jan, John, Johan and Hans. From Andreas we find the alternative Anders. From Peter we see the more common used Peder and Per.All these names has been used through generations. Later we find Daniel, Jonas, Joakim and Michael, as well as Markus, Mathias and Tobias. Before 1980 very few was given the name Markus, and almost none was called Marcus. This has really changed, and at the end of the 90’s Markus and Marcus was very popular names. MathiasMathias was quite popular before 1900, but after 1920 it was almost totally out of use as a babyname in Norway. From 1985 the name became more and more popular, and was no.1 on the list of new babynames in Norway in 2004. Also in Denmark it is a no.1 name, but in Sweden only no.62. The name Mathias means ”Gift from God”. Even if Matheus (or Matteus) is a more known Biblical name and has the same meaning, only 28 people in all Norway has this name today.Michael and DanielThe name Michael is used in Norway only since 1940, even if we had some use of the name as Mikal earlier. The name means ”Who is like God”.Daniel was until 1970 very rarely in use in Norway, but had a n increasing popularity during the 1990’s. The name means ”God is my Judge” or also ”God is my helper”.
Jonas, Elias and JoachimBefore 1975 the name Jonas was almost never used as a boys name. In 2006 it reached the no.1 on the list of the most popular names from the Bible. For the last 6 years seen together, Jonas reaches a no.4 on the ”Bible”list, after Markus, Mathias and Andreas. The name Jonas means ”Pidgeon”The name Elias was in some use before 1900, but then almost forgotten until 1990. I 2006 it reached no.5 on the ”Bible”- name list. The name Elias means ”Jahve is God” The name Joachim does not really come from the Bible, but is believed to be the name of the father of Maria. The name means ”God is raising you up, holding you up”. During the 1990’s it became very popular, but is now almost not used as a babyname.
Benjamin and Isac / Isak4200 Norwegian men are named Benjamin, and almost all of them has been given the name after 1990. Isac, or in Norwegian, Isak, was Benjamins grandfather according to the Bible, but is not much used as a modern name.Lucas and NoahLucas, however, not to mention Noah, are extremely popular names these days, and the same goes in Denmark and Sweden. The name Noah is supposed to mean ”rest” or ”comfort”.25% of the boys and 10% of the girls in Norway has ”direct” Biblical names, and that means without including all different variations of the names.
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