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Where can I find a large list of boy names that have absolutely no link to religions? I found some while googling but in almost all of them I saw names such as "Clark" as non-religious names. But they're not. Here it says:

Clark is commonly an English surname derived from Latin with connections to the Old English word ‘clerc’ meaning ‘priest.’

Where can I find names that have absolutely nothing to do with any religion or belief? Not even spirituality. Names like Cody

M D P
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    Did you try googling "Atheist/Non-Religious Names For Boys" or other such terms? I doubt there is a definitive list anywhere. – anongoodnurse Jul 26 '23 at 09:28
  • @anongoodnurse yes as I said I tried that and all the lists contained some religious names. I don't want to later find out that the name was actually linked to something belief-related. So I'm being very careful. But to search all the names I see for their origin one by one is exhausting. I was hoping that maybe someone has already done that. – M D P Jul 26 '23 at 14:44
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    Is it cruel to point out that the child could grow up to be a priest regardless of the name? Or could be named "Jesus" and become an atheist? Because kids are kind of like that. – Wayne Conrad Jul 26 '23 at 18:07
  • @WayneConrad Yeah, My own name is Mohammad and I'm awake. but at least I gotta try my best to keep him from getting brain washed. – M D P Jul 27 '23 at 06:34
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    You could name him after a famous atheist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:English_atheists – Paul Johnson Jul 27 '23 at 09:01
  • "Glorious Emperor of mankind" would be a great name. Because yes, you herethic, the Emperor said it himself before the Heresy, he is not a god ! – Itération 122442 Jul 27 '23 at 13:25

4 Answers4

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This is actually not definitively possible. You cannot prove a negative.

Let's say that you decide on the name Abcde, as there is no religious source material that uses that name and the etymology is non-religious.

How do you know that there won't be a future discovery of a religious text in which the name Abcde is used? Now what?

On a different thread, do you put a statute of limitations on what you call a religious link?

The name Amun has religious etymology, but it is of a religion that hasn't been actively practiced for millennia (Ancient Egypt) - how do you feel about that? (regardless of whether you like the name, for the sake of the example)

At what point (if ever) do you accept that a name with a religious origin may be absorbed into cultural history without particularly maintaining its religious link?

It seems to me that you're better off tackling this the other way around. Find a name you like, and look into its etymology. If you don't like its etymology, find another name. If you're okay with its etymology, maybe that's the name you want to pick.

Doing it the other way around by first generating a list of all the names that match your criteria first requires you to precisely denote your criteria and assume that all the information regarding a name's etymology and usage that you have is completely correct. That's a tall order.

Flater
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  • I'm not concerned about the future. The future is bright, every year the humanity is moving more towards being awake. Humans are getting smarter. I'm only concerned about the past. I'm avoiding all the religions, including the ancient ones. There has to be some names like "Cody". Very few. But still. It's like finding a needle in a haystack but I was hoping someone might have already done that. – M D P Jul 27 '23 at 06:44
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    Great answer! I highly recommend starting with names you like and then researching rather than going the other way around. When naming my daughter, I downloaded the SSA historical database of baby names and wrote code to find names that were in the top-100 a century ago, are in the top-100 (but not top-10) today, and didn't include certain sounds that don't work with my last name. Then my wife and I researched every name on the list. We're Christians and preferred a Christian name, but that's not where we started. – Andrew Brēza Jul 27 '23 at 17:41
  • All names can be connected to spiritualism do to the existence of numerology, which assigns all names a spiritual meaning. – Questor Jul 27 '23 at 18:12
  • @MDP I wasn't asking about potential future religions, I was asking about potential future discoveries of past religions. – Flater Jul 27 '23 at 22:52
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Use a unique name or spelling

The connotation of every name changes over time. There's no way to know how people in the future will view a given name. You've referenced the name "Cody" in your comments. OK, what if the next pope decides to be called Pope Cody I? In fact, did you know there's already a TV character named "Pope" Cody? Give me any name in common usage and there's a good chance either that I'll find someone deeply religious with that name or I'll be able to do so in the next twenty years.

It's impossible to control the connotations that your child's name carries. I'm a Christian, but my wife and I ultimately fell in love with a name that doesn't have much religious significance. That doesn't mean people will assume our daughter is an atheist, in the same way that I don't assume that all my friends named Grace are Christian. My name's Andrew, would you automatically assume I'm Christian because it's a Biblical name?

If you really want a name that doesn't carry any sort of historical, cultural, or linguistic baggage, you should come up with something original. Instead of looking for lists of names for your particular religious beliefs, you should check a site like this: https://datayze.com/name-uniqueness-analyzer

Andrew Brēza
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  • Can we do that? Can we create a new name? – M D P Jul 29 '23 at 06:37
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    I would argue against using unique spellings. Seems to me like it's a good way to subject your child to a life of having their name spelled incorrectly. – JS Lavertu Aug 03 '23 at 17:00
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    @JSLavertu I'm inclined to agree with you. When naming our daughter, my wife and I limited our search to names that have consistently been in the top-100 for several generations. But we weren't desperate to avoid any religious connotations like OP is for some reason. – Andrew Brēza Aug 03 '23 at 18:51
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    @JSLavertu Ironically I have a very common name (as you can see) and yet it's systematically spelled wrong by every administration I ever have to deal with. I'm fairly convinced there would have been fewer spelling mistakes if I had had a unique name instead of a common one. – Stef Aug 04 '23 at 13:45
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I searched "non religious baby names" and found this site.

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    I've already mentioned this site in my question – M D P Jul 27 '23 at 06:36
  • I see the problem. The description of Clark on the site I posted says: "121. Clark:

    If you want a short, but strong and global name for your son, pick Clark, which means ‘scholarly’." Clearly, this was not researched, as I easily found the description that you posted in your question. A Native American tradition is to name your child for the first thing you see after they're born, I'm assuming within reason. Sorry I'm not more help, and I do understand that this is important.

     –  Jul 27 '23 at 08:00
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Frame Challenge, Its not possible. If "Not even spirituality" applies.

"The spiritual meaning of a name goes beyond its linguistic origins, and refers to the symbolic and energetic qualities it carriers...

Each name vibrates at a particular frequency and can attract certain energies and experiences into one's life."

According to numerology, all names have a spiritual meaning which makes it impossible to find a name that doesn't have a spiritual meaning....

EDIT: Because people lack spiritual knowledge/numerology, I will show you how to calculate your names frequency. Note that there are many different ways that one might calculate the spiritual frequency, I find that Chaldean Numerology helps you live a more harmonious path.

The frequency of your name is simple to calculate. Usually it is calculated with your first name and last name... You might include middle name(s) if they are used consistently...

First using Chaldean Numerology every letter has a value. Summing these up gives us the frequency..

  1. A I J Q Y
  2. B K R
  3. C G L S
  4. D M T
  5. E H N X
  6. U V W
  7. O Z
  8. F P

Using Cody P as the name that gives 3 + 7 + 4 + 1 + 8 = 23 = 2 + 3 = 5 Which corresponds with Body, Sensuality, conflict, the five senses. An ability to learn and teach from direct experiences. But sadly 5s find difficulty learning form the experiences and wisdom of others... Are head strong, and their strong connection to the body makes connecting to the inner self challenging.

Questor
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  • What about "Cody"? – M D P Jul 27 '23 at 06:35
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    Sorry, but unless you can tell me how to measure the resonant frequency of a name I'll have to classify this as woo and downvote accordingly. – Paul Johnson Jul 27 '23 at 08:57
  • @PaulJohnson Added Chaldean numerology... Does that work? – Questor Jul 27 '23 at 16:12
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    Your edit is interesting and leaves me conflicted. On the one hand, you have in good faith answered @PaulJohnson's request, and I desire to be kind to someone obviously doing their best. On the other hand, it is for me still an unsatisfying answer, now using one flavor of pseudoscience to back up another. – Wayne Conrad Jul 27 '23 at 16:19
  • @WayneConrad The question was "Can I find a name without religious significance including spirituality".... Numerology is a type of spirituality, and every name has a spiritual significance inside of it. Therefore there are no names that exist which cannot be connected in someway to a form of spiritualism.... That it is quackery is irrelevant to the question. – Questor Jul 27 '23 at 16:54
  • Ah, I see now what you are doing in this answer. You are not endorsing the methods you describe, but using them as one reason that the question might be considered to have no answer. Have I got that right? – Wayne Conrad Jul 27 '23 at 16:56
  • @WayneConrad Yeah... I even wrapped in in a <sarcasm> tag, which is an html tag that doesn't exist, but should. – Questor Jul 27 '23 at 17:29
  • I've removed my downvote. I think good frame challenges are useful, and I'm sorry I didn't understand at first what you were up to. The <sarcasm> markup wasn't showing up; I escaped it show it does. I hope that's your intent. – Wayne Conrad Jul 27 '23 at 17:31
  • @WayneConrad nope... Was meant to be invisible. As a silent joke for myself...

    As for the downvotes, they come from people who didn't understand the question.

     – Questor Jul 27 '23 at 17:35
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    @Questor Sorry for the bad edit. Have a great day, see you next question! – Wayne Conrad Jul 27 '23 at 18:54
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    I understand what you are saying. The connection I'm talking about is that it shouldn't be a name that was created by the people who practice spiritualism. And it shouldn't be a name of someone famous in spiritualism. – M D P Jul 29 '23 at 06:32