873+ Names That Mean God

These days, it's thought of less as the name of the great general and more as the first name of Lecter the fictional cannibal. Either association is too heavy for a child to bear.

Strong and unusual Scandinavian name, but with two possible pitfalls: people might mis-hear it as Aspen, or associate it with sports network ESPN. Variants include Esper and Esben.

The first name of Ethiopian supermodel Liya (pronounced like Leah) Kebede is also a Russian variation of Lia and Lily. Rather than using Liya, English speakers will do better to call a child Leah or Lia.

This spelling variation of trending unisex Ari — both diminutives of Hebrew Ariel — means "lion of God".

In Jewish mysticism, Raziel is an angel known as the Keeper of Secrets. The Book of Raziel contends that he stood by God and wrote down everything that was said. The name Raziel, along with many other names ending in -aziel, is rising in popularity among baby boys.

The authentic Biblical form of a name that has become even more popular alongside Jaden, Jayden, Jaidan et al. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, whose children are named creatively after their parents as Willow and Jaden, helped launch the trend. This spelling peaked at Number 372 in 2003, though it has dropped drastically in usage over the last decade.

This name, more recognized as a short form of Sebastian, is perfectly usable a cool full name, and, in fact, ranks on the UK popularity list. Seb is getting lot of attention as the nickname name of the Ryan Gosling character in the hit film La La Land.

Though this is a popular name for men in the Bible, today it's used with this spelling for nearly equal numbers of girls and boys. The Azaria variation is much more often given to girls.

This semi-obscure historic name was recently chosen for their son by Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez.

Sounds like Horace, looks like the head of a hawk on the body of a human.

Sean may be off its peak for boys, but there were still 1300 baby boys named Sean in the US in the most recent year counted, versus only five baby girls. In fact, there were fewer than 30 baby girls given the spellings Sean, Shaun, and Shawn combined. So while this name has been long used for girls, it remains in only occasional use as a feminine name and is not truly unisex in the way that names such as Rory and River are.

Amadeo and Amedeo are both valid Italian forms of the Roman Amadeus, most famous as the middle name of the composer Mozart as well as the title of a movie about him. Mozart's name was actually the Greek Theophilus, but he transformed it to the Latin version. Amadeo is also used in Spain, where it was the name of a 19th century king who was born in Italy.

Ishmael is most familiar through "Call me Ishmael," the opening line spoken by the youthful narrator of Moby-Dick. Few American parents have followed that advice, though the Spanish and Arabic spelling, Ismael, ranks at Number 362. With its warm and pleasant sound, though, we could see Ishmael tagging along behind Isaiah and Isaac.

Bodi is a succinct and friendly looking name, with a number of possible origins. One one hand, it could be a diminutive of the Hungarian Boldizsár, which ultimately derives from the Babylonian Belshazzar or Balthazar, in turn lending it a regal quality.

Anglicized form of Seònaid, the Scottish Gaelic equivalent of Janet. It has historically been quite popular in Scotland, although it hasn't ranked in the Top 100 there since 1995.

Evan is a boys' favorite that has been given the feminine touch by talented actress Evan Rachel Wood. If you want to move beyond Eva and Evelyn and like unisex names, this may be a good bet for you (though like Evan Rachel Wood, you may want a feminine name in the middle name position to clarify matters). Evanna is also another alternative.

The female version of Emanuel could become more prominent, though for some it still carries a steamy image dating back to a then sensationally erotic French film. Singer and Shameless star Emmy Rossum's full name is Emmanuelle.

This Old Testament name fits in with a number of contemporary trends: boys names ending in -el, unusual Biblical choices, names with international flair, Eli- names, and softer sounding choices for boys.

A standard form of John in Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Polish, Slovene, German, and Catalan. Properly pronounced yahn (in most of these languages), most Americans will still equate it with the Brady Bunchesque girls' name Jan.

A lesser-known archangel, but the name is probably best known today on comedian Gadiel Del Orte. Thanks to him, and the trend for biblical-sounding names, Gadiel has been rising in recent years.