Strong and weighty, but with the modernizing short forms of Zeke and Kai, Hezekiah might once have felt reserved for the bolder of Biblical namers. Not anymore. It re-entered the US charts back in the mid-2000s, having been absent since the 1920s, but it's only been in recent years that it's been given to a substantial number of boys.

An Old Testament name with a Puritan feel and post-Zachary possibilities--one of several routes to the cool nickname Zeb.

Popular with the Puritans, this name of the shrewd and beautiful wife of King David and mother of King Solomon could be a bit of a load for a modern girl to carry.

Magdalena is a pretty name forever associated with the fallen-yet-redeemed Mary Magdalen; often heard in the Hispanic community. But forward thinking parents are reviving Magdalena along with Magdalene and the unrelated but similar-sounding Marguerite.

Sapphira is a lovely name which unfortunately has an unsavory Biblical history. The New Testament Sapphira was killed by God for lying about a tax payment.

In the Bible, Elim is an oasis where the Israelites stopped during their Exodus from Egypt. It is a place of plenty representing the natural blessings of God, with twelve springs of fresh water and seventy date palm trees to provide food and shade.

This rarely used New Testament name could make an unusual route to the cool nickname Nico. Borne by the person who helps to entomb Jesus following his crucifixion, it has the powerful meaning of "victory of the people" and is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek Nikodemos.

In the New Testament, Hosanna was exclaimed by those around Jesus when he first entered Jerusalem, making this an exuberant and spiritual choice. A possible alternative for Susanna or Hannah, it was given to more than 100 girls in a recent year in the US. Associated with the hymn "Give Me Joy In My Heart", Hosanna would fit in with the likes of Halo, Chosen, Shepherd, Blessing, and Messiah.

Hiram is the kind of forgotten biblical name that adventurous parents who wish to move beyond David and Daniel are beginning to reconsider--even though it has bits of its old stiff-collared image clinging to it, along with a little hillbilly feel as well.

Could Simeon be the next Gideon? Parents seeking a less simple form of Simon might consider this biblical appellation that was chosen by Wynton Marsalis for his son. Simon is actually the Greek substitute for Simeon.

This once neglected Biblical name is back on the scene, ready to shake off both its association with the long running satirical comic strip, L'il Abner and its historical Puritan image. The name appears in the Bible several times, notably on the cousin and commander of Saul's army and by two figures in the New Testament. It re-entered the US Top 1000 in 2023, and was a fast rising choice in 2024 when it was given to nearly 300 boys.

Dinah is a charming, underused Old Testament name with a rich literary and musical resume. In the Old Testament, Dinah was the beautiful daughter of Jacob and Leah and while some conflate her with the Biblical Adinah, they are in fact different figures.

Creative name whose only limitation is that it looks like it would be pronounced akin to Alicia and Elissa — although as a Biblical boys’ name, it is traditionally pronounced ee-LIE-shah.

Urban was not an uncommon name through the 1930s (rising as high as Number 435), having been attached to several saints and early popes, but it has completely disappeared from the landscape--both urban and rural. Yet in this era of word name appreciation and trend for 'an'-ending boys' names, we're thinking it might be ready for a return.

In Roman mythology, Silvanus was the god of the forests. He protected farmers and fields and was credited with developing a system for marking field boundaries.

Abra is soft, sensitive feminine form of Abraham that was the name of a soft, sensitive character in the John Steinbeck book and movie, "East of Eden." In the bible, Abra was a favorite of King Solomon and it was a popular name in seventeenth century England. Abra is also a West African name used for girls born on Tuesday. The magical 'abracadabra' is thought to have originated in the Aramaic language.

Noam is an underused modern Hebrew name with any number of attractive attributes attached to its meaning; it doesn't have the biblical weight of Noah, but could make a more distinctive alternative to that popular choice. Noam is a Top 10 boys' name in Israel.

There are many variations of this name, with or without the initial T and the final h, with one p or two. In the Bible she was the wife of Moses.

Ebenezer is the name of a biblical place --the stone set up by Samuel to mark his victory over the Philistines--rather than a person. It was adopted by the British Puritans as a first name and then exported to America, where it had some early popularity, even entering the Top 1000 in the 1880s.

Candace, an ancient title of a dynasty of Ethiopian queens mentioned in the New Testament, is associated both with actress Candice Bergen and Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell.