Each Week on Saturday, I’ll be asking a “Question of the Week.” I’d love your input and discussion! Ask a good question in the comments and it may show up as the next week’s question! I may answer the questions in the comments myself.
Favorite Bible Name
My wife and I are eagerly anticipating our firstborn, and part of that, of course, is picking out names. Because of this, I have had names on my mind, and I thought I’d ask you, dear reader, for your own thoughts:
What’s your favorite name in the Bible? I’m not asking for your favorite person, but rather the name you enjoy the most. Why is that one your favorite?
I look forward to reading your answers!
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J.W. Wartick - Reconstructing Faith 
When it comes to female names, Hannah wins hands down. Firstly, it means “favour” or “grace” – certainly a meaning one would desire for their child, so it gains points on that front. Secondly, the Biblical character who carries the name is an amazing example of faith, giving any child who shares the name a wonderful namesake. Finally (and, I might add in jest, most importantly), it’s a palindrome. How can you say “no” to a name that’s a palindrome?
As for male names, my favourite Biblical male names tend to come from my favourite Biblical characters – Daniel tops that list. The one notable exception is Samuel, a name I’ve liked almost as long as I remember, but even then I really like the story of the eponymous prophet. I tend to prefer relatively plain names (as evidenced by the ones I’ve listed thus far), but were I to go a little less orthodox I’d probably use Malachi – it sounds cool, and the meaning of “messenger” is one that would be great to see a kid grow up to fulfil.
Posted by tsaebxiii | June 14, 2014, 8:18 AMThanks for your thoughtful comment. I really enjoy the last line about Malachi, though what do you think of the possibility of perhaps giving shoes too big to fill? Just something I’ve wondered about myself when considering names.
Posted by J.W. Wartick | June 14, 2014, 5:27 PMOne of the nice things about “messenger” is that there are a huge number of ways to fulfil it – any follower of Christ is already doing it. A stay-at-home mum is a messenger to her community; so is the CEO who refuses to run his company unethically. Just about the only way to fail to be a messenger is to fail to be a Christian and, at that point, you run into the same problem with pretty much any Biblical name.
Posted by tsaebxiii | June 14, 2014, 9:18 PMWith our fourth, after the doctor told us that having more would put my wife in grave danger (all sorts of complications) we decided on “Isaac-Laughter” if it was a boy. If Abraham and Sarah can laugh and rejoice with one, we could certainly do the same with 4. But had no idea for a girl’s name. One night my wife read an article about a family that named their stillborn child “Victory.” My reply was “In Greek that would be ‘Nika.'” From that moment on we had our girl name.
Nika is now seven years old and loves the fact that her name comes from the victory we have in Christ.
Posted by Tony Pittenger | June 15, 2014, 10:01 PM