pregnant statueEverywhere you look there's a John, Christian (Christie?), Daniel, Jacob, Sarah, Lily -- names derived from the Bible, or at least credited that way. My Jewish friend chose the Hebrew name 'Ethan' for her son, and I"m sure many of you know people whose religious beliefs influenced their children's names as well.

My own kids' names, Rowan and Aurora, definitely have some religious meaning for me as well, being Pagan, but Pagan kid names are often a little more complicated. Well, or less, depending on how you look at it.

If you're looking for a Pagan or Wiccan-themed baby name, there's a lot of different things to consider.

There's no one culture that's influenced Paganism or Wicca as a whole, or one book that names can be taken from. Nature and astronomy is obviously going to be a large part of the influence on Paganism, which is where my own children's names especially come from -- Rowan and Aurora. However, Rowan's name also holds special significance, since the Celtic Druids regarded the tree with great respect, and it became associated with witchcraft and even a symbol of the "supernatural". Celtic names are incredibly common amongst Pagans since many of our modern traditions come from old Celtic practices.

Some folks look towards different cultural backgrounds like Welsh, Gaelic, or Germanic for influence, or different pantheons like the Egyptian, Norse, or Greek Gods. Some find it pretentious to use the names of Gods or Goddesses as a child's name, but others have no problem with it. My family uses their names for our pets ... we have an Isis, Pandora, Loki, and Odie (who was Odin until we learned she was a girl, oops!).

So, taking in mind the wide pool you've got to draw from, finding names can be incredibly fun. Here are some of my favorites:

Girls:

  1. Dawn
  2. Ember
  3. Autumn
  4. Gwen
  5. Persephone
  6. Lily
  7. Sabrina
  8. Winter
  9. Bridget
  10. Aurora
  11. Summer
  12. Jade
  13. Rose
  14. Luna
  15. Bryn
  16. Soleil
  17. Isis
  18. Deidre
  19. Willow
  20. Lilith
  21. Celeste
  22. Jade

 

Boys:

  1. Avery
  2. Forest
  3. Cameron
  4. Gavin
  5. Hunter
  6. Brian
  7. Drew
  8. Evan
  9. Geir
  10. Connor
  11. Kegan
  12. Robert
  13. Brody
  14. Dylan
  15. Bran
  16. Tristen
  17. Steffan
  18. Reed
  19. Arthur
  20. Seth
  21. Griffin
  22. Amon

 

Gender Neutral:

  1. Rowan/Rowyn
  2. Morgan
  3. Raven/Ravyn
  4. Sage

 

So see? Contrary to popular belief, there's many "normal" names that also are Pagan names as well. We're not all weird. Well, kind of. And obviously, there are names that have different meanings, having origins in multiple languages or cultures as well. But I personally really like nature and Celtic names the most.

What's your favorite name from the list, or do you have some of your own?

 

Image via La Catholique/Flickr