47+ Beautiful Biblical Baby Girl Names (With Meanings)
Published on September 11, 2026
Are you searching for biblical girl names that are more unique than Mary, Grace, or Hannah? Here you’ll find over 47 names taken directly from the Bible, including both well-known choices and lesser-known names like Keziah and Junia. Each name comes with its real story from Scripture, along with their meaning, origin, and popularity.
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I went through actual naming data for every single one of these, so you’ll see how each name is trending right now, not just whether it sounds pretty. Some of these, like Naomi and Selah, are quietly climbing fast enough that you’ll want to move quickly if you don’t want to share it with half the nursery class.
For more ideas, be sure to see 101+ Cute Baby Girl Names for 2027 That Aren’t Overused.
💕Don’t Leave Without Exploring These Fun Ideas!💕
Mary
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: bitter, or wished-for child
- Popularity: #125 in 2025
Mary was the very first name in the whole SSA dataset, sitting at #1 the year record keeping started in 1880, before it settled into a long slow decline. In 2025 it’s back up to #125 with 2,230 babies, holding steady over the last decade, and more than four million girls have carried it since records began. This is the name for the parent who wants something that already sounds like every grandmother in the family tree, no nickname needed because Mary is already short and done. I always think of it as the name you pick when you want people to stop asking where it came from.
The name belongs to Jesus’s mother in the Gospels, the young woman who gets the angel’s visit in Luke and says yes to the hardest assignment in the whole book.
Elizabeth
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: God is my oath
- Popularity: #17 in 2025
Elizabeth has held a spot in the top twenty for five years straight, sitting at #17 in 2025 with 6,760 babies, and it once climbed all the way to #3 back in 1887. Almost 1.7 million girls have worn it since 1880, which tells you families keep handing this one down on purpose, not by accident. Pick this one if you want a name with room to grow into Liz, Eliza, Beth, or Ellie depending on who she turns out to be. My cousin used it as a middle name specifically so her daughter would have options later, which honestly feels like the smart way to play it.
In Luke’s gospel she’s John the Baptist’s mother, the cousin who was already pregnant when Mary showed up with her own impossible news, and the two of them get one of the few genuinely joyful scenes in the New Testament.
Sarah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: princess
- Popularity: #90 in 2025
Sarah dropped from #57 in 2015 to #90 in 2025, still comfortably top 100 with 2,710 babies, though its real peak was 1993 when it hit #3 and felt like it was on every playground in America. Over a million girls have been named Sarah since 1880, so it carries a specific late eighties and early nineties warmth without ever feeling dated. This is the pick for parents who want a name their own generation already trusts, the kind their grandmother says with actual relief. The honest catch is she’ll share it with at least one coworker for the rest of her life.
Sarah is Abraham’s wife in Genesis, the one who laughs when she overhears God promising her a baby at ninety, and then actually has one.
Hannah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: grace, or favor
- Popularity: #56 in 2025
Hannah peaked at #2 in 1998 and has been drifting down ever since, sitting at #56 in 2025 with 3,973 babies after ranking #28 just ten years earlier. It only has 465,685 total babies on record, a smaller number than you’d guess given how common it felt in the early 2000s. This one works for the parent who wants a name that sounds soft but doesn’t shorten into anything else, since Hannah is already the whole thing, front to back. I still hear it and picture one specific third grade classroom, which either helps or doesn’t depending on your own school memories.
Hannah is the woman in 1 Samuel who prays so hard for a child that the priest assumes she’s drunk, and her son Samuel grows up to anoint Israel’s first kings.
Rachel
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: ewe, or female sheep
- Popularity: #250 in 2025
Rachel hit #9 in 1996 and has been sliding since, landing at #250 in 2025 with 1,225 babies, down from #167 just a decade earlier. Nearly 574,000 girls have carried it since 1880, a solid middle number that never crossed into rare territory. Choose this one if the appeal is a name that still sounds current without showing up twice in the same kindergarten class the way it might have in the nineties. The nickname is basically nonexistent, everyone just says Rachel, which some parents love and some find a little flat.
Jacob works seven years for Rachel in Genesis, gets tricked into marrying her sister Leah first, then works seven more, and she eventually becomes the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
Rebecca
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: to bind, or captivating
- Popularity: #350 in 2025
Rebecca’s best year was 1973, when it ranked #10, and it has been drifting down since, now sitting at #350 in 2025 with just 872 babies compared to #189 a decade ago. Still, 755,992 girls have carried it since 1880, so it’s far from obscure, just quietly out of fashion.
Rebecca (Rebekah in most translations) is Isaac’s wife, the one who shows up at the well and waters ten camels without being asked, and later helps Jacob out-maneuver his brother for their father’s blessing.
Abigail
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: my father’s joy
- Popularity: #41 in 2025
Four thousand nine hundred and forty-one babies got the name Abigail last year, which sounds like a lot until you realize it used to be double that. It peaked at #4 back in 2005, sat at #7 in 2015, and has been sliding every year since, landing at #41 in 2025. This is the biblical name for the parent who wants something warm but not showy, the kind of name a teacher already knows how to spell. My honest thought: everyone calls her Abby by age three whether you plan for it or not, so decide now if you’re at peace with that.
Abigail shows up in 1 Samuel married to a man named Nabal who insults David, and she’s the one who rides out with food and diplomacy to stop a massacre, then ends up married to David after Nabal dies.
Leah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: weary
- Popularity: #58 in 2025
Leah has barely moved in ten years, sitting at #36 in 2015 and #58 now, which for a baby name is basically standing still. Its best year was 2010 at #24, and honestly the whole graph just looks calm, no big spike, no big drop, 3,880 girls got it in 2025 alone.
Leah is Rachel’s older sister in Genesis, married off to Jacob by a trick of her father’s, and she ends up the mother of six of the twelve tribes of Israel, including Judah.
Ruth
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: companion
- Popularity: #173 in 2025
Ruth is quietly climbing back from the almost-forgotten pile, up from #291 in 2015 to #173 now, with 1,781 babies given the name in 2025. Its real glory days were 1893, when it ranked #3, and it’s never gotten close since, but the direction right now is up. The nickname problem barely exists here, it’s just Ruthie if anyone bothers.
Ruth has her own book in the Old Testament, the Moabite widow who refuses to leave her mother-in-law and famously says “where you go, I will go,” and she ends up King David’s great-grandmother.
Esther
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: star
- Popularity: #119 in 2025
Esther means star, and lately the name is having one, up from #203 in 2015 to #119 in 2025, with the count rising every single year in that last-five stretch. Its actual best year was way back in 1896 at #27, so this current climb is new territory, not a return to old glory. Just know Essie is coming whether you asked for it or not.
Esther has her own book too, the Jewish queen of Persia who risks her life to approach the king uninvited and save her people from a planned massacre.
Naomi
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: pleasantness
- Popularity: #47 in 2025
Naomi just had its best year ever in 2023, ranking #44, and it’s held steady near there since, coming in at #47 in 2025 with 4,644 babies. Back in 2015 it sat at #75, so the whole trend line has been a slow, confident rise for a full decade. This is the name for the parent who wants something soft-sounding but not fragile, the kind of biblical girl name that works in a big family or an only-child household equally well.
Naomi is Ruth’s mother-in-law, the woman who loses her husband and both sons and tells people to call her Mara, bitter, before her story turns around.
Deborah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: bee
- Popularity: #864 in 2025
Deborah is the name your aunt has, or your mother-in-law, and I say that with real fondness because it was #2 in the entire country back in 1955. It’s fallen hard since, sitting at #864 in 2025 with just 313 babies, and the direction has been down since 2015 too, though it did tick up slightly the last two years.
Deborah is a judge and prophet in the book of Judges, the only woman to hold that role in the text, and she leads Israel into a battle that gets its own victory song afterward.
Miriam
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: bitter (widely accepted, unconfirmed)
- Popularity: #246 in 2025
Moses’s sister gets the name and barely any of the glory, which always felt like a raw deal to me. Miriam sits at #246 in 2025 with 1,262 babies, up from #293 in 2015, so it’s been climbing steadily for a decade. Her single best year was 1917 at #134, and honestly the 2025 numbers are creeping back toward that old peak. This is the pick for the parent who wants something with real weight behind it but doesn’t want to explain it at every playdate, and the kid ends up called Mira or Mimi depending on which grandma is in the room.
Eve
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: life
- Popularity: #519 in 2025
Genesis gives her the whole opening act of the Bible and just one syllable to carry it. Eve ranked #519 in 2025 with 577 babies, down from #473 in 2015, so it’s actually been sliding while a lot of these older names climb. Her best year on record was way back in 1907 at #414, which tells you this one has never really been a top-tier pick, just a steady quiet presence. I’d grab this for a middle name before a first, honestly, it does a lot of work in three letters and nobody’s ever going to misspell it on the birth certificate.
Delilah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: delicate
- Popularity: #51 in 2025
Samson’s downfall story is not exactly a bedtime tale, but somehow Delilah turned into one of the prettiest sounds in the whole book. She’s at #51 in 2025 with 4,137 babies, a top 100 name, and her best year ever was just last year in 2024 at #50, so this one is still climbing while everybody’s watching. Compare that to #115 back in 2015 and you can see how fast the jump happened, probably helped along by every Delilah song ever written. This is the name for the parent who wants something soft and a little dramatic without going full costume drama, and yes, she becomes Lila by preschool no matter what you had planned.
Sharon
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: a plain or fertile land
- Popularity: #1,256 in 2025
Nobody under thirty is naming a baby Sharon right now, and the data backs that up hard. She’s outside the top 1,000 in 2025, ranked #1256 with just 179 babies, way down from her staggering peak at #8 in 1943. Even ten years ago in 2015 she was already fading at #983, so this has been a long slow slide rather than a sudden drop. I still think there’s a version of this that works as a grandmother’s-name middle name, something quiet that nods to a whole generation of Sharons without putting the kid through it on the playground.
Tabitha
- Origin: Aramaic
- Meaning: gazelle
- Popularity: #1,308 in 2025
Acts tells the story of a woman raised back to life, which is a pretty good origin story for a name that’s had its own comeback moment. Tabitha sits at #1308 in 2025 with 171 babies, outside the top 1,000 and still falling from #943 in 2015. Her real glory days were 1978, when she hit #126, so if your mom keeps saying this name reminds her of someone, that’s why. I like this one for a parent who wants a little bit of witchy charm without going full Halloween costume, and Tabby is right there waiting as the nickname whether you plan for it or not.
Dinah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: judged
- Popularity: #4,198 in 2025
Jacob’s daughter doesn’t get nearly the airtime her brothers do, and her name has followed a similarly quiet path. Dinah is way outside the top 1,000 in 2025, given to just 34 babies at rank #4198, down hard from #2896 in 2015 and a long way from her best year in 1955 at #488. Total babies given this name since 1880 sit at only 10,509, which makes it one of the rarest picks in this whole roundup. This is the name for the parent who wants something nobody else at daycare will have, and honestly I think it’s due for a rediscovery any year now.
Zipporah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: bird
- Popularity: #2,238 in 2025
Zipporah is Moses’s wife in Exodus, the Midianite woman who saves his life with a hasty circumcision on the road. In the SSA data she’s rare, 83 babies in 2025, ranked #2238, but the ten year trend is climbing and her best year ever was back in 2018.
This is a name for the parent who wants something biblical but doesn’t want to run into it at the park, the one who doesn’t mind spelling it out at every doctor’s appointment. There’s basically no built in nickname, so you’re committing to the whole thing, maybe Zippy if you’re feeling bold.
Salome
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: peace
- Popularity: #1,042 in 2025
Salome doesn’t actually appear by name in the Gospels, that identification comes down to us through the historian Josephus, but she’s still tangled up in the biblical girl names canon because of it. She’s picking up real speed lately, #1042 in 2025 with 239 babies, up hard from #1703 just ten years ago.
This one is for the parent building a nursery in warm terracotta and rust who wants a name with some drama in it, not the safe sage green room down the hall. Say it out loud a few times before you commit, the middle syllable trips people who haven’t heard it before.
Susanna
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: lily
- Popularity: #1,181 in 2025
Susanna comes from the Book of Susanna, one of those apocryphal additions to Daniel that not every Bible even includes, so whether she counts as biblical depends on whose shelf you’re browsing. She’s sitting at #1181 in 2025 with 197 babies, drifting slowly upward over the decade even though her real glory days were all the way back in 1884.
I like this one for the parent who wants Susan’s warmth without actually landing on Susan, and the kid ends up Susie or Anna depending on which grandmother gets there first. Almost 20,000 babies have carried it since 1880, so she’s had a real run even during the quiet years.
Priscilla
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: ancient
- Popularity: #544 in 2025
Priscilla is a New Testament name, one half of the Priscilla and Aquila pair who show up teaching alongside Paul. She’s still inside the top 1,000, #544 in 2025, but she’s been sliding since her 2015 peak at #501, nowhere near her real high point in 1940 when she sat at #127.
This is the pick for the parent who wants a name with some weight in a family full of Emmas, the kind a grandmother already answers to at holidays. The nickname options are Cilla or Prissy, and you only end up with one of those on purpose.
Lydia
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: from Lydia, a region in Asia Minor
- Popularity: #92 in 2025
Lydia is the purple cloth dealer from Acts, the first convert in Europe, a name with an actual working woman behind it instead of just a wife or a mother. Among biblical girl names she’s the steady one, #92 in 2025, barely off her 2015 spot at #80, and not far from her all time best of #75 back in 1883.
This is the safe pick, the one that works in a nursery with neutral linen walls because it never reads like a costume. Nobody shortens it much, maybe Lyddie from a grandparent, but mostly she just stays Lydia.
Chloe
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: blooming, green shoot
- Popularity: #23 in 2025
Chloe gets one line in 1 Corinthians, Paul mentioning people from Chloe’s household, barely biblical by word count but the name stuck anyway. She’s a top 100 mainstay, #23 in 2025 with over 6,200 babies, actually a touch below her 2009 peak of #9 but nowhere close to falling off.
This is the name for the parent who wanted biblical girl names on the shortlist but also wanted something that fits on a soccer roster without anyone asking for the spelling. Everyone just calls her Chloe, there’s no nickname to negotiate, which is either boring or a relief depending on your week.
Junia
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: youthful
- Popularity: #1,998 in 2025
Junia shows up once in Romans 16:7, where Paul calls her outstanding among the apostles, which is a wild little detail for a name most people have never heard of. The SSA barely notices her either, 96 babies in 2025 and a rank of #1998, though she’s been climbing steadily from #4185 back in 2015. Her real glory year was 1883, when she cracked #981, so this is technically a comeback and not a discovery. I’d pick this one for the parent who wants something that sounds like it belongs next to Julia and Josephine but has an actual verse behind it, and the nickname is basically none, everyone just says Junia.
Phoebe
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: bright, radiant
- Popularity: #157 in 2025
Paul mentions Phoebe by name in Romans 16 too, calling her a deacon, which makes her one of the few named women with an actual job title in the New Testament. She’s the star of this whole list of biblical girl names right now, sitting at #157 in 2025, her best year ever, up from #288 just a decade ago. This is the pick for the parent who wants a name that feels current at pickup and still has real weight behind it, and yes, she will get called Feebs by at least one grandparent. I’d choose her over Junia or Keziah if you want something the preschool teacher already knows how to spell.
Keziah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: cassia (a spice)
- Popularity: #767 in 2025
Keziah is one of Job’s daughters, mentioned by name in the last chapter of the book after everything falls apart and then gets restored, and her name is tied to a spice, cassia, the same family as cinnamon. She’s had her best year ever in 2025 too, 354 babies and rank #767, climbing hard from #1420 in 2015. This one is for the parent who wants texture, something that sounds warm and a little unexpected at a shower for twenty rather than a name everyone in the room already has a niece with. The nickname problem is real though, most families land on Kizzy whether they planned to or not.
Adah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: adornment, beauty
- Popularity: #1,818 in 2025
Adah appears twice in Genesis, once as Lamech’s wife and once as one of Esau’s wives, so she’s got more real estate in the text than her SSA numbers suggest. She’s still outside the top 1,000, 110 babies in 2025 at rank #1818, but she’s been quietly rising from #2123 in 2015, and her actual glory days were back in 1883 at #277. Among biblical girl names this is the one for a small apartment nursery kind of name, short, easy to monogram, nothing to trip over at drop off. My honest thought is Ada without the H feels more familiar to most people, so be ready to spell it out loud a lot.
Vashti
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: beautiful
- Popularity: #8,823 in 2025
Vashti is the queen who gets replaced at the start of Esther for refusing to show up when the king summons her, which honestly makes her the first act of defiance in the whole book. The numbers are tiny, just 12 babies in 2025 and a rank past #8,000, and unlike most of this list she’s actually falling, down from #8415 in 2015. This is the name for the parent who wants a story more than a trend, someone throwing a shower for sixty who already knows nobody else in that room will pick it. I like her for a middle name honestly, she carries a lot of drama for a first.
Jael
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: mountain goat
- Popularity: #1,393 in 2025
Jael is the woman in Judges who ends a war by driving a tent peg through a general’s head, which is not a detail most name books lead with but I think it should be. She sits at #1393 in 2025, still outside the top 1,000 but climbing steadily since 2015, and she also shows up for boys, 147 of them in 2025, so she reads as genuinely unisex among biblical girl names. This one is for the parent who wants a name that sounds soft, almost like Jane crossed with Rachel, until someone looks up the story behind it. I’d pick her for a nursery that already leans a little edgy, not the pastel bunny one.
Anna
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: grace, favor
- Popularity: #107 in 2025
Grace is the meaning everyone quotes for Anna, and it basically comes down the same Hebrew root as Hannah, just with the letters resettled. In the SSA data she sits at #107 in 2025 with 2,521 babies, down from #44 in 2015, though her real glory days were 1880 when she ranked #2 nationally. That total of over 900,000 babies since then tells you this name has never really left, it just goes quiet for a while and comes back.
This is the pick for the parent who wants something soft and short that won’t need explaining at pickup, and the kid is getting called Annie whether that was the plan or not. Nothing wrong with that, some names are just built for a nickname you didn’t request.
Elisabeth
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: God is my oath
- Popularity: #925 in 2025
Swap one letter in Elizabeth and you land on Elisabeth, the spelling that reads a little more European, a little more grandmother’s-china-cabinet. It sits at #925 in 2025 with 282 babies, drifting down from #709 in 2015, and its best year on record was 2001 at #286, so it has never been a top name, just a steady presence. Only 48,018 babies have ever carried this exact spelling since 1880, which is nothing next to what Elizabeth herself has racked up.
This is for the parent who loves the meaning, God is my oath, but doesn’t want the most common version of it in every kindergarten class. The kid ends up as Liesl or Beth depending on which side of the family gets more say, and honestly either one works.
Joanna
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: God is gracious
- Popularity: #306 in 2025
Joanna is one of the women in Luke’s gospel who actually funded Jesus’s ministry out of her own pocket, low key one of the more interesting background women in the whole New Testament. She sits at #306 in 2025 with 997 babies, and here is the rare part, she was also #306 in 2015, dead steady for a full decade. Her best year ever was 1984 at #88, and she’s carried 111,761 babies total since 1880.
Pick this over the more obvious biblical girl names on the list if you want something that reads churchy to people who know, and completely normal to everyone else. Jo is what she becomes at school pickup no matter what you had planned.
Martha
- Origin: Aramaic
- Meaning: lady, mistress
- Popularity: #713 in 2025
Martha is the sister stuck in the kitchen while Mary sits at Jesus’s feet, basically the patron saint of anyone who has ever hosted a holiday dinner solo. She ranks #713 in 2025 with 393 babies, up from #772 in 2015, so she is one of the few biblical girl names on this list actually climbing right now, even if slowly. Her real peak was 1882 at #14, back when this name was everywhere, and the total count since 1880 sits at 551,741.
Good pick for the parent who wants old-fashioned with a little starch in it, not soft, not sweet, just solid. Marty is sitting right there as a nickname if anyone wants it, though plenty of Marthas just stay Martha their whole lives.
Magdalene
- Origin: Hebrew, Greek
- Meaning: of Magdala
- Popularity: #1,345 in 2025
Magdalene sits outside the top 1,000 entirely in 2025, at #1345 with just 165 babies, and the name itself is really a place tag, of Magdala, stuck onto Mary to tell her apart from every other Mary in the Bible. It’s climbing though, up from #1808 in 2015 and up every single year since 2021, when it sat at #2111 with only 90 babies. Best year ever was 1904 at #432, so this is a name having its slowest, quietest comeback.
This is a birth certificate name for parents who already know she’ll go by Maddie or Lena day to day, because nobody is casually calling out Magdalene at the playground. Not a small apartment name, this one wants room to be the full, formal thing.
Judith
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: woman of Judea
- Popularity: #790 in 2025
Judith comes from the deuterocanonical book where she outsmarts an invading general and saves her whole town, not every Bible includes it but the name stuck anyway. She’s rising in the data, up to #790 in 2025 with 344 babies from #929 in 2015, though nothing touches her real peak in 1940 when she hit #4 nationally. That total of 454,714 babies since 1880 shows just how big this name used to be before it fell off completely for decades.
This is the one for the parent whose own grandmother was a Judy and wants to bring the full version back properly instead of just using the nickname. Judy is exactly where this lands anyway, so you might as well plan for it.
Talitha
- Origin: Aramaic
- Meaning: little girl
- Popularity: #3,638 in 2025
Mark’s gospel gives us the line “Talitha cumi,” which Jesus says to a dead girl before she gets up and walks around, and that phrase is where the whole name comes from. It ranked #3638 in 2025 with 42 babies, down from #3087 in 2015, so the ten year direction is falling, and its best year ever was way back in 1902 at #1069. This is the pick for the parent who wants something that sounds like a real word and a real story at the same time, not just a pretty sound. The nickname problem is real though: Tali is cute but you’ll be explaining it’s from the Bible at every pediatrician visit for eighteen years.
Shiloh
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: tranquil, his gift
- Popularity: #281 in 2025
Pop culture made Shiloh a household name back when Brad and Angelina used it for their daughter, but the word itself is Hebrew and shows up as a place name in the Bible, a spot where the Israelites camped before Jerusalem was even a thing. It’s sitting at #281 in 2025 with 1,098 babies, up from #605 in 2015, and its best year on record so far is 2024 at #260. It’s also given to 1,220 boys in 2025, ranked #278 there too, so this one reads fully unisex if that matters to you. Pick this over the quieter names on this list if you want something with an actual pulse right now, the kind of name a teacher will have heard before but won’t have three of in the same class.
Zillah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: shadow, shade
- Popularity: #7,485 in 2025
Genesis buries Zillah in one verse as one of Lamech’s two wives, barely more than a name on a list, but that one verse is enough to make it biblical. It’s about as rare as names get, ranked #7485 in 2025 with just 15 babies, though the ten year trend is technically rising from #8438 in 2015. Its best year ever was the very first year it shows up in the data, 1881, when it hit #739, which tells you this name has been quietly fading for over a century with the occasional tiny uptick. This is the one for a parent who wants a nursery name nobody else will guess before they read the birth announcement, though be ready for people to ask if you meant Zilla like the monster.
Hadassah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: myrtle
- Popularity: #570 in 2025
Esther’s real name in the Hebrew text is Hadassah before she becomes queen and gets the Persian name we usually use, so this one carries the whole story even though most people only know the other version. It’s climbing steadily, sitting at #570 in 2025 with 529 babies, up from #705 in 2015, and its best year on record is last year, 2024, at #530. This is the name for the parent who already loves the Esther story but wants the version that isn’t on every preschool cubby yet. The likely nickname is Dessa or Hadley, and either one sounds like nothing you’d guess from the full name on the birth certificate.
Damaris
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: gentle
- Popularity: #1,437 in 2025
Paul’s sermon on the Areopagus in Acts gets one convert named by name, a woman called Damaris, which is about as much biographical detail as the text gives her. The name has been basically steady for a decade, #1437 in 2025 versus #1418 in 2015, though it had a real moment back in 2006 when it hit #603. This is a solid pick for the parent who wants something that sounds current without being trendy, since it’s never spiked hard enough to feel tied to one decade. The honest throwaway thought: most people will read it and land on “Damaris” just fine, but you’ll spend some time correcting the ones who try to make it “Dam-a-ris” with a hard first syllable.
Eunice
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: good victory
- Popularity: #2,362 in 2025
Timothy’s mother gets named Eunice in the New Testament, one of the few women there described as raising a kid in the faith by name, while his grandmother Lois gets a mention too. The name has been sliding for a while now, down to #2362 in 2025 with 77 babies from #1538 in 2015, though it once sat at #106 back in 1908 and has been given to over 80,000 girls total since 1880. This is a name for a parent who wants something with real weight behind it, maybe a grandmother’s name already in the family, more than something chasing a current trend. Fair warning, it’s also the name of a very famous Muppet mom, so if you use it, some people over forty will immediately picture a puppet.
Rhoda
- Origin: Greek/Hebrew
- Meaning: rose
- Popularity: #3,338 in 2025
Acts 12 gives us a servant girl named Rhoda who hears Peter knocking after his miraculous jailbreak, gets so excited she runs to tell everyone and forgets to actually open the door. The name is usually traced to Greek for rose, though it shows up plenty in Hebrew-adjacent naming circles too. In the SSA data she’s tiny, 47 babies in 2025 and ranked #3338, but she’s been drifting upward over the last decade from #3381 in 2015. Her real glory days were 1881 when she ranked #161, so this is a name with more history than momentum. I’d pick Rhoda for the parent who wants something that sounds like it belongs at a church potluck but won’t show up on any preschool roster, and the nickname is honestly just Rhoda, nothing shortens it.
Selah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: pause or reflect
- Popularity: #216 in 2025
Selah shows up throughout the Psalms as a pause marker, basically the word the choir director drops in to tell everyone to stop and breathe for a second. The SSA numbers back up how fast this one is moving, #216 in 2025 with 1,416 babies, up from #461 just ten years earlier, and 2025 is literally its best year on record. I’d grab Selah if you want something that sounds spiritual without being a straight Bible name lift, and it works in a nursery with a calm neutral palette just as well as a bold one. The one thing I’d flag is that it’s climbing fast enough that your kid might share a preschool class with two other Selahs.
Michal
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: who is like God
- Popularity: #4,320 in 2025
Saul’s daughter Michal gets married off to David and then has to watch him dance half naked in the street, which is not exactly a great scene for her. It’s Hebrew for who is like God, basically the same root as Michael with the ending flipped. She’s rare in the data, 33 babies in 2025 at rank #4320, and she’s been sliding since 2015 when she sat at #3959. Her one real moment was 1942 at #856, so this reads more like a name your grandmother’s generation flirted with than one anyone’s actively choosing now. I’d only pick Michal if you want the female version of Michael without going with Michaela, and you’re ready to spell it out every single time someone reads it out loud.
Ariel
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: lion of God
- Popularity: #356 in 2025
Ariel means lion of God in Hebrew and shows up in Isaiah as a poetic name for Jerusalem itself, long before anyone put her in a seashell bra. The SSA data shows her falling since 2015, when she ranked #137, down to #356 in 2025 with 851 babies, though her real peak was 1991 at #66, right when a certain animated movie hit theaters. She’s also used for boys, 533 of them in 2025, so she reads as unisex depending on your circle. I’d choose Ariel for the parent who wants a name with actual Bible pedigree that nobody will immediately clock as biblical, and the nickname is just Ari if you want it shorter.
Elisheva
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: God is my oath
- Popularity: #1,983 in 2025
Aaron’s wife in Exodus is Elisheva, the Hebrew original behind Elizabeth, meaning God is my oath. She’s still small in the data, 97 babies in 2025 at rank #1983, but she’s been rising steadily from #2362 in 2015 and 2025 is actually her best year yet. I’d pick Elisheva over plain Elizabeth if you want the family nod without every other kid in class sharing it, and the nickname problem mostly solves itself since people just call her Elisheva or maybe Eli. Fair warning, you’ll be spelling it out on every school form for the next eighteen years.
Noa
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: movement
- Popularity: #226 in 2025
Numbers lists a woman named Noah, spelled differently from the ark guy, as one of Zelophehad’s five daughters who successfully petition Moses for their father’s inheritance, and Noa is the modern Hebrew spelling used for her today. She’s genuinely popular right now, #226 in 2025 with 1,348 babies, up from #767 in 2015, and 2025 is her best year on record too. She’s also used for boys, 225 of them in 2025, so she lands as unisex in most name conversations. I’d take Noa over Noah for a girl if you want the same sound without the constant is that a boy’s name back and forth, and the nickname is just Noa, short enough that nobody bothers shortening it further.
Tamar
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: date palm
- Popularity: #2,455 in 2025
Two women in Genesis and 2 Samuel carry this name and neither story is exactly gentle, so if you go with Tamar you’ll want to know the source material before your mother in law asks. The data has it sitting at #2455 in 2025 with 73 babies, down from #2256 in 2015, and its real glory days were 1977 when it hit #1015. Nobody’s using it as a trend pick right now, which is honestly the appeal. This is a name for the parent who wants something biblical without it reading like a top 50 baby girl name, short enough that there’s no built in nickname, just Tamar, said whole every time.
Hosanna
- Origin: Hebrew/Aramaic
- Meaning: save, we pray
- Popularity: #1,480 in 2025
Hosanna started life as the word the crowd shouts at Jesus riding into Jerusalem, not as a name anyone expected to end up on a birth certificate, but here we are. It’s actually rising, from #2976 in 2015 up to #1480 in 2025 with 145 babies, its best year on record being right now. That’s the kind of trajectory that makes me pay attention among biblical girl names, because most of the obscure ones are fading and this one’s climbing. I’d pick it for a family that wants the name itself to be a small act of praise, and I’d tell them to be ready to explain it at every single school pickup.
Susannah
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: lily
- Popularity: #2,536 in 2025
Susannah is the h added spelling of Susanna, the woman falsely accused in the apocryphal Book of Daniel addition, and that extra letter changes the whole feel of it into something a little more old fashioned New England. It sits at #2536 for 2025 with 70 babies, down from #2313 in 2015, though its actual peak was back in 1882 at #804, so this one has been quietly fading for well over a century. I’d grab this version over plain Susanna if your last name is short and you want the name to have some visual weight on paper, and the nickname you’re actually getting is Suzy whether you plan for it or not.
Sapphira
- Origin: Greek/Aramaic
- Meaning: sapphire
- Popularity: #3,567 in 2025
Sapphira’s story in Acts ends badly for her, struck down for lying about money along with her husband Ananias, which is a rough legacy to hand a baby but the sound of the name has outlived the scandal. It’s parked at #3567 in 2025 with just 43 babies, its best showing ever was 2018 at #2776, and the overall count since 1880 is only 879 babies total, so this stays rare no matter what year you check. This is for the parent who already loves Sophia or Sophie and wants the biblical original with more edge, and yes, the kid gets called Saffy on the playground within a week.
If I had to sign a birth certificate tomorrow I’d probably still land on Naomi, it’s soft, it’s got Ruth built right into its story, and nobody’s going to butcher it at the pediatrician’s office. But I keep circling back to Keziah too, just for the record. Either way, this list proved there’s a lot more out there than Mary and Grace.
