140+ Biblical Girl Names

This attractive Old Testament option is the name of a place in northern Israel.

In the Bible, Beulah is a place, not a person, applied to the land of Israel by the prophet Isaiah. The land of Beulah has sometimes been considered a reference to heaven. Beulah began to be used as a given name in England at the time of the Reformation and was used by the seventeenth century Puritans.

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.

Talitha appears in the Bible as words Jesus says to awaken a young girl whose parents feared she was dead. It has been used in the US since colonial times. Talitha is also the name of two stars in Ursa Major, where it's related to the Arabic word for "third." Talitha definitely makes a fresh spin on Tabitha or Talisa.

In the New Testament this was exclaimed by those around Jesus when he first entered Jerusalem. An exuberant choice!

A fairly common Hebrew name without much crossover potential.

A name with a surprising amount of history--it was the name of the wife of Ptolemy I of Egypt, occurs in the New Testament, and belonged to a fourth century saint. In the US, it has long been spelled and pronounced Bernice. Nicknames include Bernie, Berry, Binnie and Bunny.

Keturah, the Old Testament name of Abraham's second wife, is a possibility for anyone seeking a truly unusual and interesting biblical name; certainly a lot more distinctive than that of Abraham's first wife, Sarah.

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.

This Latinate feminine form of Daniel has ranked among the Top 300 girls' names in the US for more than 30 years.

To those who remember, Rhoda is still reminiscent of the brassy Bronx 1970s sitcom Rhoda Morgenstern. But Rhoda has a much longer history--it is a name that can be found in the New Testament as a servant girl in the house of Mary, mother of John. Later, Rhoda appeared in the novel Vanity Fair and the Shaw play Man and Superman.

Finally, an attractive, undiscovered Old Testament choice for girls.

Long-standing French name that retains a feminine, fragile, and shell-like image.

Calah, also called Nimrud, is one of four ancient cities of Assyria, Noah's great-grandson. This unusual name suggests a woman open to opportunity.

Galilee is a highly unusual place name, Galilee being a large region in northern Israel, the home of Jesus during at least thirty years of his life, and also where he cured a blind man. The Sea of Galilee gets its name from the area.

Biblical name long associated with the fallen-yet-redeemed Mary Magdalen, now rising improbably into the ranks of the fashionable among parents hungry for classic yet distinctive girls' names. The Magdalene and Magdalena versions are perhaps even more stylish. Can be shortened to Maggie or Magda but the full version is prettiest. One of our new favorites!

Unisex name from the Old Testament, which is very in-keeping with current naming trends for girls.

Parents seeking a distinctive New Testament name might consider this one. Adopted by some Puritans in the seventeenth century, Persis was used in the William Dean Howells novel The Rise of Silas Lapham for the wife of the protagonist.

Israeli-born singer Keren Ann introduced this traditional Hebrew name to this country, where it could well be mistaken for Karen.

Many parents prefer this spelling of Rebecca, used in some versions of the Bible. Still, it's slipped considerably since its heyday in the eighties and nineties.