Holy Spirit names

sanctanomina Naming nitty gritty, , ,

A reader asked me for ideas for names to honor the Holy Spirit — cool question, right? I’d never thought of names for the Holy Spirit before, but it’s a lovely thought. This is what I came up with:

— A “spirit” meaning, like Hugh/Hugo

— A “dove” meaning, like Colum/Columba, Jemima, Paloma, Jonah, or Dove itself. Or this interesting treat (from behindthename):

UXUE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Basque

Meaning & History: From the Basque name of the Spanish town of Ujué where there is a church dedicated to the VirginMary. Its name is derived from Basque usoa “dove”.

Mother Mary and the Holy Spirit in one name! But Uxue? I don’t even know how to say it! Haha!

— One of the ways I once heard the Trinity explained are that the Father is the lover, the Son is the beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the loving that goes back and forth between them. I could see a “love” name going along with that — like Amanda, Amadeus (literally means “love of God”), Carys, Charity, Kerensa

— A fire-related name might work, like for the tongues of fire: Aidan, Ignatius, Cinaed (often anglicized as Kenneth)

— The word “spirit” comes from the Latin “to breathe,” which makes me think of “the breath of God,” so maybe a “breath/breathe” meaning: Abel, Eve

Those were my ideas — do any of you have any to add?

18 thoughts on “Holy Spirit names”

  1. A common name in the Eastern church is Theophania (thay-off-an-EE-ah) or Theophan for the feast of Theophany, the baptism of The Lord, when the Spirit descended in the form of a dove.

    As an aside, I thought of asking if you were up for the challenge of doing a name consultation for an Eastern Orthodox baby (our traditions for naming are a little different, and not all our saints are in common) but it got too late and then we had our little Elisabeth (Elsa) Eleni 🙂

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    • Ooh I love that!! Theophania/Theophan is a great idea!

      I certainly would have tried to do a good consultation for an Eastern Orthodox baby! I’m not very familiar with your traditions, but with your help I might’ve been able to come up with some helpful ideas. But it sounds like you didn’t need it — Elisabeth Eleni nicked Elsa is beautiful! Congratulations!!

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  13. Love Theophania! That’s beautiful, and I love the meaning too! I also didn’t know it was the basis for the name Tiffany–very cool!

    Friends of our family have a little boy named Theodore, which behindthename gives the meaning as “gift of God.” Well, one of the titles of the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Tradition is “the Gift of God,” “Altissimi Donum Dei.” So I think Theodore names as well as Dorothy names could then certainly work as Holy Spirit tributes!

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