I saw the new thread about Muhammed and I know all about Jesus as a common first name in some countries further south.
For that matter, just how common are first names like:
Odin
Buddha
Zoroaster
Cthulhu
Satan
Beelzebub
Mephistopheles
Lucifer
etc.?
Krishna and Rama are pretty common first names in India.
Please allow me to introduce myself …
In Fredric Brown’s novel the Screaming Mimi, the protagonist has a buddy named “God”, but it’s short for “Godfrey”.
Which brings up another issue – names of Gods show up frequently as parts of names, usually in the form of “gift from [God]”. That, I believe, is the meaning behind “Godfrey”. It’s also behind:
Godiva
Deodato
Theodore
and a great many others. It’s common in other languages, with their gods, as in Apollodorus. and the names of many of the Pharaohs were essentially “Child of [God]” : Ramses = “child of Ra”, Thuthmose = “child of Thoth”. Many people think that the name of the prophet “Moses” (who was born and raised in Egypt, after all), is in this tradition, but it’s had the Egyptian god’s name cut off, and consists only of the “child of…” part*
The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu, protect my eldest son (or the border)”, Nabu being the god’s name.
There are plenty more of these. I don’t doubt that a lot of them, like Brown’s “God”, got abbreviated or worn down to the god’s name part only.
*I know Freud suggested this in his book Moses and Monotheism, but i don’t know if it’s original with hi m. It is, of course, at odds with the meaning given in the Bible.
Oh, and regarding the names in the OP – many of these aren’t really the names of gods (or devils). Mephistopheles is the name given the spirit in the Doctor Faustus legend, and to my knowledge doesn’t predate the story. I’m not sure it’s supposed to be the Devil as we know him, at least originally. Satan means “adversary”, and is the character in the book of Job. He’s been identified as the Devil for a long time as a result. Lucifer, as is constantly pointed out in commentaries, means “Light Bringer”, and originally referred to the Morning Star, Venus. As a result of a New Testament reference to a translation of an Old Testament verse, it acquired an association with the Devil. They could’ve been used as names, early on, without any thought that people were bestowing the names of gods directly on their kids. Nowadays I think you’d only name a kid that to get a rise out of someone. So I’ll bet it’s been done.
As for Cthulhu, if you wanna name your kid after a fictional creation, that’s your business. But I note that people have enough trouble spelling Fredric correctly – Hastur only knows what they’d do with “Cthulhu”. Or how they pronounce it. And your kid would hate you and end up changing it anyway. Just ask Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa.
There’s a basketball player named God Shammgod.
There’s always God Shammgod.
ETA: Dammit! Well ninja’d, DC.
I named one of my daughters Kali after the Hindu Goddess.
The name of the character Moses likely comes from the Egyptian Pharaoh Ahmose I
(Who drove out the Hyksos, chased them back to Canaan and destroyed them) reconfigured as an Israelite hero rather than an Egyptian one.
Slight hijack:
I’ve never heard or read this suggestion before. Freud doesn’t make it, nor anyone else I’ve read (and the wikipedia article you link to doesn’t, either). Who has claimed this? (You can PM it to me).
Rock & Roll singer Grace Slick, while pregnant, told a reporter that she planned to name her baby “god” (“with a small ‘g’, just so he doesn’t get an ego.”) It was apparently meant as a joke, but the reporter thought she really meant it. I think she named her daughter “China” or something a little less controversial.
I did know some kids - twins - whose parents named them “Thor” & “Odin.” They were two obnoxious little shits, but definitely not the stalwart warriors you’d want fighting alonside you when Ragnarok came around.
I have a friend named “Athena.”
I think it was fairly common in ‘ye olden days’ to name kids after mythological sources - Minerva, Diana, Artemis, Ulysses, Apollo.
Found as a first name:
Godfrey, Godmarshe, Godwin, Godolfino, Godolfredo, Godson
Odin
Og
These are all past patients in our system.
An ex of mine worked at a Direct TV calling center and she got a call from a guy named God God (yes, first and last name). She thought it was a joke at first but she hooked him up with hi def television. I’m not making this up.
[Shatner] Why does God need a Hi-Def TV?[/Shatner]
Th two most prominent proponents That I know of) for the Hyksos/Ahmose events as the historical template for the Exodus myth are Donald Redford and Israel Finkelstein.
The Ahmose connection is not a hard theory, just a likely candidate. He was probably conflated (as Freud suggested) with other Israelite heroes as well, though – probably stemming from pre-Israelite tribal associations with a mountain or volcano cult.
Hindus and Buddhists are often named after gods or other divine beings–
Buddha
Buddhadev (literally, “Buddha, the God”) - common among Hindus as well
Shiva
Vishnu
Dev - “god”
Devi - “goddess”
Durga
Brahma
Krishna
Rama
Sarasvati
Lakshmi
Ganesh
Karttik
The list goes on. Every name of a god can be used as a person’s name in Hinduism. Furthermore, every name that isn’t the “proper” name of a god has been assigned as an “alternative” name to one or another god. So, essentially, almost all Hindus share their names with gods.
I know twin girls named Alpha and Omega. Does that count?
Oh, and I also know a Neptune.
And of course I’ve met a couple of Odins.
Thor (and derivations thereof) is a not an uncommon name in the Nordic languages.
Those are letters.
Like Tor Johnson?
I understand that Thor from the comic strip B.C. is named after one of Johnny Hart’s Binghamton G.E. co-workers
One of the Irish words for God is “Dia” Which shows up often in female names, although usually spelled “Dea” and sometimes is short for “Deidre” which means “broken hearted” or “raging woman.”