In your nation/culture, how taboo would it be to name your baby Jesus?

I got the idea for this thread from a discussion on livejournal. AFAIK, the only predominantly Christian cultures that actively uses Jesus (or a variant*) as a name are the Hispanophone ones (and possibly Portugal/Brazil? Not sure). There is a general taboo across most of the rest of the predominantly Christian nations/cultures against naming random infants Jesus. It also used to be that babies were generally not given the names of the holiest saints but this has broken down in recent centuries.

For argument’s sake, imagine that you are both a) capable of having a child and b) willing to do so, and that a son is born to you. If you were to name him Jesus or the corresponding regional variant, how would people around you in your native culture react? Would they think you were eccentric? Would they side-eye you? Would your mother throw a fit? Would a priest simply refuse to baptize him with that name? Would people just shrug? Or would it be considered perfectly acceptable as a name?

  • Please note that while the name Joshua is, indeed, derived from Yeshua, the original name of Jesus, many if not most people do not directly associate Joshua with Jesus. So for the purposes of this thread, Joshua is not counted as a variant of Jesus in the sense that by naming your child Joshua, you name him after Jesus.

Definitions of jesus - OneLook Dictionary Search

Generally speaking, my friends would think I was nutz, my mother would have a hissy fit the like of which has never before been seen on earth, but I have no idea what my priest would think. I suspect he’d try to talk me out of it, in sympathy with my husband who would not be happy with that choice of name. I’d have an easier time if I named my son Zeus, or Thor.

I’m from Spain, so you already know. One of my classmates was called Jesús Cristo, the last on a long line of firstborn males called Jesús from a family called Cristo.

Between Jesuses, Jesusmaris, Juanjesuses and Jesúsmigueles, you can’t open the local phone book without running into one. Oh, and of course you also get all those Manueles and Maneles; I’ve never met any Jesusas but I know several dozen Manuelas.

Muslims use the name عيسى ‘Īsá (the Islamic form of Jesus). I once knew a kid named Isa.

Manueles?

There was an American punk rocker whose legal name at birth was Jesus Christ Allin.

It’s not uncommon here, particularly in women (María Jesús), biblical are a majority, maria, jesus, jose, david, miguel, and a long etc.

Then there are all the Salvatori in Italy.

I think it would be OK if your name is Levon. And you sent him to the finest school in town.

Are you going to answer the question? Because I haven’t the faintest idea at all what Indians would say if I named my kid Jesus. And not “He-sus”, actually Jesus. I’d get a lot of funny looks, even if I said something like “I admire the mand”.

I could probably get by naming him Jawarlal nehru, and there are kids - both male and female - named Krishna, but Jesus is a weird one.

I don’t know about the taboo part of it, but I would no more name my kid Jesus than I would any other famous (and distinctive) name. “Here’s my son, Rhett Butler T, and my daughter, Scarlett O’Hara T”.

I’m still wondering how Manueles come into the picture.

I don’t really have a good answer. I suspect that there are Indians who have named their children “Jesus Christ.” I have heard of Indians with all kinds of names, like “Stalin” and “Hitler.” I have a faint impression that someone has told me about a Bengali kid named Jesus Christ, but I’m not entirely sure I didn’t imagine that.

Among the kind of people I associate with, there are definite ideas about what kinds of names are normal and Jesus isn’t one of them. The Indians I know make a big deal about naming children and what the names mean and what kinds of associations might be triggered (No! I had an uncle with that name, you can’t name him that! No! There was a kid at school with that name!). (It’s a taboo to name someone after a relative.)

I don’t know any Indian Christians though so I’m not sure what their attitudes would be regarding Jesus as a given name.

Definitely not taboo to name after a relative here; but like you, we place great value on the meaning of a name and whether it actually applies to the child. We don’t just name a kid a name we like, generally. And I have never heard of anyone being named Jesus.

“Manuel” is a form of “Emmanuel,” another name for Jesus (in the Christian tradition). Nava was saying that those names are also quite common, in both male and female forms, although she has never run into “Jesus” in a female form (i.e. Jesusa.)

Anyhow, “Emmanuel,” is not really remarkable in English, either, I don’t think. It’s not exactly common, but it’s not really surprising. “Jesus” with an English pronunciation would be a bit jarring.

Emmanuel is a fairly common, albeit old-fashioned, Jewish name here in Israel.

Jesus, not so much.

Should that say “but unlike you?”

No, I think she meant what she said. (She likes me!)

:slight_smile:

I meant what I said. I was referring to this line:

“The Indians I know make a big deal about naming children and what the names mean and what kinds of associations might be triggered”

Ah. Thanks.

Come to Norway, where Thor is an extremely common name!

Not Jesus, though. People would freak right the heck out if you named your kid Jesus. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s actually illegal.