25 Classic Biblical Names for Baby Boys

Having a baby boy? Picking a name is one of the most thrilling parts of welcoming a baby, and if you're a Christian family, where better to draw inspiration than from the Bible. If your taste veers towards reliable, time-tested names, here are 25 classic biblical boy names for you to choose from:

1. James. A New Testament name borne by two apostles.
2. Benjamin. A biblical favorite with a host of high-achieving historical (and contemporary) namesakes.
3. Alexander. A popular boys' name borne by numerous saints and popes, as well as several biblical figures (though not all of them were good guys).
4. Daniel. A solid Old Testament boy name with cross-generational appeal.
5. Michael. An evergreen biblical name that has seen plenty of use in secular circles as well.
6. Samuel. A charming classic, with friendly nicknames Sam and Sammy.
7. Jacob. Another popular boy's name borrowed from a biblical patriarch.
8. John. John the Baptist? John of Patmos? John the Apostle? This name comes with a whole slew of notable biblical namesakes.
9. Joseph. A biblical heavyweight that never seems to lose its staying power as a baby name.
10. David. A tried-and-true biblical name that never seems to go out of style.
11. Matthew. A classic biblical name without a heavy religious feel.
12. Isaac. A nod to the biblical patriarch who fathered Jacob and Esau.
13. Thomas. Choose this classic name, and your little one will have a lot of interesting namesakes: the apostle Thomas, Saint Thomas, president Thomas Jefferson, inventor Thomas Edison—the list goes on.
14. Andrew. A New Testament name borne by one of the Twelve Apostles.
15. Nathan. A solid scriptural name borrowed from an Old Testament prophet.
16. Aaron. The name of the older brother of Moses and Israel's first high priest as well as one of the most popular biblical boy names with the beloved -n ending.
17. Jonathan. A timeless, distinguished baby name borne in the Bible by the eldest son of King Saul and a close friend of David.
18. Nicholas. The English version of Nicolas/Nicolaus, an old Christian boy name with both biblical and saintly credentials.
19. Nathaniel. A dressed-up version of Nathan, Nathaniel gets its biblical claim to fame from being one of Jesus's disciples in the Gospel of John (though technically, the biblical figure is usually spelled Nathanael with an E).
20. Timothy. A biblical name with a nature connection (timothy grass).
21. Jesse. Borne in the Bible by the father of King David, this name is perhaps best described as a "quiet classic": it's always been on-trend, but never chart-toppingly popular.
22. Joel. Another understated classic from the Old Testament, this name belongs to one of the twelve Minor Prophets of the Old Testament.
23. Peter. An all-boy biblical classic that reached its zenith in the 1950s.
24. Mark. Friendly, traditional, and biblical—but not overly religious.
25. Paul. A biblical classic that occasionally drops in popularity but always find its footing again.