Is the Name Amelia in the Bible?

There's no well-known Amelia in the Bible, but could there be a minor figure bearing this pretty girls' name? To find out, we entered the name Amelia in the search bar of several online Bibles and hit enter.

Given that many biblical characters go by different variations of their name depending on which version of the Bible you're reading, we repeated the search in three popular English transliterations of the Bible: The New International Version (NIV), the King James Version (KJV) and New Living Translation (NLT).

The result was always the same: there's no Amelia in the Bible.

What about the related names Amalia and Emilia? Again, a simple search in an online Bible confirms there's no biblical Amalia, nor is there an Emilia in the Bible.

So, what does that mean to Christian parents who love the name Amelia? Can they still use it for their baby girls?

Of course! In fact, in the U.S. where the vast majority of people consider themselves Christians (Pew Research Center, 2021), Amelia today ranks as one of the top names for baby girls, an achievement that wouldn't have been possible if only secular folks had chosen it for their daughters.

Catholic parents can also take comfort in the fact that since 1983, when the Vatican released an updated version of their Code of Canon Law, the only major requirement for Catholic baby namers has been that the name given at baptism should not be "foreign to Christian sensibility" (1983 Code of Canon Law, Canon 855), which basically means that any name that doesn't have negative connotations from a Christian perspective should be fine. This stands in contrast to the previous version, which stated that Catholic children should only be given "Christian names" (1917 Code of Canon Law, Canon 761).

So, Amelia is being embraced by thousands of American parents, religious and non-religious, and it's easy to see why. First, it's a classic—and classy—appellation that stands out in an era where bizarre nouveau names are popping up left and right. Second, the name starts (and ends) with A, a letter that contemporary parents seem to find particularly appealing. In fact, our study analyzing the official American baby name records from the past 100 years found that for the past four decades (1980-2019), "A" has been the most popular initial when it comes to girls' names.

As for the etymology of Amelia, it's a bit complicated. On the one hand, Amelia appears to be related to the name Amalia, which in turn has ties to the Old German word amal, meaning "work" (Oxford Dictionary of First Names, 2006). Now that's not a bad meaning for a name to have, especially if you're a Christian: The Old Testament, and the Book of Proverbs in particular, speaks extensively about the importance of hard work and diligence (Proverbs 12:24, 13:4, 14:23, 6:6-11, 10:4-5; Ecclesiastes 9:10), and the New Testament echoes this stance (Colossians 3:23-24, 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12).

Supporting the Germanic origin theory is the fact that Amelia, or Amalia, has been used as a short form for old Germanic names beginning with Amal-, such as Amalberga and Amelberga. For example, the medieval saint Amalberga of Maubeuge, who was born in what is today known as Belgium, is still today occasionally called Saint Amelia.

On the other hand, Amelia may have been influenced by the ancient Roman family name Aemilia, which also gave rise to the name Emilia (Oxford Dictionary of First Names, 2006). The Aemilia family, whose name was originally written Aimilia, was considered one of the greatest patrician families in ancient Rome (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1867), and the name appears to be related to the Latin word aemulus, commonly translated as "rival".

To sum up, Amelia is not a biblical name, but it's a pretty name with broad appeal and history to spare. If that's enough to convince you to use Amelia for your baby girl, then go for it—and grab a copy of our personalized baby name sign below! If you prefer a name that is in the Bible, names similar to Amelia include Leah (the name of Jacob's first wife), Abilene (a biblical place name), Attalia (another place name), Amal (a masculine biblical name that works for girls in the modern world) and Julia (a classic biblical girl name from the New Testament). Or, if it's the letter A that you're fascinated by, we have a whole list of biblical girl names that start with A as well as a list of biblical girl names that end in a.