Not The Usual Bible Names

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? How about Moses, Malachi, Jerusha and Asher?

When actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin decided to name their newborn son Moses, it commanded attention almost as much as the name of the baby's older sister, Apple.

Did his parents name him for the song that appears on the Coldplay DVD "Live 2003"? Or did they just want a biblical name that was different, something beyond Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Are more parents now looking for such names? Lorilee Craker, author of "A is for Adam: Biblical Baby Names" (WaterBrook Press, $7.95), thinks so.

"Young parents today want their babies' names to have some sort of meaning," says Craker, whose own children are named Jonah, Ezra and Phoebe."They don't want to just pick a trendy name that will sound kind of dated in 10 years. They want something that's classic and meaningful."

We recently asked readers to tell us if they or their children had uncommon names from the Bible or other religious texts, and asked Craker to share her take on each one.

For good measure, Craker threw in other biblical names that are - or soon will be, she says - big: Jadon and Jaden, Jotham, Lydia, Malachi, Micah and Silas.

- Darius, son of Christiane Amanpour and James Rubin

- Delilah, daughter of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin

- Elias, son of Vincent D'Onofrio and Carin van der Donk

- Elijah, son of Wynonna Judd and Arch Kelley

- Esther, daughter of Ewan McGregor and Eve Mavrakis

- Eve, daughter of Bono and Ali Hewson

- Ezekiel, son of Beau Bridges and Wendy Treece Bridges

- Ezra, son of Paul Reiser and Paula Ravets

- Isaac and Gideon, sons of Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody

- Jaden, son of Christian Slater and Ryan Haddon

- Judah, son of Lucy Lawless and Robert Tapert

- Levi, son of Dave "The Edge" Evans and Morleigh Steinberg

- Noah, daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and Leticia Finley

- Raphael, son of Juliette Binoche and Andre Halle

- Salome, daughter of Alex Kingston and Florian Haertel

- Simeon, son of Wynton Marsalis and Candace Stanley

- Zion, David and Selah Louise, children of Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley

Source: http://news.enquirer.com