My wife and I are searching high and low for names for our first
child, a girl. We have lists of family names, names from books and
other places, but what we want now needs some research.  We are both
evangelical christian and want a list of female names from the old and
new testiment, and verse where they can be found.  We would also like
a list of women who have influenced or directed the church through its
history and references where they can be found.

Hi,

The best source for biblical names is Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
http://www.antioch.com.sg/bible/bblnam/

If you enter a letter it will give you all of the names that begin
with it. Male and female are both included. Click on the link next to
the name for the verse and history.

A good discussion of the role of women - with specific instances of
women as a strong influence - can be found in Chapter 11 of
"Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood." There are some good ideas
for names included there - whether or not you agree with the premise.
http://www.cbmw.org/rbmw/rbmw.pdf

There's also http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/jesusandwomen/ - Jesus and Women,
but there are not as many names to harvest here.

These links to Biblical resources have many references to women 
http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/malinks.stm

The Beguines (http://www.users.csbsju.edu/~eknuth/xpxx/beguines.html)
and Hildegard of Bingen
(http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/mawomen.stm#Hildegard) were women who
rose to positions of high esteem in the medieval church - and suffered
accordingly.


search terms: lists female biblical names 
and 
women influenced directed church history

It's an interesting subject - and the lists of names are amazing. Good
luck with picking out just one.

If it's any consolation - what ever name you do pick will be perfect
after a few minutes of associating it with your new baby girl... and
she'll hate it when she's a teenager no matter how beautiful it is.

I remember so well the joy of anticipating your first child...enjoy every second!

bcguide-ga

Thank-you for your answer.  It gives me a place to start my research.

Also see the cover story of the December 8th issue of Newsweek.

Apteryx