Does the name Luke (Lucas) sound really Christian?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Immediate PP here. What’s also peculiar about Luke for a Jewish kid is that Luke the Gospel writer was Greek, not Jewish by background. Again though, almost no one would think about this.

Ok someone else responded in the interim. I’m the evangelical poster.

[Anonymous]

No. Lukas or Lucas is very popular in europe as a male name. extremely popular even in countries like the Czech Republic where they are not religious.
it's an older classic name that has roots in many places, including yes the bible, but lots of names are in there. I'm catholic and no, i don't think it's a Christian name at all.

[Anonymous]

I don't think that naming a kid Luke will cause people to flag him as a devout Christian or to flag your family as especially Christian.

Is your main concern with a general impression or specifically with the impression the name will make in the Jewish community? Many Jews would raise an eyebrow at a Jewish Luke, but some would not, as evidenced by this thread. If the last name is obviously Jewish, that will probably be enough to identify him to most Jews as potentially Jewish. If your last name is something neutral-sounding like "Brown," then I think Luke Brown will read as presumptively non-Jewish to most Jews. I don't know how much any of this matters to you.

[Anonymous]

Luke does.

Lucas doesn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lucas and Luke sound like 2 different names to me. Luke sounds a little Christian/country. Lucas doesn't.

Most Lukes are short for Lucas, no?

No. It’s a Christian name. It’s a Gospel and saint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Luke does.

Lucas doesn’t.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Lukas or Lucas is very popular in europe as a male name. extremely popular even in countries like the Czech Republic where they are not religious.
it's an older classic name that has roots in many places, including yes the bible, but lots of names are in there. I'm catholic and no, i don't think it's a Christian name at all.

Lukas and Lucas are different names than Luke.

[Anonymous]

To me it’s like Maria and Mary.

Maria is fairly secular.

Mary I would assume is from a religious family.

[Anonymous]

I'm Jewish and would name my kid Lucas but not Luke. It definitely sounds Christian, as do Mark, Peter, Paul, and Matthew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your heritage? Maybe Luca?

We’re Jewish.

OP, are you practicing? Would the name raise eyebrows in the religious community?

[Anonymous]

I think it's just a general name unless your other child is Evangeline or Faith or something. It's pretty popular in general.

My wider social circle has gone from Liam and onto Luke. All recent and incoming baby boys I know of have been announced as Luke after 2-3y of literally only Liams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More Star Wars than New Testament

+1 and my husband is a pastor. He wanted to name our son Luke for Star Wars not the Bible!

[Anonymous]

I’m Jewish and find Luke pretty Christian sounding. But my kid’s name is at least vaguely Christian and we chose it anyway. I do know one Jewish woman who was named Christine and was so embarrassed that she changed her name when she grew up to something along the lines of Esther. In that case she ended up much more religious than her parents, obviously!

I think Lucas is a nice compromise, if you want to avoid that. It’s much more neutral.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you worship the Star Wars cult.

[Anonymous]

Not to me. Raised Catholic.