What might "biblical" names for Abel/Foot and Noake children in 17-18th Century Devon indicate?

Question

As I look over my family tree I have started to wonder at the significance of what I call "biblical" names in a couple of branches.

For example my 6th great grandparents William Noake and Elizabeth Collis used the following names amongst their 12 children baptised at Long Burton, Devon, England:

1. Isaac (1731)
2. Israel (1734)
3. Joshua (1741)

When I look for each name elsewhere amongst my direct ancestors and their siblings I find:

1. Isaac is also used for Isaac Noake (1770) and Isaac Foot (1843). As an update I have now realised that Isaac Foot's father James lost his mother at the age of 6 and his father's second wife was Mary Isaac so in that case Isaac is a "family" name.
2. Israel is also used for Israel Abel (1637), Israel Abel (1673) and his brother Israel Abel (1679), Israel Abel (1709), Israel Abel (1758), Israel Foot (1782), Israel Abel Foot (1834)
3. Joshua was not used again until I look into some cousins of direct ancestors rather than just siblings

If I look at the strongest "signal" then I see that the name Israel was first used by Henry Abel and Alse White in Hatherleigh (Devon) to name their son in 1637, and that it has been passed on via the Foot family through another 5-6 generations. The name Israel in the Noake family seems to have arisen independently because those genes reached me from a different direction than the Abel and Foot genes.

The names Isaac and Joshua do not appear to have been passed on as strongly so I won't comment further on them.

I suspect that these "biblical naming patterns" in Devon may help me to deduce something about the religion of the people who were originally using them for their children but am uncertain what. Do you think my Abel (or White) or Noake (or Collis) ancestors are likely to have been of the Jewish faith, or maybe Quakers, or perhaps something else? Or in those times, in that English county, was it just fashionable to use such names?

Answer 1

Biblical names may not necessarily signify non-conformist affiliations. There are certainly cases, even before non-conformism was around, where Biblical names more likely signified stronger than average (conventional) religious convictions.

For example, one Abraham Dewce moved from elsewhere (possibly Wolverhampton) to take up duties as vicar of Abdon, Shropshire. His son Isaac was born in 1583. Subsequent generations of this family were also full of Abrahams, e.g. Isaac’s son, born late in 1621 in the old calendar.

Answer 2

Hmm - I think the answer might be "It seemed like a good idea at the time" more often than we care to imagine. My Pickstock families from mid-Cheshire in the 1800s seem to like to use more unusual names. They were, so far as I can see, Methodists when I've been able to confirm their faith, but for interest, my 4G GF named his children thus:

• James
• Martha
• Samuel
• Thomas

(now it gets interesting)

• Noah (b 1825)
• Eli
• Julius Caesar (yes, Julius Caesar Pickstock!)
• Solomon
• Samson
• Maria
• Julianne (debate over the spelling of that one)
• Frances

And the idiosyncrasies carry on - Julius names his son Julius, Noah is repeated elsewhere, Simeon is used in other Pickstock families, as is Uniss (spelt like that, not Eunice), Nathan and Cyrus. So an eclectic lot with Biblical and Roman names and clearly family tradition counts for a lot, as well as fashion.