To commemorate Hannukah, the Jewish 8-day “festival of lights” — when eight candles are lit to celebrate the miracle that a small quantity of oil to light the ancient Temple’s menorah lasted eight days—we seek some Old Testament boys’ names that are in the sweet spot, meaning names that are well used enough to be familiar and on the Social Security list but down below the Top 100.

　　With Noah as the Number One boys’ name (given to 19,000+ baby boys last year), and followed by others in the Top 25– Benjamin, Jacob, Elijah, Ethan, David, Joseph, Samuel and Gabriel–it might seem that all the good Old Testament boy names might be taken—or at least taken by multiple thousands of newborns each year. But, take heart!– if you’re the kind of parent who doesn’t want such a popular name for your son, there are lots of other great biblical boy names that are considerably less common.

　　Listed below are some of those choices—a few of them quite surprising– starting from the least popular ones, those positioned in the lower depths of the Social Security list, and ending with those that are higher up but still below the Top 100. 

　　Ranked from the 800s way down to Number 997.

　　Eliezer

　　Ephraim

　　Reuben

　　In the 700s

　　Abdiel

　　Azariah

　　Cain

　　Elisha

　　Enoch

　　Jedidiah

　　Zechariah

　　Ranked smack in the middle, from the 500s to 600s

　　Amos

　　Asa

　　Hezekiah

　　Raphael

　　Samson

　　Saul

　　Uriah

　　Ranked in the 300s to 400s

　　Seth

　　Gideon

　　Solomon

　　Abram

　　Zachariah

　　Moses

　　From the 100s to 200s

　　Abel

　　Abraham

　　Ezekiel

　　Israel

　　Jesse

　　Joel

　　Jonah

　　Judah

　　Malachi

　　Micah

　　Nathaniel

　　Happy hoilday!