Is Amy in the Bible? No, It Is an Old French Name Meaning “Beloved”

No one named Amy appears in the Bible. Amy is the English form of the Old French name Amée, “beloved,” which comes from the Latin Amata. It has no Hebrew origin. The Bible does have names with the same meaning, David and Jedidiah, and the Gospels use “beloved” for Jesus himself.

Amy’s meaning and origin

Amy means “beloved.” The Old French Amée, in modern French aimée, is the everyday form of the Latin name Amata, the feminine of Amatus, a Latin name with the same meaning. Aimée is a variant spelling taken from the French.

Amy was used in England in the Middle Ages, though it was not common, and came back into use in the 19th century. In the United States it was among the 100 most popular names for girls from 1958 to 1998 and was the second most popular from 1973 to 1976. By 2025 it ranked 257th.

Bible names that mean “beloved”

Amy is not in the Old Testament or the New, and it has no Hebrew form. Two Hebrew names in the Bible carry the same meaning.

The first is David. Name references derive it from the Hebrew dod, which means “beloved” and also “uncle.” The second is Jedidiah, “beloved of the Lord,” from yadid, “beloved, friend.” It was a second name given to Solomon through the prophet Nathan. After Bathsheba bore a son and David named him Solomon, the Bible says: “And the Lord loved him and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:24–25).

Amanda, formed from the Latin for “worthy of love,” has a meaning close to Amy’s. It is not in the Bible either.

“Beloved” in the New Testament

The word “beloved” is common in the New Testament. At the baptism of Jesus, “a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:17). At the Transfiguration the same words come from a bright cloud, with the command “listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). The Greek word in both verses is agapētos, “beloved.”

The letters of the New Testament use the same word to address their readers. The First Letter of John does so six times in the English Standard Version, among them: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).

Is Amy a Christian name?

Amy is not a biblical name, but its Latin form belongs to Christian history. Amata of Assisi was a niece of Saint Clare. She entered her aunt’s convent of San Damiano in 1213, became one of the first Poor Clare nuns, and gave evidence in the inquiry into Clare’s holiness after Clare died in 1253. Amata is a common religious name among the Poor Clares. Nominis, the saints and names directory of the Catholic Church in France, lists her as Sainte Aimée, with a local feast on 20 February, and gives that day as the name day for Amy.

Two women known for Christian ministry bore the name, one spelling it Amy and the other Aimee. Amy Carmichael (1867–1951) was an Irish missionary who served in India for 55 years, founded a mission and a home for children at Dohnavur, and wrote 35 books about the work. Aimee Semple McPherson (1890–1944), born in Canada, was a Pentecostal evangelist in the United States who founded the Foursquare Church.

Related reading

• Is Your Name in the Bible? A directory of names
• Amanda is not in the Bible: a name that means “worthy of love”
• Who was King David?