The HighWay Community, Harbor Light and Great Exchange are just a few of the unconventional names being chosen by congregations in California and across the country.

It's all part of a larger effort to draw in younger generations looking for something other than their parents' church, as well as people who have never attended church.

''They're very creative with these names. They raise curiosity, break stereotypes,'' said Eddie Gibbs, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. ''They appeal not just to the younger generation but those impacted by popular culture.''

Some churches have gone so far as to change longstanding names. Among the latest are the Evangelical Free Church of Fremont, which became Bridges - as in building bridges - and the city's 70-year-old First Assembly of God, which this month became Harbor Light.

''First Assembly of God was probably an appropriate and meaningful name a generation or so back. Just like First Lutheran or First Presbyterian,'' said Harbor Light Pastor Terry Inman. ''Back then it meant just getting started, but today it sometimes comes across as projecting first class.''

''People just don't have a clue'' what denominational titles mean, he said.

After several months of conversations with the congrega- tion, church leaders chose a metaphor they had often used to describe their goal of ''guiding people through the storms in their lives, looking for hope and purpose,'' he said. ''It's created a lot of excitement and energy.''

Over the past decade, efforts to connect to a younger culture have brought contemporary music and jeans-wearing pastors, coffee-shop ministries and interactive sermons to the houses of God. As well as new names.

The trend began in the '60s and '70s with baby boomers leery of anything institutional and the development of suburbs, Gibbs said. ''People out there had walked away from traditional denominations so if they saw the name, they'd walk away and were unlikely to go back.''

Additional impetus for names that conveyed more specific meaning - even when "church" was retained in the title - came from Illinois pastor Rick Warren's 1995 book, The Purpose-Driven Church - predecessor to his popular The Purpose-Driven Life - in which he urged churches to focus on their mission.

''Names often try to convey something people will understand or resonate with,'' said Curtis Chang, teaching pastor at San Jose's River Church Community, whose name he says signifies movement, life, something happening. ''There's something here that's accessible you might otherwise under a different name think, 'That's not for me.' ''

The California experience reflects a movement that's happening coast to coast, with fast-growing evangelical churches taking the lead.

Mosaic, a popular church that meets in a downtown Los Angeles nightclub, was named to convey the diversity of its members. In New Jersey,

Liquid offers ''Living Water for a Thirsty Generation.'' And Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis likens itself to the public area of that name inside the Temple in Jerusalem where early Christians ministered to others.

Guy Reynolds, 55, is just one of the kinds of people these so-called emerging churches hope to attract.

His parents never attended church, though he tried many. But the Santa Clara, Calif., man said he was always turned off by dogmatic services.

It was a friend's enthusiasm about a new church that made him give it one more try.

''I finally asked the name just to shut her up,'' Reynolds said. ''When she told me and said it's nondenominational, it really got my interest up.''

Sunnyvale's New Venture Church, whose target is the technology community, hooked this self-described ''burned-out'' engineer who now has a heating and air conditioning business.

''I've been in the valley since '78 and have worked for different start-ups,'' he said. ''I understand the entrepreneurial spirit and trying something new.''

Sometimes name choices or changes are intended to convey what a church is not. That's been the case with a number of Baptist and some evangelical churches wanting to distance themselves from the extreme religious right.

''For us, it's a desire to be more clear about who we are and not to be misunderstood,'' said Fred Biby, executive pastor of Bridges. ''The term evangelical is often misunderstood in our culture today. A lot of people interpret that to be extremist or exclusive rather than inclusive. That becomes an obstacle to people coming to visit us.''