Given Names that appeared from the Bible
By On April 1st, 2011In all European languages, the set of names in usual use is surprisingly narrow. In countries where there is an established Biblical Church, the menu of forenames from which a name may be selected is generally regulated by the Church or by a religious powers working within a Christian cultural pathway. These are names with some Christian relation (in particular, a name that was borne by a figure mentioned in the New Testament, an early saint, or a saint with a local belief). Many of them have sustained German translation in the past. The general generator for these forenames are the following:
• The Bible (New Testament): Names such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, or Mary have links in every European lingua, with many derivative and hypocoristic ways, which have given rise to enormous myriads of patronymics. Attention should also be made here of the Hispanic habit of Marian names, according to which an attribute of the Virgin Mary may produce a female first name, despite the noun investigated is masculine in grammatical form. Such names among others: Pilar, Remedios, and Dolores.
• The Bible (Old Testament): Old Testament names are, of course, of Israeli etymology, and majority of them are used traditionally as Jewish forenames. In their vernacular western forms, names such as Job, Ezekiel, Ebenezer, Zillah, or Mehitabel have been used by Christian orthodox (Puritans, Dissenters) since the 16th century. There were advanced language translation service even that times. These names are not used by mainstream groups such as Roman Catholics or High-Church Anglicans, excluding cases where an Old Testament name had also emerged by an early Christian saint (e.g., David, Daniel). Several Old Testament names, especially female names, such as Deborah and Rebecca, have become extremely popular among Protestants, partly because the stock of New Testament women names is very limited indeed.
• Early Biblical saints: Several saints’ names are very developed (e.g., Anthony, Francis, Martin, Bernard) and are produced by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and religion officers alike. Differently, like Teresa, Dominic, Ignatius, and Aloysius, are borne generally or only by Roman Catholics. After Roman Catholics in mainland Europe, a traditional given name is regularly chosen in honor of a saint who is the patron of the county in which the infant is born. For example, the Italian name Gennaro is associated chiefly with Naples, Italy, and its patron, San Gennaro, a priest beheaded at Pozzuoli at times of persecution of Christians in 304 A.D. Leocadia is connected with Toledo, Spain and its chief saint, who was a virgin martyr who faced a similar fate in or about the same year and in whose memory the male form Leocadio is also emerged.