April 1st, 2011
Names that came out of the Testaments
In every western languages, the set of given names in regular use is remarkably limited. In states where there is an settled Christian Church, the choice of forenames from which a name may be selected is generally ruled by the Church or by a religious authority operating within a Christian cultural pathway. These are names with some Biblical relation (i.e., a name that was borne by a figure appeared in the New Testament, first saint, or a saint with a local belief). Some of them have sustained English to German translator in the past. The main sources for these given names are the following:
• The Bible (New Testament): Names such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, or Mary have links in every European language, with various changed and hypocoristic ways, which have given growth to enormous thousands of patronymics. Mention must also be made here of the Spanish habit of Marian names, according to which an attribute of the Virgin Mary can constitute a female first name, even if the noun investigated is masculine in grammatical form. Such names include Pilar, Remedios, and Dolores.
• The Bible (Old Testament): Old Testament names are, naturally, of Israeli etymology, and majority of them are used traditionally as Jewish forenames. In their vernacular European shape, names such as Job, Ezekiel, Ebenezer, Zillah, and Mehitabel have been used by Christian fundamentalists (Puritans, Dissenters) since the 16th century. There were developed language translation service even that times. Such names are not used by mainstream groups such as Roman Catholics or High-Church Anglicans, except in cases where an Old Testament patronymic had also been borne by an early Bible saint (e.g., David, Daniel). Some Old Testament names, especially female names, such as Deborah or Rebecca, have become extremely popular among Protestants, someway because the scope of New Testament women names is very small indeed.
• Early Christian saints: Several saints’ names are very developed (e.g., Anthony, Francis, Martin, Bernard) and are produced by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and religion officers alike. Others, like Teresa, Dominic, Ignatius, and Aloysius, are developed generally or only by Roman Catholics. Among Roman Catholics in continental Europe, a traditional given name is regularly chosen in respect of a saint who is the master of the county in which the infant is born. For example, the Napolitano name Gennaro is associated chiefly with Naples, Italy, and its saint, 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 met a similar fate in or about the same year and in whose honor the male form Leocadio is also used.