Tabitha

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Tabitha
The Stephens family from Bewitched: Dick Sargent (Darrin), Elizabeth Montgomery (Samantha) Erin Murphy (Tabitha), David Lawrence (Adam Stephens). The name Tabitha rose in use after the character appeared on the show.
Pronunciation/ˈtæbɪθə/
GenderFemale
Origin
Word/nameBiblical
Meaning"Gazelle" and perhaps "Gracious"[citation needed]
Region of originAramaic
Other names
Related namesTabata, Tabatha, Tabathina, Tab, Tabby, Tabetha, Tabytha

Tabitha (/ˈtæbɪθə/) is an English feminine given name, originating with (or made popular through) Tabitha, mentioned in the New Testament Acts 9:36.

In the Bible[edit]

Tabitha, or Dorcas, the Greek equivalent of the name, is a woman mentioned in the New Testament. The English name is derived from an Aramaic word, טביתא/ܛܒܝܬܐ ṭaḇīṯā "[female] gazelle",[1] cf. Hebrew: צְבִיָּה Tzviya (classical ṣəḇīyāh). It is a biblical name from Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9:36), which in the original Greek was Ταβιθά, in which Tabitha a benevolent woman dies then gets raised from the dead by the apostle Peter.

Variants[edit]

Other spellings include Tabytha, Tabatha, Tabata, Tabathina and Tabea.[citation needed]

Use in the United States and the United Kingdom[edit]

The name was common in 18th century New England, and of those born between 1718 and 1745, ranked about 31st as most common female given names, about 0.56% of the population.[citation needed] The name gained a resurgence in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was ranked among the 200 most popular names for girls. The character Tabitha Stephens, a child witch on the 1960s television situation comedy Bewitched, raised the profile of the name.[2] It was ranked among the 1,000 most popular names for girls born in the United States until 2016 and has since declined in usage. There were 149 American girls born in 2022 who were given the name.[3]

The name has ranked among the 300 most popular name for girls in England and Wales between 1996 and 2020.[4]

People[edit]

Tabitha[edit]

Tabatha[edit]

Fictional characters[edit]

Comics[edit]

Literature[edit]

Movies and television[edit]

Video games[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Dorcas". The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). Columbia University Press. May 2001. Archived from the original on 2007-02-21. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
  2. ^ Schoenberg, Nara (27 July 2010). "Baby names with some bite". chicagotribune.com. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Popular Baby Names". Archived from the original on 2018-02-02. Retrieved 2013-02-25.
  4. ^ "Popularity for the name Tabitha - Behind the Name".