Tabitha Explained

Tabitha
Gender:	Female
Meaning:	"Gazelle" and perhaps "Gracious"
Region:	Aramaic
Origin:	Biblical
Related Names:	Tabata, Tabatha, Tabathina, Tab, Tabby, Tabetha, Tabytha

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

In the Bible

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, Official Aramaic (700-300 BCE);; Imperial Aramaic (700-300 BCE);: טביתא/ܛܒܝܬܐ ṭaḇīṯā "[female] gazelle",^[1] cf. Hebrew: צְבִיָּה Tzviya (classical ṣəḇīyāh). It is a biblical name from Acts of the Apostles (9:36 ), which in the original Greek was Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ταβιθά, in which Tabitha, a benevolent woman, dies, then gets resurrected by Peter the Apostle.

Variants

Other spellings include Tabytha, Tabatha, Tabata, Tabathina and Tabea.

Use in the United States and the United Kingdom

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. 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

Tabitha

• Dorcas (Greek version of the name), or Tabitha (Aramaic version of the name), Christian woman raised from the dead by Saint Peter
• Tabitha Babbitt (1779–1853), American toolmaker and inventor, inventor of the circular saw
• Tabitha Brown (1780–1858), American pioneer in the Oregon Territory
• Tabitha Chawinga (born 1996), Malawian footballer
• Tabitha D'umo (born 1973), American choreographer, dance teacher and creative director
• Tabitha Ann Holton (c. 1854–1886), first woman licensed as a lawyer in North Carolina
• Tabitha Karanja (born 1964), Kenyan businesswoman, entrepreneur and industrialist
• Tabitha King (born 1949), American author and wife of Stephen King
• Tabitha Love (born 1991), Canadian volleyball player
• Tabitha Lupien (born c. 1988), Canadian actress and competitive dancer
• Tabitha Nauser (born 1992), Singaporean singer
• Tabitha Peterson (born 1989), American curler
• Tabitha Sybil Quaye, Ghanaian politician and Member of Parliament (1992-1997)
• Tabitha Soren (born 1967), reporter for MTV News
• Tabitha St. Germain (born 1976), Canadian stage and voice actress
• Tabitha Suzuma (born 1975), British writer
• Tabitha Gilman Tenney (1762–1837), American author and novelist
• Tabitha Tsatsa (born 1972), Zimbabwean marathon runner
• Tabitha Wady (born 1976), British actress
• Tabitha Yim (born 1985), American gymnast and coach

Tabatha

• Tabatha Badger, Australian politician
• Tabatha Coffey (born 1967), Australian hairstylist, salon owner and television personality

Fictional characters

Comics

• Tabitha Smith, a Marvel superhero character

Literature

• Tabitha Twitchit, an anthropomorphic cat who features in the books of Beatrix Potter
• Tabitha "Tibby" Rollins, the main character in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Movies and television

• Tabitha Galavan, on the American TV series Gotham
• Tabitha Holswatz, more commonly known as "Tabby", a character on Monster Warriors
• Tabitha Lenox, on the NBC daytime drama Passions
• Tabitha Stephens, a child witch from the 1960s American sitcom Bewitched and its 1970s spinoff Tabitha
• Tabitha Tate, a main character in late seasons in TV show Riverdale
• Tabitha Wilson, on the American teen drama series 90210
• Tabitha, in the light novel and anime The Familiar of Zero
• Tabitha, in Scary Movie 3
• Tabitha, a fairy queen in Thumbelina (1994 film)
• Tabitha, a girl who owns Roddy the rat in Flushed Away
• Tabitha, the name of an evil fairy god mother who allies with the main villain of season four from DC's Legends of Tomorrow
• Tabitha Templeton, a character from and .

Video games

• Tabitha, in the 2010 video game Fallout New Vegas
• Tabitha, in the DS game
• Team Magma Admin. Tabitha, Team Magma second in command from the Pokémon game franchise, a rare example of Tabitha being used as a masculine name

See also

• Tabby (disambiguation)

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia: Dorcas . The Columbia Encyclopedia . 6th . May 2001 . Columbia University Press . 2007-04-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070221033208/http://www.bartleby.com/65/do/Dorcas.html . 2007-02-21.
2. Web site: Baby names with some bite . Schoenberg . Nara . 27 July 2010 . chicagotribune.com . Chicago Tribune . 4 June 2022 .
3. Web site: Popular Baby Names. 2013-02-25. 2018-02-02. https://web.archive.org/web/20180202070118/https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/babyname.cgi. dead.
4. Web site: Popularity for the name Tabitha - Behind the Name .