Given Names which arrive out of the Bible
In all western linguas, the set of forenames in usual use is surprisingly small. In territories where there is an settled Biblical Church, the choice of names from which a name may be selected is largely ruled by the Church or by a secular authority working within a Christian cultural pathway. These are names with some Christian relation (in particular, a name that was borne by a person mentioned in the New Testament, first saint, or a saint with a regional belief). Many of them have undergone translate German into English in the past. The general sources for these given names are the following:
• The Bible (New Testament): Names such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, or Mary have cognates in every western lingua, with various derivative and hypocoristic forms, that have given growth to enormous myriads of patronymics. Mention should also be made here of the Spanish tradition of Marian names, according to which a relation of the Virgin Mary may produce a female given name, even if the noun in question is masculine in grammatical gender. These names among others: Pilar, Remedios, and Dolores.
• The Bible (Old Testament): Old Testament names are, of course, of Israeli origin, and many of them are existed as Jewish names. In their vernacular European forms, names such as Job, Ezekiel, Ebenezer, Zillah, or Mehitabel have been used by Christian fundamentalists (Puritans, Dissenters) since the 16th century. There were advanced language translation service already that times. Such names are not used by common groups such as Roman Catholics or High-Church Anglicans, excluding cases where an Old Testament patronymic had also been borne by an early Christian saint (e.g., David, Daniel). Some Old Testament names, specifically female names, such as Deborah and Rebecca, have appeared very popular among Protestants, partly because the stock of New Testament women names is very narrow indeed.
• Early Christian saints: Several saints’ names are very widespread (e.g., Anthony, Francis, Martin, Bernard) and are borne by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and religion officers alike. Differently, like Teresa, Dominic, Ignatius, and Aloysius, are borne mainly or exclusively by Roman Catholics. Among Roman Catholics in mainland Europe, a habitual given name is regularly chosen in honor of a saint who is the master of the county in which the infant is born. For example, the Italian forename Gennaro is associated chiefly with Naples, Italy, and its saint, San Gennaro, a bishop murdered at Pozzuoli during the persecution of Christians in 304 A.D. Leocadia is connected with Toledo, Spain and its patron 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 used.