She’s a Biblical babe revived by a pint-sized television witch, and more recently, a tough-as-nails hair stylist.
Thanks to Danielle for suggesting the intriguing Tabitha as Baby Name of the Day.
If you’ve been a name fan for any length of time, you probably know that Tabitha means gazelle – a graceful little antelope. The Aramaic for gazelle is tabhya; it’s the Arabic ghazal that led to the French gazelle, and the name for the creature we know today. The Greek version of the name – Dorcas – is all but extinct in 2010. But Tabitha might be on the verge of a renaissance.
She first caught on when Protestant parents thumbed through their Bibles to find appropriate, non-saintly names for their post-Reformation babies. Tabitha must’ve been an important figure in her day – not only is she mentioned by name, her death was important enough to bring the future Saint Peter to town – and when he arrived, Peter raised her from the dead.
Little wonder that her name caught on. Early American Tabithas include:
- Tabitha Babbitt, an early eighteenth century tool maker, credited with inventing the circular saw;
- Tabitha Brown, sometimes called the “Mother of Oregon.” Born in Massachusetts, she lived a handful of places, eventually settling in Missouri. When her son Orus, daughter Pherne and their respective families hit the Oregon Trail, she went along, eventually helping to found a school that grew into Pacific University.
There’s also Beatrix Potter’s Tabitha Twitchit, feline mama to Tom Kitten, Mittens, and Moppet.
Tabitha was fading when the US rankings were first introduced, and her final nineteenth-century appearance was in 1893, at #861. She languished in obscurity for decades, until supernatural sitcom Bewitched revived her from, well, the dead. When witch Samantha married the mortal Darren, it was only a matter of time until baby made three – their daughter, pint-sized sorceress Tabitha, born in 1966.
That’s the same year Tabitha re-entered the US rankings at #525. By the time the show ended its run in 1972, she stood at #296. Tabitha peaked in 1978 at #126, but she stayed in the Top 200 until 1992 – long after Bewitched was in reruns. There was a short-lived spin-off called Tabitha, about the all grown-up witch, but it lasted just one year.
A handful of spelling variants can be found:
- Tabatha was actually used in the first few seasons of Bewitched;
- Tabetha – possibly a bid to build in the nickname Beth – has also appeared in the US Top 1000.
There are plenty of modern-day Tabithas around, including:
- Writer Tabitha King, also known as Mrs. Stephen King;
- Former MTV News reporter Tabitha Soren;
- Australian hair stylist turned reality TV star Tabatha Coffey made her name on Bravo’s Shear Genius. She now hosts Tabatha’s Salon Takeover;
- From 1999 through 2008, sci-fi soap opera Passions included immortal witch Tabitha Lenox;
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants transitioned from a series of young adult novels to a pair of big screen adaptations. One of the four friends is Tabitha Rollins, nickname Tibby.
All of this has kept Tabitha visible, but she’s been sliding all the same. She ranked just #644 in 2009, and seemed headed towards obscurity. Cat-tastic nickname Tabby probably puts some parents off, but these days, plenty of girls answer to three-syllable names without adopting a short form.
But the oh-so stylish Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick welcomed twin daughters in June of 2009. Their names? Marion Loretta Elwell, called Loretta, and Tabitha Hodge. It puts Tabitha in the spotlight in a very different way, and could prompt parents to rediscover this appealing choice.
We have a Tabitha, along with her older sister, Jessica. We liked how the names had the same flow, yet were not too similar. People seem to either love it or hate it! Funny thing is, we never call Jessica ‘jess’ even though many people do, but we tend to call tabitha ‘tabs’. Mind you, it suits her as she is such a cheeky little thing!
I named my 6 year old daughter Tabitha. I think she’s the best named of my 3 kids. I love that we haven’t met any other Tabithas her age and probably won’t. I really didn’t like the option of Tabby as a nickname but her siblings call her that sometimes but we probably use Tab the most as a nickname. She usually just goes by Tabitha.
I like Tabatha and Tabitha, and Tabetha less… I do agree Elizabeth and Tabitha would be sweet twin names.
My aunt pushed for Samantha or Tabitha to be my name because I was born on Halloween. My mom didn’t agree, but I have a soft spot for Tabitha.
Sarah
Tabitha is one of my top faves and definitely on my list. I think she’s beautiful, feminine, and historical to boot. She fits every one of my criteria. Now if only I can convince DH if we ever have another girl. He hesitates since the wife of one of his friends is Tabatha (we see her maybe once a year – big deal IMO).
Thanks for featuring! Tabitha has grown on me a lot over the years. There are some creative nicknamers here in the comments- one drawback to the name was that I didn’t care for the Tabby nickname, but Abby changes that completely. And I never would have thought of Beth- it would be a bit of a stretch with the original spelling, but I’d use it.
I don’t like many T girls names, but this one is lovely.
I really like Tabitha. It is my top T girls name. I love that it is common without being too common, and it has a fun sound. I like the nickname of Abby that JNE mentioned, I also like just Tab or Bitsy. I would most certainly use this. I like the Bewitched connection, too, it makes it seem a bit more…mysterious.
Bitsy is cute!
Now I want Tabitha and Elizabeth twins – Bitsy and Betsy. 😛
That’s adorable! At least when they’re little. Betsy is my favorite Elizabeth nn.
I like how Tabitha balances familiarity with not being too popular. I like the Traveling Pants nn, Tibby, better than Tabby, but I don’t mind the cat association, really. Abby is another possible nn if parents are looking for another way, other than Abigail, to get to Abby.
That’s a nice point, JNE. My baby brother actually has a girlfriend called Tabitha who answers to Tab. I guess we could have Tab and Ab in the family …
I like Tabitha, but it definitely has witch/cat connotations. For that reason I find it a bit, I don’t know…cheap? I am going to work on liking it, though, because I think it could be a great name.
I like this name. I think it has lovely flow and love the Colonial/Protestant ties. We have it on our list should our first child, due in October, be a girl–but it has been funny to hear people’s reactions when it is mentioned–though Bewitched was on years ago it still seems to be the first connection people make. “Oh that’s a witch name!”