Tabitha

Tabitha is an English feminine given name, originating with (or made popular through) Saint Tabitha, mentioned in the New Testament. 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, /ܛܒܝܬܐ ṭaḇīṯā "[female] gazelle", cf. Tzviya (classical ṣəḇīyāh). It is a biblical name from Acts of the Apostles, which in the original Greek was , in which Tabitha is a woman raised from the dead by Saint Peter. 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. 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.