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GIRLS’ NAMES
What They Mean-Famous People That Bore the Name-The Name in History, Literature, Etc.
By Henry W. Fischer
[Welland Telegraph, 9 February 1912]
REBECCA
Rebecca, also spelled Rebekah, means a troth, binding engagement, not reconciliation, as some writers say.
The first Rebecca “was very fair to look upon,” like the flower, her emblem the “Star of Bethlehem,” and probably on account of the original Rebecca’s comeliness the name was adopted in all languages.
In America the full name is not very often heard, the abbreviation, “Becky,” hallowed by literature, and the contraction Reba taking its place.
Becky Sharp, in “Vanity Fair,” was Thackeray’s most original conception of a female character, the very impersonation of talent, worldliness and tact. If the suffragettes lack the prototype of a “managing woman” let them start a “Becky Sharp League.”
Scott’s “Ivanhoe” introduces to us a medical “Rebecca,” the original Rebecca of whom was an American spinster, Rebecca Grats of Philadelphia. She was born in 1781, and preserved her singular beauty until long beyond middle life. Benevolence and devotion to the Jewish faith were her chief characteristics, and Washington Irving was proud to call her friend.
Irving asuggested the character of Rebecca to Scott, and when “Ivanhoe” was finished the latter wrote to the American poet: “Does the Rebecca I have pictured compare well with the pattern given?” Rebecca Grats died in 1869.
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