Rehoboth (Hebrew: רְחוֹבוֹת, Reḥovot) is a biblical place-name from the Old Testament. It is usually translated as “broad places,” being from the Hebrew root rḥb (רחב), meaning “to be wide, spacious.”
In Genesis 26:22, Isaac digs a well and names it Rehoboth. There are other towns called Rehoboth mentioned in Genesis 10:11 and 36:37.
Rehoboth, Massachusetts, founded in 1643, is one of the oldest towns in the state. Rehoboth Beach is the name of a town in Delaware, and Rehovot is the name of a town near Tel Aviv in Israel.
As a male given-name, it came into use among 18th-century American protestants due to its Biblical associations.
It’s an edgy choice with early colonial American appeal. Are you daring enough to use this name?
Chariton is an ancient Greek masculine name derived from χάρις (charis), meaning “grace, kindness, favor.”
The name was borne by Saint Chariton the Confessor (4th century), a revered Christian monk and founder of several monasteries in the Judaean Desert. His feast day is observed in the Eastern Orthodox Church on September 28.
Chariton also appears in classical Greek literature as a personal name. It was the name of a 1st-century Greek writer.
The feminine form of Charitine (Χαριτίνη) is the feminine counterpart, and it was latinized as Charitina. An English pronuncitation would be KARE-e-TEE-nee (Grk), and KARE-e-TEE-nah or KARE-e-TIE-nuh).
Saint Charitine of Rome (also known as Charitina, 4th century) is a virgin martyr honored in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Churches. The feast day and designated name-day is October 8th.
Charitina was later borne by a Medieval Russian Orthodox saint of Lithuania. Very little is known of her hagiography other than her being an indigenous Lithuanian woman who was born pagan but later converted to Christianity.
Female International Variations
Haritina خاريتينا / حاريتينا (Arabic, mainly used among Arab-speaking Christians)
Both names are rooted in the Old Irish adjective odhar, meaning “dun, pale, sallow, greenish-grey.” The word originally described earthy or muted colors — the shade of an animal’s coat, or a green-brown hue in nature.
Odhrán (modern spelling in Irish, often Anglicized as Oran or Orin) is a diminutive form: odhar + -án, meaning “little pale one” or “little sallow/greenish one.”
Odharnait is the feminine form, built from odhar + –ainait, a feminine diminutive ending.
Odhrán is well-attested in medieval Ireland. A 6th-century saint named Odhrán of Iona (also called Odran) was a companion of St. Columba and is remembered as one of the first Irish Christian martyrs. His feast day is celebrated on October 27.
Rostam is an ancient Persian name that likely descends from Old Persian or Sogdian roots. Its meaning is debated, but the most popular theory is that it derives from *rautas-taxma “strong like a river.”
The name is immortalized in Ferdowsi’s 10th-century Persian epic, the Shahnameh, where Rostam is the towering national hero described as:
a mighty warrior of the kingdom of Zabul.
tamer of the legendary horse Rakhsh.
defender of Iran against its enemies
and the tragic father of Sohrab in one of the most famous father-son duels in world literature.
Because of this epic, Rostam is to Persian culture what Hercules is to the Greek tradition.
Rostam has been a popular masculine name across Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Central Asia for over a thousand years. It also appears as Rustam in many languages of the region—Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Pashto, and even in parts of the Caucasus and South Asia.
From the Old Norse, Gandálfr, it’s a compound of gandr (“magic, charm, witchcraft; monster) supernatural being”) + álfr (“elf”).
Gandalf is listed in the Völuspá—one of the earliest poems of the Poetic Edda—as the name of a dwarf, not a wizard. Many dwarf-names in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings come directly from this same list.
When creating the Grey Wizard of Middle-earth, Tolkien borrowed the ancient name wholesale, changing only the grammar from Old Norse Gandalfr to the more Anglicized Gandalf.
Cultural Impact: Since the publication of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), Gandalf has become one of the most recognized fantasy names worldwide.
In Islamic tradition it specifically refers to a sword with a split or notched blade—the legendary weapon given by the Prophet Muhammad to his cousin and son-in-law ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib.
It possibly comes from classical Arabic compound dhū / dhu (ذو) (possessor of; one who has), and fiqār / fiqar (فقار) (spine; vertebrae). Other sources suggest the second element may relate to the stars of Orion’s belt.
The phrase literally means “the one with the notches” or “owner of the notched spine.”
Both names come from the Arabic root ṣ-d-q (ص د ق), which carries the sense of truth, sincerity, honesty, faithfulness.
Siddīq (masculine) literally means “truthful, sincere, completely trustworthy.”
Siddīqa (feminine) is the direct feminine form.
In Islamic tradition the title al-Ṣiddīq was famously given to Abu Bakr, the first caliph and closest companion of the Prophet Muhammad, highlighting his absolute honesty and faith. The feminine al-Ṣiddīqa is used honorifically for Mary (Maryam) in the Qur’an (5:75) and also for Fāṭimah, the daughter of the Prophet, in later Islamic literature.
Both names come directly from the Serbo-Croatian word, lovor, meaning “laurel tree.” It is a vernacular translation of Lawrence and Laura. However, Croatian parents likely used it due to its direct associations with the tree.
Lovorko – masculine form, designated name-day is September 28th.
Lovorka – feminine form, designated name-day is August 10th.
