Name of the Week: Bartholomew

 

 

Origin:

Bartholomew is the Anglicised form of the Latin Bartholomeus, itself from the Greek Bartholomaios, which in turn was a Hellenised form of the Aramaic Bar-Talmai ("son of Talmai").  The element bar is the Aramaic word for "son." Talmai is an Aramaic given name in the Old Testament (borne by a King of Geshur and a son of Anak). Talmai derives from telem "furrow, ridge" and so is therefore thought to refer to a ploughman or husbandman.  Saint Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles, mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels (the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke), but not in the Gospel of John. As the bar ("son of") in Bartholomew is patronymic, it is often assumed that it was actually a surname. Traditionally, Bartholomew is associated with the apostle Nathaniel, who was introduced to Christ by Philip. Notably, Nathaniel and Philip appear together in the Gospel of John (while Bartholomew is not mentioned at all), while Philip and Bartholomew appear in the Synoptic Gospels (where Nathaniel is absent)

Usage:

The cult of Saint Bartholomew was popular in the Middle Ages and mentions of the saint pre-date the Norman Conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Saint Guthlac (673–714) was closely associated with Saint Bartholomew, indicating the saints early veneration. Legend has it that Guthlac was tormented by demons, but was rescued by Saint Bartholomew.* Queen Emma (985-1052), purchased the arm of Saint Bartholomew from the Bishop of Benevento for Canterbury Cathedral in the 1020s* which further strengthened the Saint's cult.  No fewer than 165 ancient churches and hospitals were dedicated to Saint Bartholomew in England. One of the most famous of these was St Bartholomew’s Hospital in Smithfield, London, which was founded in 1123 by Rahere (d. 1144), an Anglo-Norman priest and a favourite courtier of King Henry I. Henry I granted a charter for a fair which was held on 24th August – St Bartholomew’s Day (Bartlemas) – from 1133 to 1855. Bartholomew's Fair was a big event and grew into the country’s largest cloth fair and London’s biggest annual jamboree. From 1604, it was controlled by the City of London and opened every year by the Lord Mayor.* Redmonds calculates Bartholomew to have been the 38th most popular name from 1377-1381. Given the small size in population, this equates to a small percentage, making it a fairly uncommon name. However, the name was in consistent usage and garnered several vernacular and hypochoristic forms including Bertelmew, Bertlemey, Bate, Bart, Batt, Bett, Bartle and the diminutives Bartelot (Bartlet), Barty, Batey, Batkyn and Battin/Batten.  The common use is also attested by the surnames Bartholomew, Berthelemy, Bartie, Bates, Barts, Betts, Bartle, Bartlett, Bateman, Barson, Battison, Battie and Battock among many.  The steady usage continued into the 17th century, as we can see from Smith-Bannister's rankings below: 1538-49: #24; 1550-9: #29; 1560-9: #22; 1570-9: --; 1580-9: #42; 1590-9: --; 1600-9: #34; 1610-9: #50; 1620-9: --; 1630-9: --; 1640-9: #44; 1650-9: #46; 1660-9: --; 1670-9: --; 1680-9: --; 1690-1700: --.  It also ranked #40 in Elizabethan era Norfolk and was still #40 in the Restoration period.  By the mid-19th century, Bartholomew was still in uncommon but steady usage, as birth rankings in England and Wales show: 1850: #141 1860: #163 1870: #167 1880: #206 1890: #246 1900: #235 The name declined over the course of the 19th and 20th century. It was still in regular use, but by the 1960s it averaged around ten births per year.  Since 1996, Bartholomew has consistently ranked below the top 1000 in England and Wales, though it has ranked in every year (i.e. 3 births or more) except in 2013.  Its highest rank was #1052 (13 births) in 1997.  In 2016, Bartholomew ranked #2335 with 9 births.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Bartholomew of Farne (died 1193), English Hermit and saint. * Bartholomew of Braganca (c.1200–1271), Italian Dominican friar and bishop. * Bartholomaeus Anglicus, Franciscan encyclopedist of the thirteenth century. * Bartholomew of Lucca (1227–1327), historian. * Bartholomew of Brescia (d. 1258), Italian canonist. * Bartholomew of San Concordio (1260–1347), canonist and man of letters. * Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere (1275 – 1322), English soldier, diplomat, Member of Parliament and nobleman. * Bartholomaeus Parvus (d. 1333), known as the Apostle of Armenia. * Bartholomew Albizzi (d. 1342), Franciscan hagiographer. * Bartholomew Rinonico (d. c.1401), Franciscan chronicler. * Bartholomew Columbus (1461–1515), cartographer, brother of Christopher Columbus, founder of Santo Domingo. * Fra Bartolomeo (1472–1517), Tuscan Renaissance artist. * Bartholomew Dias (died 1500), Portuguese maritime explorer, first European to sail round the Cape of Good Hope. * Bartholomew Gosnold (1571–1607), English lawyer, explorer and privateer. * Bartholomew Sharp (c.1650–1702), English pirate. * Bartholomew Roberts, "Black Bart" (1682–1722) infamous Welsh Pirate. Contemporary: * Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople (b. 1940), current Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. * Bartholomew "Bart" Freundlich (b. 1970), American film director. Literature and Other Media: * Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy, a play by Ben Jonson (1614). * DC Comics superheroes the Flash (Bartholomew "Barry" Allen) and Impulse (Bartholomew "Bart" Allen II). * Bartholomew Cubbins, fictional hero of two books by 'Dr. Seuss'. * Bartholomew, character in Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. * Bartholomew J. Simpson, character from The Simpsons. * Bartholomew, Earl of Shiring, character in Ken Follett historical novel The Pillars of the Earth. Portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the TV series.

Variants:

Bartholomaios (Biblical Greek), Bartholomeus (Biblical Latin), Barthélémy (French), Bartholomäus (German), Bartolomeo, Bartolo (Italian), Bartolomé (Spanish), Bartolomeu (Portuguese), Varfolomei, Varfolomey (Russian), Vartolomej (Serbian), Bartolomej (Croatian, Slovak)

Pronunciation:

bar-THOL-ə-myoo [key]

Possible diminutives:

Bart, Bartie, Bert, Bertie, Bram, Bret, Tol, Tolly, Theo, Thom

Sibling Names:

Tabitha     Hadassah     Judith     Salome     Moriah     Gwendoline  Zebedee     Abraham     Silas     Quentin     Humphrey     Cosmo

Name Lists:

Medieval Favourites   Terrifically Tudor   Gorgeously Georgian   Quirky Biblical Names   Multi-Syllabic Names  Disney Names

 

If you like Bartholomew you may also like:   Barnabas, Ebenezer, Zechariah, Jedidiah, Cuthbert, Emmanuel, Balthazar, Edmund, Elnathan, Ambrose

Thanks to Catrin for requesting this name.