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Boy · Aramaic, through Greek
Bartholomew
Say it: bar-THOL-uh-myoo
Meaning
Aramaic bar Talmai, 'son of Talmai'; the meaning of Talmai itself is uncertain.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Common in medieval England, source of the surnames Bartlett and Tolley.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 4,094 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1885, about 1 in 7,200 boys
- 22 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
Used by
AramaicEarly ChristianEnglishFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishHungarian
The family of the name
Other spellings: Bartlemy, Bartelmew, Bartle
| French | Barthélemy |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Bartolomé |
| Italian | Bartolomeo |
| Portuguese | Bartolomeu |
| German | Bartholomäus |
| Polish | Bartłomiej |
| Russian | Varfolomey |
| Hungarian | Bertalan |
Famous bearers
- Bartholomew the Apostle
- Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.