Hi Anne, >I've seen Bathia, but not Bethia. Are they variants of each other? I believe so, and would expect Bethea is another one (re John's question). I've only ever seen the name very very rarely though. Checking in Donald Whyte's "Scottish Forenames" book (Birlinn, 1996) I see this name appears to be a biblical one, appearing in Scotland from at least the 16th century. Best wishes. Viv

You have to take into account that sometimes diminutives or nicknames were used in place of the "real" given names to the point where those replaced the original name. In our family, Iantha (a classical name) turned into Jantha, then Janthy. By the time my twin great uncle & aunt were born their ancestral names -- Benjamin and Elizabeth -- had become Benny and Betty. Nearly all the Sarahs were called "Sally or Sallie", and the Marys "Molly" until finally the nicknames became the given names. Regards, Virginia. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vivienne S Dunstan" <viv.dunstan@one-name.org> To: <BORDER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2000 4:54 AM Subject: Re: Names > Hi Anne, > > >I've seen Bathia, but not Bethia. Are they variants of each other? > > I believe so, and would expect Bethea is another one (re John's question). > I've only ever seen the name very very rarely though. Checking in Donald > Whyte's "Scottish Forenames" book (Birlinn, 1996) I see this name appears > to be a biblical one, appearing in Scotland from at least the 16th century. > > Best wishes. > > Viv > > >