Patronymics which were brought from the Testaments

In every western languages, the set of given names in regular use is surprisingly small. In countries where there is an settled Christian Church, the menu of names out of which a name may be chosen is largely ruled by the Church or by a religious authority operating within a Christian cultural tradition. These are names with some Christian association (i.e., a name that was borne by a figure appeared in the New Testament, an early saint, or a saint with a local cult). Many of them have experienced German translation in the past. The general sources for such given names are the following:

• The Bible (New Testament): Forenames such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and Mary have links in every western lingua, with various changed and hypocoristic forms, that have given rise to countless thousands of patronymics. Attention should also be made here of the Hispanic habit of Marian names, according to which a relation of the Virgin Mary may produce a female given name, even if the noun investigated is masculine in grammar form. Such names include Pilar, Remedios, and Dolores.
• The Bible (Old Testament): Old Testament names are, of course, of Hebrew origin, and many of them are used traditionally as Jewish names. In their vernacular western forms, names such as Job, Ezekiel, Ebenezer, Zillah, and Mehitabel have been used by Christian orthodox (Puritans, Dissenters) since the 16th century. There were advanced language services even that times. These names are not used by common groups such as Roman Catholics or High-Church Anglicans, except in cases where an Old Testament name had also been borne by an early Christian saint (e.g., David, Daniel). Some Old Testament names, especially female names, such as Deborah and Rebecca, have become very popular among Protestants, partly because the scope of New Testament women names is very limited indeed.
• Early Christian saints: Some saints’ names are very widespread (e.g., Anthony, Francis, Martin, Bernard) and are produced by Roman Catholics, Protestants, and religion officers alike. Differently, such as Teresa, Dominic, Ignatius, and Aloysius, are developed mainly or only by Roman Catholics. Among Roman Catholics in continental Europe, a traditional given name is often chosen in honor of a saint who is the master of the county in which the infant is born. in other words, the Napolitano name Gennaro is associated chiefly with Naples, Italy, and its saint, San Gennaro, a priest beheaded at Pozzuoli at times of persecution of Christians in 304 A.D. Leocadia is connected with Toledo, Spain and its patron saint, who was a virgin martyr who faced a same fate in or about the same year and in whose honor the male form Leocadio is also emerged.