Tabitha

Tabitha is of Aramaic origin, and means "roe," or "doe," or "gazelle." The name Tabitha appears in the New Testament--she was restored to life by St. Peter. Consequently, this was a very popular name with the Puritans from the 17th to the 19th centuries. After the age of the Puritans, Tabitha became a very rarely-used name, until the 1960's, when it came back into use, inspired mostly, if not 100%, by the birth of the character Tabitha on television's Bewitched in 1966. Currently the use of the name is slowly declining once again, but it remains in the top 500. All the sources I check make a point of saying that the Greek version of this name is Dorcas, so I guess I'll mention it too, even though I can't think of how this information might be useful. It would be difficult to find a more versatile name than Tabitha in terms of what it can be used for. It's a good choice for a baby girl--actually a better choice than it was at the height of its popularity, since Bewitched isn't so popular as it was. But it also works well for a wide range of fictional characters, from authentically-named Puritan to fantasy rpg characters. In addition, it's a fine name for a cat, particularly since the obvious nickname is Tabby.