REBECCA TAYLOR

Biblical name, from the Latin form of the Hebrew name Rebekah, borne by the wife of Isaac, who was the mother of Esau and Jacob (Genesis 24–27). The Hebrew root occurs in the Bible only in the vocabulary word marbek ‘cattle stall’, and its connection with the name is doubtful. In any case, Rebecca was Aramean, and the name probably has a source in Aramaic. It has always been common as a Jewish name; in England and elsewhere it began to be used also by Christians from the 14th century onwards and especially at the time of the Reformation, when Old Testament names became popular. It was very common among the Puritans in the 17th century, and has enjoyed a tremendous vogue in England since the latter part of the 20th century, among people of many different creeds. In Scotland this is found as an Anglicized form of Beathag.

English and Scottish: occupational name for a tailor, from Old French tailleur (Late Latin taliator, from taliare ‘to cut’). The surname is extremely common in Britain and Ireland, and its numbers have been swelled by its adoption as an Americanized form of the numerous equivalent European names, most of which are also very common among Ashkenazic Jews, for example Schneider, Szabó, and Portnov.