Pronunciation: reh-BEK-uh
Origin of name: Hebrew
Meaning of name: to tie or secure; literally “a rope with a noose”
The Story Behind This Baby Name
The Rebekah of the Bible was a singular woman. She was chosen with God’s guidance to be the wife of Isaac, the miracle son of Abraham’s old age and became the mother of twin boys, Jacob and Esau.
When Abraham’s servant journeyed to find a wife for Isaac, he was burdened with a great responsibility. He was supposed to find a wife who would help fulfill God’s promise to his master to have descendants that would outnumber the stars. Knowing that there was no way he could find such a gem in his own ability, he prayed for a sign. He asked for the most far out thing he could think of at the time: he would ask for a drink of water, and the woman who volunteered without prompting to water his ten camels also would be the one. It would take a remarkably generous girl to freely offer to haul water from a well for ten thirsty camels.
Rebekah was the one. A virgin from among Abraham’s relatives, generous of heart, she bravely left her family and went with this stranger to marry a young man she’d never met. Isaac took her as his wife and loved her very much.
She was such a beautiful woman that when she and Isaac lived in the land of the Philistines, Isaac told everyone that she was his sister. He was afraid that if they knew he was her husband, then he might be murdered so that someone else could take Rebekah for their own. But even when he was supposed to be keeping a secret, Isaac couldn’t resist public displays of affection with his beautiful wife, and eventually the truth came out.
Although one of Rebekah’s flaws was her show of favoritism towards Jacob, even in this God worked His way to bless the man He had chosen to father the twelve tribes of Israel. Her wise advice kept the two brothers apart long enough for Esau’s anger to cool, and her guidance pointed Jacob towards a Godly wife from his family’s homeland.
Scriptures for the Bible Stories of the Girl Name Rebekah
- Rebekah is selected as Isaac’s wife: Genesis 24
- Isaac calls Rebekah his sister: Genesis 26
- Rebekah favors Jacob: Genesis 25 (scroll down to verse 28) and Genesis 27
Variations of the girl name Rebekah
Female: Rebecca, Becky, Becka
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I just wanted to comment on this article. We have a Rebekah… we named her because it was pretty, not because it had some deep meaning. Now I am trying to research the meanings of my childrens names and have found only negative things about my daughters name… “she is a deceptive woman”, “to tie”, “to bind”, “a rope with a noose tied at the end” … all pointing to the mother of her favored Essau… I had forgotten that before she was blinded by favoritism, and deceived her husband, she was a blessing from God. She was lovely to the eye and obedient to her husband. She was a treasure. Thank you for refreshing my memory and giving me a story that I am proud to tell my daughter about her name. I pray that my Rebekah will end her story better than her predecessor, but it is all in the hands of our great God. 🙂
Christina, I’m so glad this blessed you and your family!
very good
Yes Christina, amen and I also saw where it said instead of the negative connotation to that beautiful name”to bind” a friendlier referral, from the etymology I think, would be “to secure”. I like that much better.. Hope it blesses you. Oh, my beautiful grand daughter’s name is Rebecca
That’s beautiful, Rosalind. Thank you for sharing that more positive interpretation. It fits the word. I’m going to add that to the meaning on the post.
I thought the meaning of my name was bad but thank you for shedding light to it
I was researching “Rebekah” because my birth mother named me before giving me up for adoption. My adopted parents changed it to Erin. Funny thing is that my first birth was a set of twin boys!!!! Not kidding. God is good. I went on to have four more boys, one of which joined Jesus 30 minutes after birth. I believe God helped me name him Gabriel Simeon. Names are special!!!
NiCe name Rebeka…. as I saw on the short story movie Rebekah is always fascinated to know Jesus.And from then i get curious even in her full life story is not that appealing to us but nevertheless because no one is perfect but in the eyes of God we are truly perfect. It glads me that Rebekah’s name is to “bind”,”strong combatant” “hearty/generous” “knotted tie” “fascinated”,woman to know Jesus in her life.When time that I have a baby Girl I would probably name it to her.
I have been searching for ANY kind of positive meaning to my name. I have a young man (now) that I sponsor through Compassion. He has been asking for the meaning of MY name..and all I could find was the negatives! I can tell you..”to bind, tie in a noose” is not quite what I want to share with him. But, on a better note..I DO tend to MAKE and keep MANY lifelong relationships..so maybe I DO “tie” peoples heartstrings closely. 🙂 I will definately be telling this amazing young man about still moving forward and following God’s plan. Thank you!
I am naming my daughter Rebekah as this name is a blessing from Jehovah and to top it off my great grandmothers name in my language is Te-Ririkore which mean Ripeka or Rebekah..what an honour, privilege and blessing to learn this.. feeling blessed and encouraged..xx