MARY” WAS THE MOST POPULAR NAME FOR GIRLS IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE

MARY” WAS THE MOST POPULAR NAME FOR GIRLS IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE

“Mary” was the most popular name for girls in medieval Europe.

That’s unsurprising. The second most popular name was “Judith.” Why is that? During a time culturally dominated by Christianity, it seems obvious that “Mary” would be the most popular girls’ name. But why “Judith”? There are no Judith’s in the Bible, are there?

In fact, during the Middle Ages nearly all Europeans would have been familiar with a biblical Judith, through the Book of Judith. Although less known today because when the Protestant Bible was being assembled the Book of Judith didn’t make the cut, the book of Judith is still part of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Bibles, and the story of Judith would have been well known to Europeans of that time.

The book tells the story of Judith, a brave and beautiful Israelite widow, who beguiles Holofernes, the leader of the Assyrian army attacking the Israelites. Having gained his trust, she comes into Holofernes’s tent one night, finds him drunk, then cuts off his head, and takes it back to inspire her countrymen. With their general dead, the Assyrians dispersed, and Israel was saved.  

Judith’s beheading of Holofernes became one of the most popular subjects for Renaissance artists and poets.

Maybe the people of the Middle Ages admired Judith because of her bravery. Maybe they appreciated the story of a woman killing a dangerous man. Whatever the reason, the Book of Judith, now largely unknown in our culture, is the reason “Judith” was such a popular name for girls in that era.

The painting is “Judith Beheading Holofernes” by Artemesia Gentileschi, one of at least six paintings she did of the subject.