Rachel

[jennabet]

Question of the Day. How many Italians participating in this forum have female Italian mothers, sisters, cousins, or ancestors with the first name of Rachel?

[jennabet]

Hmmmm, no takers. Just as I thought. Rachel is not a name used by the majority of Italians in the past or today so I fail to understand why anyone who claims to be an authority on Italy and Italian citizenship would use that name as an example of the wife in an Italian couple or as the daughter of Italian parents. Therefore choose your "experts" carefully particularly when visiting forums other than this one. Do keep an open mind but skepticism is perfectly OK when warranted and so is a second opinion.

[liviomoreno]

If you search Rachele in this forum you will see that Rachele is an Italian name: http://www.italiangenealogy.com/forum/s ... mit=Search

[jennabet]

Spelled Rachele, yes it is but I have lived with Italians my entire life and I never knew anyone with this name, so it's not very common.

[TerraLavoro]

I have a few ancestors with the first name Rachele.

[mler]

My niece is named Rachele, which I guess is the Italian form of Rachel. There are several Rachele's in my husband's family, but I don't know how common the name is throughout Italy. It certainly is an Italian name though.

[rjnigro]

My great aunt (grandfather's sister) was named Rachele. She was from Puglia

[jennabet]

Thanks for the info as it seems there ARE a few.

[pink67]

I'm italian... Rachele is not so common but you can find it even today. My husband's maternal grandmother was named Rachele. It's a name who comes from the Bible , in the area where I live it was common in "ancient times" more than today.

Laura

[jennabet]

Thanks Laura. Yes, Rachel is a name from the Old Testament and since the Vatican was founded AFTER the birth of Christ and most Italians are Catholic, Rachel would not be a popular name. So I reiterate that most people who claim to be experts in all things Italian would be cognizant of that fact and would not be likely to use Rachel as an example for the name of an Italian woman. Maria, yes. Elena, yes. Margarita, yes. Rachel, no.

[liviomoreno]

Rachele is considered to be a Saint by the Catholic Church and her name-day is Sept 30.
Examples of Italian names are: Maria, Elena, Margherita and also Rachele. But not Mary, Hellen, Daisy or Rachel.

[jennabet]

Liviomorena, thank you for the clarification. When in doubt, one can always check to see if a Saint's Day is assigned to the name. Actually, my own given name is not assigned a Saint's day and I was questioned about this when I first came back to Italy. My mother, a first generation Abruzzese-American, gave her first born an American name. But she gave her subsequent children Italian names.