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I have often wondered where this name stemmed from and why it became popular in German-speaking countries. I am not convinced this is related to Rabia as I have met several Rabeas in my life and all were German, none had an Arab or Middle Eastern connection. Its contemporary use seems to be following off the coattails of Tabea.

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I did a little search on familysearch.org and there are already 2 Rabeas listed in the United States as early as the 18th-century, they have German surnames, so I wonder if they were German descent. There are many that pop up around Pennsylvania, Quebec and South Africa by the 1800s, but none in Germany, however, many of the Rabeas listed in the other countries, with the exception of Quebec, have German or Dutch surnames.

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I am going to guess this is some sort of Protestant Transcription of Rebecca (like Tabea is of Tabitha) that suddenly re-emerged in use in the late 70s into the 1980s in German-speaking countries, though it doesn't explain its earlier use in Quebec. I am guessing it was used by some Protestant German diaspora, perhaps Anabaptists, who were no longer living in Continental Europe in the 1800s and it later somehow got re-imported back.

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I think a lot of German name sites were listing Rabia as the origin merely because they sounded similar. After that, they all repeat each other, but I don't believe they are necessarily accurate.

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You can check here to see what I mean
https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?facetType=ON&query=%2Bgivenname%3ARabea~%20%2Bbirth_year%3A1400-1400~&birth_year0=1800&count=20

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I can be completely wrong. Just my theory.

This message was edited 3/2/2019, 11:35 AM