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.
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.
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.
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.
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
I can be completely wrong. Just my theory.
This message was edited 3/2/2019, 11:35 AM