| French. | Russian. | Portuguese. |
| Michelle | Micheline | Miguella |
| Michée | Mikelina |
Legend has been far less busy with Gabriel, “the hero of God;” the angel who strengthened Daniel, and who brought the promise to Zacharias and to the Blessed Virgin. His name is chiefly used by the Slavonians; and in Hungary we find it in combination with Bethlehem, belonging to that noted chieftain, Bethlem Gabor.
It was known and used everywhere, however; and the Swedish house of Oxenstjerna considered it to have been the saving of their line from extinction, all their sons having died in the cradle, owing, it was thought, to Satan’s strangling them; till at length one was named Gabriel; and having thus obtained the protection of the guardian angel, survived to be the ancestor of the minister of the great Gustavus. The feminine, Gabrielle, has been a favourite in France ever since la belle Gabrielle gave it a reputation for beauty.
| English. | German. | Bavarian. | Swiss. | Italian. |
| Gabriel | Gabriel | Gabe | Gabëler | Gabriello |
| Gab | Gaberl | |||
| Russian. | Polish. | Illyrian | Lett. | Hungarian. |
| Gavrül | Gabryel | Gabriel | Gaberjels | Gabriel |
| Gavrila | Gavrilo | Gabris | Gabor | |
| Gavril | ||||
| Gavro | ||||
| FEMININE. | ||||
| French. | German. | Slavonic. | ||
| Gabrielle | Gabriele | Gavrila | ||
| Gavra | ||||
Raphael (the medicine of God), is the angel who guided Tobias and healed his father. Italy and Spain are the countries where his name is most used, and well it may, in the first named, after the fame of him who has made it the highest proverb in art. It hardly varies, except by the double ff Italian, and the single one of Spain, to supply its Greek φ. I have heard of a girl at Mentone called Ravelina, probably Raffaellina.[[22]]
[22]. Smith, Dictionary of the Bible; Proper Names of the Bible; Williams, Commentary on the Gospels; Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art; Ruskin, Modern Painters; Marryat, Sweden.
PART II.
NAMES PROM THE PERSIAN.
Section I.—The Persian Language.
Scanty as are the Christian names derived from the Persian race, they are very curious and interesting, partly on account of the changes that they have undergone, and still more because the language whence they are derived belongs to the same group as our own, and testifies in many of its words to the common origin.