Another Christian name which comes from a Greek word is _Peter_. _Petros_ is the Greek word for "stone," and _Petra_ for "rock." The name _Peter_ became a favourite in honour of St. Peter, whose name was first _Simon_, but who was called _Peter_ because of the words our Lord said to him: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church."
When the barbarian tribes, such as the English and Franks, broke into the lands of the Roman Empire and settled there, afterwards being converted to Christianity, they chose a good many Latin words as names. In France names made from the Latin word _amo_ ("I love") were quite common. We hear of _Amabilis_ ("lovable"), _Amadeus_ ("loving God"), _Amandus_, which has now become a surname in France as _St. Amand_. In England, _Amabilis_ became _Amabel_, which is not a very common name now, but from which we have _Mabel_. _Amy_ was first used in England after the Norman Conquest, and comes from the French _Amata_, or _Aimée_, which means "beloved."
Another Latin word of the same kind which gave us some Christian names was _Beo_ ("I bless"). From part of this verb, _Beatus_ ("blessed"), there was an old English name, _Beata_, but no girl or woman seems to have been called by it since the seventeenth century. _Beatrix_ and _Beatrice_ also come from this. The name _Benedict_, which sometimes became in English _Bennet_, came from another word like this, _Benignus_ ("kind"). _Boniface_, from the Latin _Bonifacius_ ("doer of good deeds"), was a favourite name in the early Church, and the name of a great English saint; but it is not used in England now, though there is still the Italian name, _Bonifazio_, which comes from the same word.
Both Christian names and surnames have been taken from the Latin _Dies Natalis_, or "Birthday of our Lord." The French word for Christmas, _Noël_, comes from this, and, as well as _Natalie_, is used as a Christian name. _Noël_ is found, too, both as a Christian name and surname in England. At one time English babies were sometimes christened _Christmas_, but this is never used as a Christian name now, though a few families have it as a surname.
Perhaps the most peculiar Christian names that have ever been were the long names which some of the English Puritans gave their children in the seventeenth century. Often they gave them whole texts of Scripture as names, so that at least one small boy was called "Bind their nobles in chains and their kings in fetters of iron." Let us hope his relatives soon found some other name to call him "for short."