Tabatha is a variant of Tabitha, from Aramaic via Greek, meaning "gazelle."
Tabatha is an alternate spelling of Tabitha, an Aramaic name meaning 'gazelle' — the lithe, graceful antelope that appeared throughout ancient Near Eastern poetry and scripture as a symbol of beauty and swiftness. The name appears in the New Testament's Acts of the Apostles in one of the most touching narratives of the early church: Tabitha, a woman of Joppa known for her generosity and her work clothing the poor, fell ill and died, and the Apostle Peter raised her back to life — one of the few recorded miracles of resurrection outside the Gospels. The story made Tabitha's name synonymous with charitable goodness, and she is venerated as a saint in multiple Christian traditions.
The name fell largely out of common use during the medieval period but was revived by Puritans in the seventeenth century, who favored biblical names from both Old and New Testaments. It enjoyed particular use in England and New England, giving it a colonial American resonance. The name's modern popularity owes a great deal to the television series Bewitched (1964–1972), in which Tabitha Stephens was the charming, nose-twitching daughter of the witch Samantha — a role that made Tabitha feel simultaneously whimsical and warmly familiar to an entire generation.
The Tabatha spelling, with its distinctive 'a' in place of the traditional second 'i,' gained traction in the late twentieth century as parents sought visual differentiation. The most famous bearer of this spelling is likely celebrity hairstylist Tabatha Coffey, whose television presence introduced it to a wide audience. Both spellings retain the name's ancient associations: the gazelle's grace, the New Testament woman's compassion, and a certain quiet strength that has kept this name alive across two millennia.