nd their writers knew how
to tell of it in words. The Celtic nations, like the Irish, have the
same gift, and we get many old Celtic names with these same sad
meanings. Thus _Una_ means "famine;" _Ita_, "thirsty."

The Greek and Roman names were never sad like these. Some old Greek
names became Christian names when people who were called by them
became Christian in the first days of the Church. There are several
names from the Greek word _angelos_. This meant in Greek merely a
messenger, but it began to be used by the early Christian writers both
in Latin and Greek to mean a messenger from heaven, or an angel. The
Greeks gave it first as a surname, and then as a Christian name. In
the thirteenth century there was a St. Angelo in Italy, and from the
honour paid to him the name spread, chiefly as a girl's name, to the
other countries of Europe, giving the English _Angelina_ and
_Angelica_, the French _Angelique_, and the German _Engel_.

Besides this general name of _angel_, the name of Michael, the
archangel, and Gabriel, the angel of the Annunciation, became
favourite names among Eastern Christians. The reason _Michael_ was
such a favourite was that the great Emperor Constantine dedicated a
church to St. Michael in Constantinople. The name is so much used in
Russia that it is quite common to speak of a Russian peasant as a
"Michael," just as people rather vulgarly speak of an Irish peasant as
a "Paddy." Michael can hardly be called an English name, but it is
almost as common in Ireland as Patrick, which, of course, is used in
honour of Ireland's patron saint. _Gabriel_ is a common name in Italy,
as is also another angel's name, _Raphael_. _Gabriel_ is used as a
girl's name in France--_Gabrielle_.

No Christian would think of using the name of God as a personal name;
but _Theos_, the Greek word for God, was sometimes so used by the
Greeks. A Greek name formed from this, _Theophilos_, or "beloved by
the gods," became a Christian name, and the name of one of the early
saints.

The name _Christ_, or "anointed," was the word which the Greek
Christians (who translated the Gospels into the Greek of their time)
used for the _Messiah_. From this word came the name _Christian_, and
from it _Christina_. One of the early martyrs, a virgin of noble Roman
birth, who died for her religion, was St. Christina. In Denmark the
name became a man's name, _Christiern_. Another English name which is
like Christina is _Christabel_. The gr