Among all early peoples many names were religious, like the Hebrew _Ishmael_, or "heard by God;" _Elizabeth_, or the "oath of God;" _John_, or the "grace of the Lord." The Romans had the name _Jovianus_, which meant "belonging to Jupiter," who was the chief of the gods in whom the Romans believed. In some languages names, especially of women, are taken from flowers, like the Greek _Rhode_, or "rose," the English _Rose_, and _Lily_ or _Lilian_, and the Scotch _Lilias_. A great many of the Hebrew names especially come from words meaning sorrow or trouble. They were first given to children born in times of sorrow. Thus we have _Jabez_, which means "sorrow;" _Ichabod_, or "the glory is departed;" _Mary_, "bitter." The Jews, as we can see from the Bible, suffered the greatest misfortunes, and 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.