Bertha is a female

Germanic name Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements ( stems), by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', meaning "noble", and ', meaning "counsel". The i ...

, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a

theonym A theonym (from Greek (), 'god', attached to (), ) is a proper name of a deity. Theonymy, the study of divine proper names, is a branch of onomastics, the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. Theonymy helps develop an und ...

, surviving as Berchta, a figure in Alpine folklore connected to the Wild Hunt, probably an epithet of ''* Frijjō'' in origin. ''Bertha'' appears as a Frankish given name from as early as the 6th century. The monothematic ''Bertha'' as a given name may, however, not originate with the theonym but rather as a short form of dithematic given names including the "bright" element. This is notably the case with the mother of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

, Bertrada (properly ''berht-rada'' "bright counsel") called "Bertha Broadfoot." Carolingian uses of the name ''Bertha'', as in the case of Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne and

Bertha, daughter of Lothair II Bertha (born between 863 and 868 – 8 March 925 in Lucca) was countess of Arles by marriage to Theobald of Arles, and margravine of Tuscany by marriage to Adalbert II of Tuscany. She served as regent of Lucca and Tuscany from 915 until 916 du ...

, are in this tradition. In modern times, the name is associated with an unusually large example of a class of objects. Many large machines are nicknamed Bertha for the World War I howitzer known as Big Bertha. Women named Bertha include: * Saint Bertha of Kent (539 – c. 612), Queen of Kent * Saint Bertha of Val d'Or (d. c. 690), abbess * Saint Bertha of Artois (mid-7th century – 4 July 725), abbess, daughter of Count Rigobert and Ursana * Bertrada of Laon (also called Bertha with the big feet) (720–783), Frankish queen * Saint Bertha of Bingen (), mother of Saint Rupert of Bingen * Bertha, daughter of Charlemagne (c. 780 – after 11 March 824) *

(863–925) * Blessed

Bertha de Bardi Blessed Bertha de Bardi (died 24 March 1163) was born in Florence. She was the daughter of Lothario di Ugo, Count of Vernio; while she is commonly known as de Bardi, some sources speculate that she is more likely to have belonged to the Albert ...

, Florence; (died 24 March 1163) * Bertha, Duchess of Brittany (1156) * Bertha, Duchess of Lorraine (b.c. 1123/30 – d. 1194/5) * Bertha of Aragon (c. 1075 – bef. 1111), Queen consort of Aragon and Navarre * Bertha of Burgundy (952, 964 or 967 – 1010, 16 January 1016, or 1035), queen of France * Bertha of Hereford (born ), heiress * Bertha of Holland (1093), queen of France * Bertha of Milan (c. 997-c. 1040), countess margravine of Turin * Bertha of Putelendorf (died 1190), Saxon noble * Bertha of Rheinfelden (born c. 1065; d. after 1128), countess of Kellmünz *

Bertha of Savoy Bertha of Savoy (21 September 1051 – 27 December 1087), also called Bertha of Turin, was Queen of Germany from 1066 and Holy Roman Empress from 1084 until 1087 as the first wife of Emperor Henry IV. Life Bertha of Savoy was a daughter ...

(1051–1087), Queen of Germany *

Bertha of Sulzbach Bertha of Sulzbach (1110s – 1160), also known as Irene, was a Byzantine empress by marriage to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. Life She was born in Sulzbach, a daughter of Berengar II, Count of Sulzbach (c. 1080 – 3 December 1125) and ...

(1110–1159), Byzantine empress *

Bertha of Swabia Bertha of Swabia (; ; AD – after 2 January 966), a member of the Alemannic Hunfriding dynasty, was queen of Burgundy from 922 until 937 and queen of Italy from 922 until 926, by her marriage with King Rudolph II. She was again queen of Ital ...

(966), queen of Burgundy * Bertha of Turin (c.1020/4 – after 1064/5), member of the Arduinici dynasty * Bertha of Val d'Or (died c. 690), a Christian saint * Bertha of Vohburg (13th-century), Austrian noblewoman and ruling vassal * Bertha Allen (1934–2010), Vuntut Gwitchin women's and aboriginal rights advocate * Bertha Bacon (1866-1922), British suffragette * Bertha Hirsch Baruch, German-American writer, social worker, and suffragist * Bertha Becker (1930–2013), Brazilian geographer, author and professor *

Bertha Benz Bertha Benz (; ; 3 May 1849 – 5 May 1944) was a German automotive pioneer. She was the business partner, investor and wife of automobile inventor Carl Benz. On 5 August 1888, she was the first person to drive an Internal combustion engine, int ...

(1849–1944), wife of automobile inventor Karl Benz and the first person in history to drive an automobile over long distance * Bertha Berry (1876–1954), American nurse * Bertha Boronda (1877–1950), American criminal * Bertha Southey Brammall (1878–1957), Australian writer * Bertha Brainard (1890–1946), pioneering television executive * Bertha Brouwer (1930–2006), Dutch sprinter * Bertha Calloway (1925–2017), American activist and historian * Bertha Felix Campigli (1882–1949), American/ Coast Miwok photographer * Bertha Coolidge (1880–1953), American painter * Bertha Coombs (born 1961), reporter * Bertha Crouch Chase (1874–1957), American athlete * Bertha Crowther (1921–2007), British athlete * Bertha Damon (1881–1975), American humorist, author, lecturer, and editor * Bertha Díaz (1936–2019), Cuban track and field athlete * Bertha Dorph (1875–1960), Danish painter * Bertha Edwards (1920-2009), American librarian * Bertha Bowness Fischer (1875–1920), British political agent * Bertha Fowler (1866–1952), American educator, preacher, deaconess * Bertha Gardiner (1845–1925), English historian * Bertha Gifford (1871–1951), American serial killer * Bertha Lund Glaeser (1862–1939), American physician * Bertha Gxowa (1934–2010), South African anti-apartheid activist, trade unionist, and women's rights activist * Bertha Harris (1937–2005), American novelist and activist * Bertha George Harris (1913–2014), American Catawba tribal elder and master potter * Bertha Hart, American mathematician * Bertha "Chippie" Hill (1905–1950), American blues and vaudeville singer and dancer * Bertha von Hillern (1853–1939), American athlete and painter *

Bertha Heyman Bertha Heyman (born ) was a 19th-century American criminal, also known as "Big Bertha" or the "Confidence Queen." She was described by famed New York City detective Thomas F. Byrnes as "one of the smartest confidence women in America",.. and wa ...

(born c. 1851), American criminal * Bertha Hope (born 1936), American pianist and educator * Bertha Hosang Mah (1896–1959), Canadian student * Bertha Idaho (born c. 1895), American blues singer * Bertha Jaques (1863–1941), American etcher and photographer * Bertha Kalich (1874–1939), Jewish actress * Bertha Kawakami (1931–2017), American politician and educator * Bertha Koessler-Ilg (1881–1965), German-Argentine nurse and folklorist * Bertha Kreidmann (died May 16, 1871), Hebrew poet and letter writer * Bertha Krupp (1886–1957), sole proprietor of the Krupp industrial empire from 1902 to 1943 * Bertha Knight Landes (1868–1943), first female mayor of a major American city (Seattle, Washington) * Bertha Lewis (1887–1931), English opera singer and actress * Bertha Lutz (1894–1976), Brazilian zoologist, politician, and diplomat * Bertha Mahony (1882–1969), publisher of children's literature * Bertha Mann (1893–1967), American actress * Bertha Mason (1855–1939), English suffragist and temperance campaigner * Bertha Müller (1848–1937), Austrian painter * Bertha Moraes Nérici (1921–2005), Brazilian World War II

nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

Bertha Nordenson Bertha Harriet Nordenson (1857–1928) was a devoted Swedish women's rights activist and suffragist. From the late 1880s, she supported women's emancipation, becoming a member and later a board member of the Married Woman's Property Rights Associa ...

(1857–1928), Swedish activist and suffragist * Bertha Oliva (born c. 1956), Honduran human rights campaigner * Bertha Parker Pallan (1907–1978), American archaeologist * Bertha Palmer (1849–1918), American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist *

Bertha Pappenheim Bertha Pappenheim (27 February 1859 – 28 May 1936) was an Austrian-Jewish feminist, a social pioneer, and the founder of the Jewish Women's Association (). Under the pseudonym Anna O., she was also one of Josef Breuer's best-documented pat ...

(1859–1936), Austrian-Jewish feminist and social pioneer * Bertha Lee Pate (1903–1975), American blues vocalist * Bertha Quinn (1873–1951), British suffragette and socialist, recipient of Papal Medal * Bertha Rawlinson (1910–1994), New Zealand singer, actress, producer, composer and teacher * Bertha Reynolds (1885–1978), American social worker * Bertha E. Reynolds (1868–1961), American physician * Bertha Ronge (1818–1863), Anglo-German kindergarten activist * Bertha Runkle (1879–1958), American novelist and playwright * Bertha Ryland (1882–1977), English militant suffragette * Bertha Sánchez (born 1978), Colombian long-distance runner * Bertha Schaefer (1895–1971), American designer and gallery director * Bertha Schrader (1845–1920), German painter, lithographer, and woodblock print-maker *

Bertha von Suttner Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicitas von Suttner (; ; 9 June 184321 June 1914) was an Bohemian nobility, Austro-Bohemian noblewoman, Pacifism, pacifist and novelist. In 1905, she became the second female Nobel laureate (after Marie Curie in 1903), th ...

(1843–1914), Austrian novelist and pacifist * Bertha Swirles (1903–1999), English physicist and applied mathematician * Bertha Tammelin, (1836–1915), Swedish musician, composer and singer * Bertha Teague (1906–1991), Hall of Fame basketball coach * Bertha Thalheimer (1883–1959), German activist and politician * Bertha Thomas (1845-1918), English author * Bertha Townsend (1869–1909), American tennis player * Bertha L. Turner (1867–1938), American caterer, cookbook author, and community leader * Bertha Valerius (1824–1895), Swedish photographer * Bertha Valkenburg (1862-1929), Dutch artist * Bertha Vyver (1854–1941), caretaker for Scottish poet Charles Mackay and the companion of

Marie Corelli Mary Mackay (1 May 185521 April 1924), also called Minnie Mackey and known by her pseudonym Marie Corelli (, also , ), was an English novelist. From the appearance of her first novel '' A Romance of Two Worlds'' in 1886, she became a bestselli ...

* Bertha Wegmann (1847–1926), Danish painter * Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann (1815–1901), German photographer * Bertha Wellin (1870–1951), Swedish politician and nurse * Bertha Whedbee (1876–1960), American activist, suffragist, and police officer * Bertha Yerex Whitman (1892–1984), American architect * Bertha Wiernik (1884-1951), Jewish American writer * Bertha Willmott (1894–1973), British actress, comedienne, singer and performer *

Bertha Wilson Bertha Wernham Wilson (September 18, 1923April 28, 2007) was a Canadian jurist and the first female puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Before her ascension to Canada's highest court, she was the first female associate and partner ...

(1923–2007), first female Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada * Bertha M. Wilson (1874–1936), American dramatist, critic, actress * Bertha Wright (1876–1971), American nurse * Bertha Zillessen (1872–1936), German painter and photographer * Bertha Zück (1797–1868), German-Swedish royal treasurer * Bertha Zuricher (1869–1949), Swiss author, painter and engraver

Fictional characters

* Bertha Cool, main character in the fictional of a series of novels titled ''Cool and Lam'' * Bertha Marilla, main character of the eighth book in the ''

Anne of Green Gables ''Anne of Green Gables'' is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery). Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, t ...

'' series, '' Rilla of Ingleside'' * Bertha Mason, character in

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Nicholls (; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855), commonly known as Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ), was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë family, Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novel ...

's 1847 novel ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

'' * Bertha Russell, main character in the American television series, '' The Gilded Age'' * Big Bertha, superhero appearing in comic books published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

External links

*http://www.behindthename.com/name/bertha {{given name, Bertha, nocat Given names English feminine given names Feminine given names Surnames German feminine given names de:Bertha it:Bertha nl:Bertha pt:Bertha ru:Берта

Fictional characters

See also

External links