Christian names starting with R

The R cluster is a tight Old Testament women's cluster. Rachel (Hebrew Rachel, "ewe"), the matriarch who was Jacob's second wife and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Her death at the birth of Benjamin near Bethlehem (Genesis 35) is one of the most poignantly recorded moments in Genesis. Rebekah (Hebrew Rivkah, traditionally connected with a root meaning "to tie" or "to bind"), the matriarch of Genesis 24 who chose to leave her family for Isaac and later orchestrated Jacob's deception of Isaac to secure the firstborn's blessing.

Ruth (Hebrew Ruth, meaning unclear but possibly connected to "friend" or "companion") was the Moabite widow who returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi and married Boaz under the kinsman-redeemer law. Their son became the grandfather of David. Ruth is one of two openly named Gentile women in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, alongside Rahab the Canaanite, who is Ruth's mother-in-law on Boaz's side.

Three matriarch-and-wisdom-era figures, three of them women, all carrying Hebrew names connected to family, covenant, and the line that runs from Genesis to David.