Comments (Meaning / History Only)
Beulah does mean "married," but it caught on among Christians during the Reformation because of the metaphorical meaning -- marriage is a metaphor for reconciliation into a loving relationship with God. Isaiah 62:4-5 states, "No longer will they call you Deserted or name your land Desolate, but you will be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah for the Lord will take delight in you and your land will be married. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." The land of Israel had turned away from God in disobedience, but God forgave Israel and accepted the people back into a loving relationship with him (a "marriage"). The name Beulah embodies the idea that God loves, forgives, and accepts.
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My roommate first mentioned the name Beulah to me, and I've been finding it more and more in my law hypos as I study for the California Bar, so it prompted me to find this site.
I was hoping it wasn't actually from the Hebrew b'ula, but apparently it is. It really doesn't mean a married woman. I mean we hope she's married, but it just means a woman who's been around the block (not necessarily slutty, but it means a woman who's had sex), as opposed to a b'tula - virgin. It's used a lot in Jewish legal texts (g'mara / talmud) to mean an unmarried woman who is unchaste, for purposes of measuring dowry, or fitness for marrying the kohen gadol (High Priest), which is where I know it from better than y'shaya (Isiah).
It is related to the word for husband - baal (or owner), but so is one of the Hebrew words for sex (b'ila, livol - to have sex).
How this got to be a name in English is beyond me.
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I was hoping it wasn't actually from the Hebrew b'ula, but apparently it is. It really doesn't mean a married woman. I mean we hope she's married, but it just means a woman who's been around the block (not necessarily slutty, but it means a woman who's had sex), as opposed to a b'tula - virgin. It's used a lot in Jewish legal texts (g'mara / talmud) to mean an unmarried woman who is unchaste, for purposes of measuring dowry, or fitness for marrying the kohen gadol (High Priest), which is where I know it from better than y'shaya (Isiah).
It is related to the word for husband - baal (or owner), but so is one of the Hebrew words for sex (b'ila, livol - to have sex).
How this got to be a name in English is beyond me.
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"How this name got into English I don't know"
Because that's how it is spelled in Isaiah: Beulah. That's how English translators transliterated the Hebrew word into English, and English-speaking people looking for Biblical names saw it there and chose to use it.
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Because that's how it is spelled in Isaiah: Beulah. That's how English translators transliterated the Hebrew word into English, and English-speaking people looking for Biblical names saw it there and chose to use it.
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