Tamar means palm tree — upright and fruitful. Twice widowed and denied her rightful place by Judah, she took a bold and risky course to secure justice, and when the truth came out Judah confessed, she hath been more righteous than I.
Remarkably, this wronged and determined woman is named in the very first page of the New Testament, in the genealogy of Jesus — one of several women whose difficult stories God wove into the line of the Messiah.
Tamar is a strong, elegant name with an ancient beauty — increasingly admired.
Variants & nicknames
Tamara, Tamsin, Thamar
Tamar in the Bible
And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.