Bartholomew \b(a)-rtholo-mew, bar-tho-lomew\ as a boy's name is pronounced bar-THAWL-oh-myoo. It is of Aramaic origin, and the meaning of Bartholomew is "son of Talmai (the farmer)". Talmai is a Hebrew name meaning "abounding in furrows". Biblical: byname of one of the twelve apostles, Nathanael, known as the patron saint of tanners and vintners. The name was common in the Middle Ages but was not revived in the 19th century, as so many medieval names were. Extremely unusual today, probably due to the number of syllables. Bart, Bartle, Bartin (formerly in frequent use) and Thole are short forms. Bartholomaus is German; Barthelemy is French; Bartolomeo and Bartolommeo are Italian; Bartolome is Spanish.

Bartholomew has 29 variant forms: Bart, Bartalan, Bartel, Barth, Barthelemy, Barthlomeo, Bartho, Barthol, Barthold, Bartholoma, Bartholomaus, Bartholome, Bartholomeus, Bartin, Bartle, Bartlet, Bartlett, Bartlomiej, Bartolome, Bartolomej, Bartolomeo, Bartolomeu, Bartolommeo, Bartome, Bartow, Bartt, Bat, Bertel and Thole.

For more information, see also related names Nathaniel and Parthalan.

Baby names that sound like Bartholomew are Bartley, Berthold and Bertolde.