Another name question

[Herb Stahlke]

"Rachael" and "Racheal" are common variant spellings of "Rachel,"
derived from Biblical Hebrew /rxl/ "ewe."  "Rachael" looks like an
analogy to "Michael" and "Racheal" probably a variant of that.  I
hadn't realized how long the "Rachael" variant had been around till I
ran across it in Freeman Willis Crofts' mystery _Inspector French's
Greatest Case_ (Penguin 1925).  Does anyone know how far back this
analogical spelling goes?

Herb

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