... The name Bertha was, indeed, very common in France and Germany; and in Dante's time it was so frequent at Florence, that he places Monna Berta with Ser Martino, as the chief of the gossips.  Since those days it has died away, but has been revived of late years in the taste for old names;... (History of Christian Names, Yonge, 1884)

    Bertha, Frau.  [O. Ger. Perahta, shining, white; from the same root as the Eng. bright.]  In Germany, an impersonation of the Epiphany, corresponding to the Italian Befana, variously represented as a gentle white lady who steals softly to neglected cradles, and rocks them in the absence of careless nurses, and also as the terror of naughty children.  She has, besides, the oversight of spinners.  She is represented as having an immensely large foot and a long iron nose.  The legend concerning her is mainly of Christian origin, but with some admixture of heathen elements.  [Written also Frau Berchte and Frau Precht.] (An Explanatory and Pronouncing Dictionary of the Noted Names of Fiction, Wheeler, 1898)