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Boy · Latin
Anthony
Say it: AN-thuh-nee
Meaning
From the Roman family name Antonius, of unknown origin. The 'h' in English comes from a false link with Greek anthos 'flower', and 'priceless' is a modern invention.
Disputedsharp disagreement, or a popular meaning that is not supported.
Spread through Saint Anthony of Egypt and later Anthony of Padua; very common in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1980s
In the United States
- 1,462,787 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1987, about 1 in 81 boys
- 6,975 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Early ChristianLatinEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishHungarianRussian
The family of the name
Other spellings: Antony
| French | Antoine |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Antonio |
| Italian | Antonio |
| Portuguese | António |
| German | Anton |
| Polish | Antoni |
| Russian | Anton |
| Hungarian | Antal |
Famous bearers
- Anthony the Great, Egyptian hermit
- Anthony of Padua, 13th-century friar
- Mark Antony, Roman general
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Parish baptism registers
- Roman literature and history (Livy, Cicero, Tacitus and others)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.