Fabius

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Boy · Latin

Fabius

Say it: FAY-bee-us

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Roman family name that Pliny the Elder derived from faba 'broad bean'.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

Family name of an ancient patrician house; Fabio is in common use in modern Italy and the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

0123418801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1971per million babies of that sex
  • 6 babies given this name since 1971
  • At its height in 1971, about 1 in 294,800 boys
  • Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020

Through the ages

  1. Ancient Rome750 BC to AD 476
  2. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

LatinItalianSpanishBrazilian

The family of the name

ItalianFabio
SpanishFabio
PortugueseFábio
FrenchFabius

Famous bearers

  • Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, Roman general

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Roman literature and history (Livy, Cicero, Tacitus and others)
  • National birth statistics of European countries source
  • 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.