Xabier

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Boy · Basque place-name

Xabier

Say it: shah-BYER

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From the castle of Xavier in Navarre, birthplace of Saint Francis Xavier; from Basque etxe berri 'new house'.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

51 babies given this name since 1999
At its height in 2011, about 1 in 210,800 boys
Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

The family of the name

Spanish	Javier
Catalan	Xavier
Portuguese	Xavier

Famous bearers

Saint Francis Xavier, Jesuit missionary

Names worth a look

SanchoBoyFrom Latin Sanctius, probably from sanctus 'holy, consecrated'.Early Medieval · forgotten

BeñatBoyBasque form of Bernard, from Germanic bern 'bear' and hard 'hard, strong'.Renaissance

ÍñigoBoyFrom medieval Basque Enneco, of uncertain meaning; it was later identified with Ignatius after Íñigo López de Loyola…Early Medieval

GarcíaBoyUncertain. Probably Basque; proposals include hartz 'bear' and gazte 'young', but none is settled.Early Medieval · forgotten

FermínBoyFrom Latin Firminus, from firmus 'firm, steadfast'.Middle Ages · peak 1994

IgnacioBoyFrom the Roman family name Egnatius, of uncertain (possibly Etruscan) origin; the spelling with Ig- reflects a later…Renaissance · peak 2002

SabrinaGirlThe Latin name of the River Severn (Sabrina, earlier Sabrinna), a Celtic river name whose meaning is unknown; the…Victorian · peak 1997

Where this comes from

Calendars of saints and name days
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.