Xavier

← Back to The Early Middle Ages

Boy · Basque

Xavier

Say it: ZAY-vee-er

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From the Basque place name Etxeberri 'new house', the birthplace of St Francis Xavier.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Given in honor of St Francis Xavier since the 16th century, and popular in the US from the 1990s.

Its wave through time

In the United States

0123418801900192019401960198020002020Peak 2007per 1,000 babies of that sex
  • 143,569 babies given this name since 1886
  • At its height in 2007, about 1 in 316 boys
  • 3,854 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Renaissance1400 to 1600
  2. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

FrenchSpanishAmericanAfrican American

The family of the name

Other spellings: Zavier

SpanishJavier
BasqueXabier
ItalianSaverio

Famous bearers

  • St Francis Xavier, Jesuit missionary

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Calendars of saints and name days
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today 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.