Latin3 syllables#46 in the U.S.
Meaning: of the Antonius family; the original sense is unrecorded.
Anthony
| Origin | Latin — the Roman clan name Antonius, generally taken to be Etruscan in origin |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Uncertain. Antonius is older than the Latin vocabulary that would explain it; the familiar glosses "priceless" and "praiseworthy" are guesses, and the h was added later on the assumption of a link to Greek anthos (flower) |
| Pronunciation | AN-thuh-nee in the United States; AN-tuh-nee in Britain and Ireland |
| Popularity | #46 in the U.S., and a fixture of American name lists for generations |
| Variants | Antony, Antonio, António, Antoine, Anton, Antonius, Antoni |
| Nicknames | Tony, Ant, Anto, Nino (Italian) |
| Name day | 13 June, for St Anthony of Padua; 17 January for St Anthony the Great |
History & meaning
Antonius was one of the great clan names of the Roman Republic, and the most famous man to carry it was Marcus Antonius, the Mark Antony of Caesar's civil wars. What the name meant to the people who first used it, nobody knows. The Antonii were reckoned to be of Etruscan descent, and Etruscan is a language modern scholars read only in patches. Every confident translation you will see for Anthony is a later invention, including the spelling itself: the h entered in the Renaissance, when writers assumed a connection to the Greek anthos, flower, that the Romans would not have recognised.
Two saints carried the name out of antiquity and into ordinary use. Anthony the Great, a third-century Egyptian who gave away his inheritance and went into the desert, is remembered as the father of Christian monasticism. Anthony of Padua, a Portuguese-born Franciscan preacher of the thirteenth century, became the saint Catholics still ask for help finding lost things, and one of the most widely honoured names in Italy, Spain and Portugal. Italian and Irish immigration made it thoroughly American in the twentieth century, and it has never needed a revival. It ranks #46 in the U.S. today.
Why parents choose it
Anthony is a formal name that arrives with its own informal version. You can put Anthony on a passport and call him Tony at the dinner table, which is the whole trick of the traditional three-syllable name and something newer picks rarely manage. It also carries a specific cultural warmth for Italian-American and Catholic families without being closed to anyone else, and its stress on the first syllable keeps it brisk rather than grand.
Middle names for Anthony
Three syllables that end on a light -y want something blunter after them: Anthony Michael, Anthony Vincent, Anthony Reid, Anthony Luke. The method behind those choices is in the middle names guide.
Famous Anthonys
Anthony Hopkins has been knighted, Oscared and endlessly imitated. Anthony Bourdain rewrote what a food programme could be. Anthony Davis has been one of the NBA's dominant big men for more than a decade. Behind all three stands Mark Antony, who has been played on stage for four centuries.
Consider instead
If you want the same saintly, Latinate weight in something heard less often, Dominic gives you Dom instead of Tony. Vincent shares the era and the Catholic pedigree with a sharper finish. Adrian is the other Roman name that survived into everyday English with three easy syllables.