Ignatius
//ɪɡˈneɪ.ʃəs// name
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 A male given name from Latin; of mostly Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox usage in English.; A male given name of historical usage, notably borne by Saint Ignatius of Antioch (died c. 108/140 CE)
- 2 A male given name from Latin; of mostly Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox usage in English.; A male given name of historical usage, notably borne by Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556)
Etymology
From Latin Ignātius, variant of gens name Egnātius, altered to resemble ignis (“fire”), establishing a folk etymology meaning akin to “Fiery One”. Of uncertain origin, perhaps originally borrowed from Etruscan. It might be related to Ancient Greek ἴγνης (ígnēs, “indigene”), ἴγνητος (ígnētos), from *ἔν-γνη-τες (*én-gnē-tes), formed from έν (én) + Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to give birth, produce”), also seen in γίγνομαι (gígnomai, “to come into being”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.