Anthony or Antony is a

masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

'' ( Roman family name) to which

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autoc ...

(''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

, the Antonii gens were

Heracleidae The Heracleidae (; grc, Ἡρακλεῖδαι) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles (Hercules), especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also ...

, being descendants of Anton, a son of

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...

. Anthony is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

name that is in use in many countries. It has been among the top 100 most popular male baby names in the United States since the late 19th century and has been among the top 100 male baby names between 1998 and 2018 in many countries including

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Equivalents include ''

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

'' in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Maltese; ''Αντώνιος'' in Greek; ''António'' or ''Antônio'' in Portuguese; ''

Antoni Antoni is a Catalan, Polish, and Slovene given name and a surname used in the eastern part of Spain, Poland and Slovenia. As a Catalan given name it is a variant of the male names Anton and Antonio. As a Polish given name it is a variant of the fem ...

'' in Catalan, Polish, and Slovene; '' Anton'' in Dutch, Galician, German, Icelandic, Romanian, Russian, and Scandinavian languages; ''

Antoine Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Guiana ...

'' in French; '' Antal'' in Hungarian; and ''

Antun Antun () is a Croatian masculine given name used in Croatia. It is a common given name, cognate to the name Anthony. Other such Croatian names include Ante, Anton and Toni. Antun is also a surname found in Syria. Given name *Antun Augustinči ...

'' or '' Ante'' in Croatian. The usual abbreviated form is

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

(sometimes "Tone", "Ant", "Anth" or "Anton"). Its use as a Christian name was due to the veneration of St.

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

, the founder of Christian monasticism, particularly in Egypt. Also significant was the later cult of St.

Anthony of Padua Anthony of Padua ( it, Antonio di Padova) or Anthony of Lisbon ( pt, António/Antônio de Lisboa; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese Catholic Church, Catholic priesthood (Cath ...

. In the United States, it is the 43rd most popular male name as of 2021, according to the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...

. When the background is Italian, ''Nino'' or ''Toni'', shortened from ''Antonino'', are used. Its popularity in the United Kingdom peaked during the 1940s; in 1944 it was the sixth most popular male name and was still as high as 14th in 1964.

Spelling and pronunciation

The name was historically spelled Antony, as used in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's play ''

Antony and Cleopatra ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (First Folio title: ''The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed, by the King's Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre in around ...

''. In the 17th century, the letter "h" was inserted into the spelling on the belief that the name derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ἄνθος (''anthos''), meaning "flower". In Britain, the historical pronunciation predominates for both spellings, while in the United States the

spelling pronunciation A spelling pronunciation is the pronunciation of a word according to its spelling when this differs from a longstanding standard or traditional pronunciation. Words that are spelled with letters that were never pronounced or that were not pronounc ...

is more common when the "Anthony" spelling is used. entry "Anthony"

Translations and variants

* Albanian: Andon (standard Albanian and

Tosk Albanian Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is ...

dialect), Ndue (

Gheg Albanian Gheg (also spelled Geg; Gheg Albanian: ''gegnishtja'', Standard sq, gegërishtja) is one of the two major variety (linguistics), varieties of Albanian language, Albanian, the other being Tosk Albanian, Tosk. The geographic dividing line betwee ...

dialect), Anton * Arabic: أنتوني، انطوان، انطون، طانيوس، طنّوس، مطانيوس * Basque: Andoni, Antton * Belarusian: Антось (Antos), Энтані (Entani) * Bengali: এন্থনি (Ēnthoni), আন্তোনিও (Āntōni'ō) * Bulgarian: Anton, Antoan, Andon, Doncho * Catalan: Antoni, Toni * Chinese: 安东尼 (simplified), 安東尼 (traditional) (

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

: ''Āndōngní'',

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

: ''Ōndūngnèih'') * Croatian: Anton, Antonijo, Antonio, Antun, Ante, Anto, Tonči, Tonći, Toni * Czech: Anton, Antonín, Tonik, Tonda * Dalmatian: Tuone * Danish: Anton, Anthon * Dutch: Anton, Antoon, Antonie, Antonius, Teun, Teunis, Theun, Theunis, Ton, Toon * Esperanto: Antono, Anĉjo * Estonian: Anton, Tõnis, Tõnu, Tõnn * Filipino: Antonio, Antón, Onyo, Onying, Ton, Tonton, Tonio, Tonyo, Tunyíng * Finnish: Anton, Anttoni, Antton, Antto, Toni * French: Antoine, Antonin * Galician: Antón * German: Anton, Toni, Antonius, Tünn * Greek: Αντώνιος (Antó̱nios), Αντώνης (Antonis), Andonios, Andonis * Gujarati: એન્થની (Ēnthanī) * Hawaiian: Anakoni, Akoni * Hebrew: אנטוני המלך, טוני * Hindi: एंथनी (Ēnthanī) * Hungarian: Antal, Tóni * Irish: Antaine, Antoine, Antóin * Italian: Antonio, Antonino, Antonello, Nino, Tonino, Tonio, Totò * Japanese: アンソニー (Ansonī) * Kannada: ಆಂಟನಿ (Āṇṭani) * Korean: 앤토니 (Anthony) * Latin: Antonius, Antoninus * Latvian: Antonijs, Antons * Lithuanian: Antanas * Luxembourgish: Tun * Macedonian: Anton, Antonij, Andon, Doncho * Marathi: अंन्थोनी (Annthōnī) * Malayalam: ആൻ്റണി (Antoni), അന്തോണി (Anthōṇī) * Mongolian: Антони (Antoni) * Nepali: एन्थोनी (Ēnthōnī) * Norwegian: Anton * Persian: آنتونی * Polish: Anton, Antoni, Antek, Antoś, Antonin, Tolek, Tonek * Portuguese: António (fem. Antónia), Antônio (fem. Antônia), and Antão, with diminutives Tó, Toino, Toni and Toninho. * Romanian: Anton * Russian: Антон (Anton) * Sami: Ante * Serbian: Антоније (Antonije), Анто (Anto) * Sheng: Anto, Toni * Slovak: Anton, Tóno, Tónko (diminutive) * Slovene: Anton, Tone * Spanish: Antonio, Antón, Toño (diminutive) * Swahili: Antoni, Antonio, Toni * Swedish: Anton, Ante * Sylheti: আন্তনি (Antoni) * Tamil: அந்தோணி (Antōṇi) * Telugu: ఆంథోనీ (Ānthōnī) * Thai: แอนโทนี่ (Xæ n tho nī̀) * Ukrainian: Антон (Anton), Антін (Antin), Антоній (Antonij) * Urdu: انتھونی

References

External links

BehindTheName.com entry
(also contains a list of versions of Anthony in other languages) {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony (Name) Masculine given names English masculine given names

Spelling and pronunciation

Translations and variants

See also

References

External links