Antonio

This article is about the given name. For San Antonio, see San Antonio (disambiguation). For Saints named Antonio, see Saint Anthony (disambiguation).
Antonio
Gender Male
Language(s) Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek
Other names
See also Antony, Antoine, Antonius, Tony, Antonia, Antonietta
Look up Antonio in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Antonio is a Spanish and Italian first name of Latin origin. In the English language it is translated as Anthony, and has some female derivatives: Antonia, Antónia, Antonieta, Antonietta, and Antonella. It also has some male derivatives, such as Anthonio, Antonis, Antoñito, Antonino, Antonello, Tonio, Toño, Toñín, Tonino, Nantonio, Totò, Tó, Tony, Toni, and Toñito.

The Portuguese equivalent is António (Portuguese orthography) or Antônio (Brazilian Portuguese). In old Portuguese the form Antão was also used, In Galician the form Antón. The Greek versions of the name are Antonios and Antonis (Αντώνης).

The name derives from Antonius, a well known Latin family name, probably of Etruscan origin. The Roman general Marcus Antonius held that the origin of the name was Anthon, son of Hercules. This myth, recorded by Plutarch, was probably created by Marcus Antonius himself, in order to claim divine parentage. The name was in use throughout the Roman world which, at its height, comprised the whole of the Mediterranean and much of Europe as well as the Middle East. When the Roman Empire became Christian, the name continued in popularity because of the many great saints who bore the name. Later, the name was spread all around the world as Christianity was introduced to other places (e.g. the Far East, the Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa).

"Priceless" and "of inestimable worth" are popular folk definitions of the name in the absence of the actual definition, which is unknown.

Famous male bearers

Antonio

Antonio may also refer to:

Antonio as middle name

Known as Tony

Fictional characters

Antonio may refer to the fictional characters:

Other uses

References

  1. ↑ Schiro, Anne-Marie (18 March 1987), "Antonio Lopez is dead at 44; was major fashion illustrator", New York Times, retrieved 4 December 2009