How popular is the baby name Antonius in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Antonius.

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Popularity of the baby name Antonius


Posts that mention the name Antonius

Baby named Tennys, becomes professional tennis player

American tennis player Tennys Sandgren
Tennis player Tennys Sandgren

Did you know that there’s an American professional tennis player named Tennys? (It’s pronounced just like the sport.)

Tennys Sandgren, who was born in 1991, was technically named after his great-grandfather Tennys — a first-generation American whose parents were Swedish immigrants. That said, his parents were inspired to pass the name down largely because they were avid tennis players. (They first met at a tennis club, in fact.)

Sandgren told the New York Times that having the name “Tennys” made him feel obligated to become a reasonably good tennis player:

I had a little bit of expectations just to be not terrible, because you can’t be named so similar to a sport and not be at least adequate at that sport. I don’t think there’s been expectations to be really good, because my parents never put that kind of pressure on me, but I had to be at least decent.

He also admitted that he uses a fake name in restaurants:

When I order sandwiches or coffee, I don’t give my name, I’ll say ‘David’ or something. It’s just not worth it. They never mess David up. I just want my sandwich; I just want my coffee.

In early 2020, Sandgren played Roger Federer in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. During a humorous pre-match interview [vid] with John McEnroe, Federer discussed his opponent’s first name:

JM: Finally, Roger […] your next match is against a guy — I think he’s got the greatest name for tennis in tennis history, his name’s Tennys Sandgren. I don’t know why his parents named him Tennys, but God bless them, cause he’s in the quarterfinals. And he’s the only American left. So what do you make of that, coming up in a couple days?

RF: He was not gonna be a baseball player, that’s for sure, with that name. It’s unreal, actually. I’m looking forward to playing against him, I’ve never played against Tennys. I’ve played a lot of tennis in my life, but never against Tennys.

So far, I haven’t been able to figure out the etymology of the name Tennys. It could be related to the Swedish name Tönnes, which is a diminutive of Antonius. It also reminds me of the English surname Tennyson, which ultimately comes from the personal name Denis.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Tennys Sandgren Challenger of Dallas, Feb 2013 by Khall1323 under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Popular baby names in the Netherlands, 2022

Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands

The country of the Netherlands, located in Northwestern Europe, is bordered by both Belgium and Germany.

Last year, from January to November, the Netherlands welcomed more than 168,000 babies — over 82,000 girls and over 86,000 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Noah.

Here are the Netherlands’ top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 677 baby girls
  2. Julia, 655
  3. Mila, 624
  4. Sophie, 620
  5. Olivia, 591
  6. Yara, 559
  7. Saar, 532 – short form of Sarah
  8. Nora, 524
  9. Tess, 509
  10. Noor, 501
  11. Milou, 489
  12. Sara, 486
  13. Liv, 482
  14. Zoë, 473
  15. Evi, 466
  16. Anna, 455
  17. Luna, 451
  18. Lotte, 423 (tie)
  19. Nina, 423 (tie)
  20. Eva, 405
  21. Emily, 389
  22. Lauren, 386
  23. Maeve, 384
  24. Lina, 383
  25. Elin, 379
  26. Maud, 368
  27. Sarah, 350
  28. Nova, 345
  29. Loïs, 340 (tie)
  30. Sofia, 340 (tie)
  31. Mia, 339
  32. Sofie, 332
  33. Lieke, 330
  34. Fleur, 328
  35. Isa, 325
  36. Fien, 324 – short form of Josefien
  37. Lynn, 319
  38. Hailey, 312
  39. Roos, 297
  40. Julie, 290
  41. Livia, 288
  42. Fenna, 284 – feminine form of Fen (a Frisian short form of Ferdinand)
  43. Ella, 279
  44. Sophia, 275
  45. Bo, 274
  46. Lily, 252
  47. Ivy, 248
  48. Romée, 246
  49. Lena, 244
  50. Noé, 241

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 871 baby boys
  2. Liam, 666
  3. Luca, 664
  4. Lucas, 652
  5. Mees, 621 – short form of Bartholomeus
  6. Finn, 596
  7. James, 594
  8. Milan, 591
  9. Levi, 585
  10. Sem, 582
  11. Daan, 538
  12. Noud, 533 – short form of Arnoud (the Dutch form of Arnold)
  13. Luuk, 518
  14. Adam, 508
  15. Sam, 495
  16. Bram, 470
  17. Zayn, 447
  18. Mason, 440
  19. Benjamin, 409
  20. Boaz, 369
  21. Siem, 360 – short form of Simon
  22. Guus, 356
  23. Morris, 353
  24. Olivier, 349 (tie)
  25. Thomas, 349 (tie)
  26. Teun, 346 – short form of Antonius
  27. Gijs, 335 (tie) – short form of Gijsbert
  28. Mats, 335 (tie)
  29. Max, 326
  30. Jesse, 317
  31. Julian, 315
  32. Otis, 314
  33. Floris, 312
  34. Lars, 307
  35. David, 304 (tie)
  36. Jake, 304 (tie)
  37. Moos, 303 – short form of Mozes
  38. Rayan, 300
  39. Jens, 291
  40. Joep, 289
  41. Owen, 286
  42. Thijs, 273
  43. Jan, 270 (3-way tie)
  44. Oliver, 270 (3-way tie)
  45. Willem, 270 (3-way tie)
  46. Mick, 269
  47. Jack, 262
  48. Jurre, 259 – short form of Jurryt (the Frisian form of Gerard)
  49. Abel, 254
  50. Kai, 253

Dutch onomastician Gerrit Bloothooft noted that, if similar names had been counted together, the name-groups Saar/Sara/Sarah and Luca/Lucas/Luuk would have topped the girls’ list and the boys’ list, respectively.

The girls’ top 100 included Cato (55th), Veerle (60th), Puck (75th), and Merel (83rd).

The boys’ top 100 included Jaxx (56th), Sven (64th), Hidde (72nd), and Jip (78th).

Finally, here are the Netherlands’ 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Kindernamen home | Kindernamen | SVB, Emma en Noah de populairste kindernamen van 2022, Population growth almost doubled in 2022, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)

The last intellectual to Latinize his name?

German physicist and mathematician Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888)
Rudolf Clausius (born Rudolf Gottlieb)

German physicist and mathematician Rudolf Clausius (1822-1888) was one of the founders of the science of thermodynamics.

Another interesting thing about Rudolf Clausius? He was born Rudolf Gottlieb.

I couldn’t find a concrete explanation for the name change, but I did find this in a college physics book: “Born with the name Rudolf Gottlieb, he adopted the classical name of Clausius, which was a popular thing to do in his time.”

(Clausius is based on the Latin clausus, meaning “closed, shut off.” Some sources say Clausius is an alternate name for Janus, the ancient Roman god of beginnings and endings.)

Yes, many historical European scholars/artists did adopt Latinized names. Astronomer Tycho Brahe was born Tyge Ottesen Brahe. Artist Jheronimus (Hieronymus) Bosch was born Jeroen van Aken. Violin maker Antonius Stradivarius was born Antonio Stradivari. Map maker Gerardus Mercator was born Gerard de Cremer.

But these folks lived during the 1400s, 1500s and 1600s. It was trendy for Renaissance thinkers, who embraced Classical philosophies and attitudes, to Latinize their names. (Wikipedia has a long list of Latinized names coined during the Renaissance if you want more examples.)

Rudolf Clausius, on the other hand, lived during the 1800s. I can’t think of any other public figure who adopted a Latinized name as late as the mid-19th century.

Was Rudolf Clausius the last European intellectual to Latinize his name? Or do other outliers exist?

(At first I thought Carl Linnæus (1707-1778) might fit the bill, but his surname was the legitimate family name, coined by his father Nils before Carl was born. It’s based on the Småland dialect word “linn,” meaning “linden tree,” in reference to a stately linden tree on the family property.)

Sources:

Image: Rudolf Clausius