A female name. (French Agnès, Italian Agnese, Agnete, Spanish Iñez)', from Greek άγνός, ‘pure’, ‘cnaste’. The original Latin form of the name was Agnes (-etis), but in the Middle Ages a form Agneta was commonly used. St Agnes, a 3rd-C saint, was one of the most popular virgin martyrs and her cult was very widespread. Many legends gathered round her name, and unmarried girls celebrated the eve of her festival with semi-magical rites. There are five churches dedicated to her in England. From the 12th to 16th C Agnes was one of the commonest English f. names; in the 16th C it was one of the first three, the others being Joan and Elizabeth. The usual forms of the name were Annis, Annys, Annais; Promptorium Parvulorum (c. 1440) gives it as Anneyce. The common medieval Annot was almost certainly a diminutive of Annis and not of Ann, for it was very frequent at a date when Ann was still scarcely used in England. (It may, however, sometimes be for Annora q.v.) The names Agnes and Ann became confused at a later date, and in the case of King v. King (42 Eliz) it was argued that they were ‘all one name’, though the court unanimously decided that they were ‘several names’. Again in the case of Griffith v. Middleton (15 James I) it was held that ‘Joan and Jane are both one name, but Agnes and Anne, Gillian and Julian are different’. Since Agnes was habitually pronounced, and usually spelt, Annis, the confusion was natural. In Welsh the name became Nest, and it was used in Ireland as an equivalent of the Gelt Oonagh. After the 16th C its popularity waned together with that of most of the non-scriptural saints, but it remained current among the poor, especially in the West country, until its revival in the 19th C. Taggy and Taggett were formerly nicknames for Agnes, but have now given place to Aggy. (The Latin Agneta is also occasionally used.

Agnes Curia Regis Rolls 1187-1215 passim, Hundred Rolls 1273 passim. Annais Assize Rolls 1218. Anneys, Anneyse 14th-C Legendary. Annys Promptorium Parvulorum c. 1440. Annes Feudal Aids 450. Annise Pills to Purge Melancholy 1604.

F. The Latin agnus, a lamb, should connote gentle domesticity. Agnus ‘was derived from a Greek word signifying “sacred” or “pure”, and the emblem of purity and innocence is the lamb. In the Roman Catholic Church St. Agnes’—one of the four great virgin saints, the others being Barbara, Katherine, and Margaret—‘shares with the Virgin Mary and St. Thecla the honour of being the special patroness of purity. The name in this form is current in the English-speaking countries,] Germany, France, Denmark and Greece’, Swan. To lovers of poetry it has been endeared by Keats, but by the ‘bright young things’ (them-selves somewhat demo dees) it is considered demode. Cf. Aggie and Agneta; and see also Ines.

From Greek αγνης, chaste. The pet-name is Nest.

Old French (feminine) - A lamb.

A Latin name, meaning: Lamb, denoting meekness, gentleness. (Greek) Pure: chaste.