A male name. . (Latin Antonius French Antoine, Italian Antonio, German Anton, Antonius, Slavonic Anton); the name of a Roman gens, the most famous member of which was ‘Mark Antony’, the triumvir Marcus Antonius. The etymology is unknown. The later popularity of the name was due to St Antony the Great, the Egyptian ascetic, whose cult was diffused in the West at the time of the Crusades. The Temptation of St Antony was one of the favourite subjects of medieval art. He was regarded as the patron of swineherds, and a St. Antony or Tantony pig was one of the many names for the smallest of a litter; erysipelas was called St Antony's Fire after an outbreak in 1089 when many were said to be cured after making intercession to him. The name Antony (Antoine) was particularly common in France after the relics of the saint were translated to Vienne. At a later date St Antony of Padua (1195-1231), a favourite saint, no doubt contributed to the popularity of the name. (It is he, and not St Antony the Great, who is invoked to find lost property.) Antony was fairly common in England from the 12th C, and has continued steadily in use. The intrusive h in the spelling Anthony was a late development, and seems not to appear before the late 16th C. It may have been the result of false etymologizing, for Camden (1605) derives the name from Greek άνθος. It is, of course, silent, but there is some danger nowadays of a spelling pronunciation (already in use in the USA), and the older spelling is to be preferred. The usual abbreviation of the name is Tony, which is found from the 17th C (e.g. in Brome’s Weeding of Covent Garden 1658).

Antonius Curia Regis Rolls 1207-13. Hundred Rolls 1273. Antony Promptorium Parvulorum c. 1440.