A male name. Greek ’Ιγγνάτιος, of unknown etymology. It was the name of a Bishop of Antioch, martyred between a.d 104 and 117, identified by tradition with the child whom Christ set in the midst of the disciples. He was the reputed author of epistles to the Romans, the Ephesians, Polycarp, &c., which had a wide circulation. The name was used chiefly in Russia. In the West it was confined to Spain, where it is found from the 8th C as Ignacio, Iñigo, or Eneco. Its wider diffusion was due to St Ignatius de Loyola (Iñigo Lopez de Recalde, 1548 - 98), founder of the Society of Jesus. The Jesuits carried his name with them, and as Ignace in France, Ignaz in Germany, it became fairly common. In England it has naturally not been much used except by a few Roman Catholic families. Inigo Jones, the architect, was named after his father, who always signed himself Enego, but named his s., in his will, Inigue. Jenico has been used in the family of Prestar. Viscounts of Gormanstown since about 1430 when Christopher Preston m. the d. of Sir Jenico d’Artois. This is apparently a Provençal form of Spanish Eneco.

This contraction or metathesis of Ignatius was originally Spanish and has never been common in England.

Another orthography of Innigo or Enneco (name of a saint), corrupted from Heinrich, from root of Henry, q. v.