A male name. Latin Sebastianus ‘man of Sebastia’ (a city of Pontus, from Greek σεβαστός ‘venerable’). St Sebastian was a Roman legionary martyred under Diocletian. His martyrdom, by being shot with arrows, was a favourite subject of medieval art. As a christian name Sebastian was particularly common in Spain, and in France, where it became Bastien. Bastian and Sebastian have been used in Cornwall at least, since the 16th C and probably earlier, for the surnames Bastian, Bastin, Bastion, &c., would seem to be derived from them.

Latin Sebastianus, a discreet derivative of Sebastos (Sebastoi or Augusti was Diocletian’s designation of the joint emperors), ‘the venerated,’ from Greek σέβας (sĕbas), ‘awe’ or ‘veneration’. It has become somewhat rare among the British, excepting always among the Roman Catholics, who revere the memory of the Roman martyr, who, as is so often represented in medieval art, was ‘tied to a tree’ and his body ‘made a target for the Roman archers, after which, it being discovered that he was still breathing, he was clubbed to death (A. D. 288),’ Benedictines.

From Σεβαστος, the Greek rendering of Augustus, and signifying ‘to be venerated or reverenced, venerable.’ Hence, by abbreviation, the name Bastien, and the nicknames Sib, Sibby.

Greek (masculine) - Reverenced.

A Greek name, meaning: Venerated: revered.