MEANING & HISTORY
What does Virginia mean?
Virginia is the feminine form of the Roman family name Virginius or Verginius. The name has long been associated with Latin virgo, maiden or virgin, but the family name’s earliest derivation is not securely settled.
This separates the old personal name from the American state, whose name was chosen in reference to Elizabeth I as the Virgin Queen. The two histories overlap in later cultural associations without making the state the origin of every Virginia. The feminine Roman formation is the reliable, specific starting point for understanding the name.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
English
- /vəˈd͡ʒɪn.jə/Received-Pronunciation
- /vɚˈd͡ʒɪn.jə/General-American
Vir · gin · ia3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
From Latin Virginia, feminine form of Virginius or Verginius, a Roman family name, possibly identical with Vergilius. The state/colony was named for Elizabeth I as the Virgin Queen, equivalent to virgin + -ia.
A female given name from Latin.
Wiktionary: Virginia (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
SpanishEtymology & source
Borrowed from English Virginia, from Latin Virginia.
a female given name, equivalent to English Virginia
Wiktionary: Virginia (Spanish) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Virginia
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Lovi Poe
Filipino actress and singer (born 1991)
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Virginia Fabella
Filipina theologian and Maryknoll sister
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
19
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
7
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Lovi Poe, Virginia Fabella
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Virginia in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Virginia
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Virgilio♂From the Roman family name Vergilius
- Virgie·Familiar form of Virginia
- Virgil♂From the Roman family name Vergilius
- Arsenia♀Feminine Arsenio, from the Greek virile-name family
- Efigenia♀Strong and born, through Greek Iphigeneia
- Eugenia♀Well-born
- Vicenta·Feminine of Vicente/Vincent: conquering
- Victoria♀Victory
What rhymes with Virginia?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Recorded combinations with Virginia
1 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
Explore combinations →Explore Virginia further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q607350 — Virginia (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Lovi Poe (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q607350 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Virginia Fabella (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q607350 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Virginia (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Virginia (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Virginia (opens in a new tab)
Onomastic account consulted for this exact name or its explicitly linked name family.