Virgil

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• From the personal name Virgil, a vernacular form of the Latin personal name Vergilius, Virgilius, which was probably of Etruscan origin. The name is famous in particular as that of the Latin poet Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 bc), author of the Aeneid. Virgil was much admired in medieval Europe; there were attempts to make him into an honorary Christian (even though he actually lived before the time of Christ), and Dante made him his guide through the Inferno and Purgatorio, a model of classical moderation and reason. This was also the name of an early saint, a 6th-century bishop of Arles. The forename is popular mainly in the U.S., and it is possible that the surname was coined here in at least some cases.