Of Latin origin.
Derives from the Ancient Roman family name “Virginius”, of unknown meaning.
Sources mention the name may be associated with the Latin word “virgo”, meaning “maid”, “virgin”.
According to legend, Virginia was a Roman girl killed by her father in order to save her from seduction by a crooked official.
This was the name of the first English baby girl born in the New World, in 1587.
She was named after the Colony of Virginia.
Virginia is also one of the United States of America. This state was named by Sir Walter Raleigh in honor of Elizabeth I, Queen of England, known as the Virgin Queen.
Variants of the name are: Virginie, Verginia, Gina, Geena, Virge, Ginger, Ginny, Gena, Gigi.
Famous bearers are Virginia Woolf, Virginia Madsen, Virginia Hensley (birth name of American singer Patsy Cline), Virginia McKenna, Virginia Mayo, Virginia Hamilton.
Additional information about the Ancient Roman naming system:
According to the Roman naming rules, the basic elements of Roman names were three. A “praenomen”, a “nomen”, and a “cognomen”.
A “praenomen” was the first name, indicating the personal name.
A “nomen” was the second name, indicating the ‘gens’ to which the bearer of the name belonged to. Gens, meaning the group of families sharing a common “nomen”.
“Nomen” would stand as the group of loosely connected families claiming common ancestors. “Nomen” were always patrilinear, meaning from the father.
A “cognomen” was the third name and was something like the surname. Cognomina (plural of cognomen) were usually inherited. They were rarely given to the bearer by general consensus by the prominent members of the community.
There were several types of “cognomina”, such as geographical, adoptive, occupational, etc. In very rare cases the “cognomina” could be metronymic, meaning from the mother’s “nomen”.