Anthony
Torn between Anthony and another name? Compare them side by side →
Meaning
meaning unknown; Antonius is a Roman family name of obscure, likely Etruscan, origin with no established translation. "Priceless one" is a medieval Christian folk etymology, not the actual root meaning.
Goes by Ant, Toni, Tony. See all nicknames
Anthony's name day is June 13, the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua in the Roman calendar of saints.
The story
Anthony inherits the old Roman family name Antonius, and honesty requires admitting that nobody knows what it originally meant: the root is likely Etruscan and lost, and the popular translation priceless one is a medieval invention. What the name lacks in etymology it repays in history. Marc Antony carried it through Rome's civil wars, and Saint Anthony of Padua made it one of the most beloved names in the Catholic world, the saint you ask to find whatever you have lost. Quietly present in the American records through the century's first half, it then climbed generation by generation, reaching full strength in the closing decades of the twentieth century and holding strong past the millennium before easing off its high. Tony did decades of casual duty along the way. Few classics peaked so late, which leaves Anthony feeling less like a revival and more like a name still warm from use.
Anthony across languages
One shared root links 8 names across 6 languages.
Shared root: from the Roman family name Antonius, of obscure and likely Etruscan origin; "priceless" is folk etymology this family politely declines
The constellation
More branches
How popular is Anthony around the world?
In the United States, 39,073 babies were named Anthony between 2020 and 2025. In Montevideo, 58 boys named Anthony were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
Anthony is on the official records of the United States, Montevideo, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Chile, Puerto Rico, South Australia, Mexico City, Argentina, England and Wales, New Zealand, Brazil, Norway, France, Poland, Spain and Austria.
Anthony crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of an English-speaking birth record and of a Spanish-speaking one. The full list: English and Spanish
United States
1 in 560
In the United States, 39,073 babies were named Anthony between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Anthony peaked in the 1980s and the 1990s in nearly equal measure. Anthony went to 10,677 US babies in 2015 and 5,977 in 2025, 56% of the earlier figure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Montevideo City
1 in 4202011
In Montevideo, 58 boys named Anthony were born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Canada
1 in 1,100
In Canada, 321 boys named Anthony were born in 2024, the 89th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Ireland
1 in 1,400
In Ireland, 40 boys named Anthony were born in 2025, the 135th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Scotland
1 in 1,500
In Scotland, 30 boys named Anthony were registered in 2024, the 152nd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Chile
1 in 1,700
In Chile, 107 boys were registered as Anthony in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
share of that year’s name registrations
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Puerto Rico
1 in 2,000
In Puerto Rico, 9 babies were named Anthony in 2025, and 2,338 have carried the name since 1998.
share of that year’s births on record
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
South Australia
1 in 2,0002017
In South Australia, 9 boys were registered as Anthony in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Mexico City City
1 in 2,100
In Mexico City, there were 56 registrations of Anthony in 2022.
share of that year’s registrations in the city
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023 (3 registrations through 3 Mar) is excluded as partial. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Argentina
1 in 2,700
In Argentina, 245 newborns were given the name Anthony in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
England and Wales
1 in 2,800
In England and Wales, 206 boys named Anthony were born in 2025, the 239th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
New Zealand
1 in 2,900
In New Zealand, 20 boys named Anthony were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Brazil
1 in 3,100
At the 2022 census, 65,437 people in Brazil were named Anthony, the 468th most common name, with a median age of 3.
Among people named Anthony living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 33,592 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Norway
1 in 5,600register 2026
In Norway, 5 boys were given the name Anthony in 2025.
share of the boys on the register for that year, SSB’s own figure
People who have or have had a Norwegian ID number, emigrants left out, from Statistics Norway’s name statistics (release of January 2026): by year of birth for 1945–2020 (everyone born that year who was ever registered in Norway, including people who registered later and people who have since died) and by year of naming from 2021; only first names carried by 200 or more living people are listed, counts under 4 are withheld, and SSB merges spellings that differ only by letters outside the Norwegian alphabet. The shares are SSB’s own, of the people of that sex and year in that count; the 2025 figure counts the children named that year, and no year is a count of births. Source: Statistics Norway (SSB), table 10467 (updated 2026-01-28)
France
1 in 7,600
In France, about 85 boys named Anthony were born in 2025, the 532nd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Poland
1 in 12,000
In Poland, 20 boys named Anthony were born in 2025, the 253rd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Spain
1 in 18,000
In Spain, 2,559 residents are named Anthony, the 689th most common name among men, with a mean age of 29.7 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Austria
1 in 25,000
In Austria, 3 boys named Anthony were born in 2025, the 981st most common name among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
New South Wales
outside the top 100
Anthony is not in the 2025 top 100 for New South Wales.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
When you meet Anthony
Most people given the name Anthony in the United States were born between 1960 and 2009. The Anthony you meet today is most often in his 30s or 40s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
Names like Anthony · Nicknames for Anthony · Italian American baby names · Saint names for babies and confirmation · Climbers and fallers
The Anthony deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Anthony truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Anthony fits with your family’s names and surname.
Questions about Anthony
Does Anthony really mean “priceless one”?
No. Anthony is the English form of the Roman family name Antonius, whose origin is Etruscan and unknown; no meaning has been established. The priceless gloss is folklore, and the h in the English spelling comes from another mistaken link, to Greek anthos, flower, added in the 17th century.
Source: Behind the Name
Is Anthony too popular right now?
Anthony is familiar without being common right now and cooling. In US Social Security records since 1890, its score for the 2020s is 3 out of 10, down from 6 in the 2000s. It peaked in the 1980s and the 1990s in nearly equal measure. Before the 2000s it appears in every decade of the published lists, from 2,453 boys in its thinnest decade to 216,231 in the 1990s.
Does Anthony fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Anthony to your family’s tree →