Given name
Athanasius
“having eternal life”
Athanasius is a variant of Athanasois. One Greek interpretation is “having eternal life.”
Original GreekΑθανάσιος
Meaning & origin
What it means
Athanasius is a variant of Athanasois. One Greek interpretation is “having eternal life.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
In English usage, Athanasius developed from Ἀθανάσιος.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2001. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Athanasius through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 259
- 259 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2023
- 25 babies
- 2025
- 19
- #5,053 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +28%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 19 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 5,053 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 27.6% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 217 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Athanasius’s family of names
Athanasius has an affectionate form in Afonya. In English usage, Athanasius shares an earlier linguistic root with ATHANASIOS. In English usage, Athanasius has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form Atanasio.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Athanasius has relatives in 21 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Athanasius comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 33
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- ΑθανάσιοςGreek
- Ἀθανάσιοςroot · Ancient Greek
- Tanushborrowing · Albanian
- Атанасійequivalent
- Аѳанасииequivalent
- Afanasijusequivalent
- അത്താനാത്തിയോസ്equivalent
- Tanasseequivalent
Show 25 moreShow fewer
- Опанасequivalent
- Афанасійequivalent
- Atanasijeequivalent
- АфанасийRussian
- Atanazascognate · Lithuanian
- Atanazyderivative · Polish
- Athanaseborrowing · French
- Atanasiederivative · Romanian
- Atanásiodescendant · Portuguese
- Afanasydoublet · English
- Atanasiodescendant · Italian
- Athanasiousequivalent
- Atanasequivalent
- AthanasiôVietnamese
- Опана́сUkrainian
- Пана́сUkrainian
- Афана́сійUkrainian
- TanasiSicilian
- Афана́сийRussian
- ⲁⲑⲁⲛⲁⲥⲓⲟⲥonw, Coptic
- Ohvanaizh
- AtanázHungarian
- АтанасBulgarian
- ԱթանասArmenian
- Afanasiderivative
People named Athanasius
- Athanasius of AlexandriaPope of Alexandria from 328 to 373 (296–373)
- Athanasius KircherGerman Jesuit scholar (1601 or 1602-1680)
- Athanasius the AthoniteByzantine monk920–1000
- Athanasius SchneiderKazakhstani bishop (born 1961)
- Athanasius I of ConstantinoplePatriarch of Constantinople (1289–1293 and 1303 –1309)1230–1310
- Athanasius II of Constantinoplepatriarch of Constantinople1500
- Athanasius V of ConstantinoplePatriarch of Constantinople1650–1711
- Athanasius II BaldoyoPatriarch of Antioch634–686
- Athanasius V of JerusalemGreek-Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem1754–1844
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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