Xavier
Basque: New house
Pronounced ZAY-vee-ər or ig-ZAY-vee-ər (Spanish Javier: ha-VYEHR)
Where the name comes from
- BasqueNew houseEtxeberri / Etxeberria, from etxe, "house," and berri, "new"A Basque place name, carried by the castle of Xavier (Javier) in Navarre. It became a given name in honor of Saint Francis Xavier, who was born there. A popular gloss from Arabic, "bright" or "splendid," has no support in the name’s history.
Xavier across traditions
- Catholic. Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552), born at the castle of Xavier, co-founded the Jesuits with Ignatius of Loyola and carried the mission to India, Southeast Asia and Japan. He is a patron saint of missionaries, and the name spread wherever the Jesuits went.
- Spanish and Basque. Javier is the Spanish spelling and one of the most common boys’ names in Spain and Latin America; Xabier is the Basque.
Who carried it
- Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552): Jesuit missionary to Asia, born at the castle whose name he carried.
Forms in other languages
Javier (Spanish), Xabier (Basque), Xavier (Portuguese, Catalan, French), Saverio (Italian), Ksawery (Polish), Xavi
Xavier in letter-number systems
Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.
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