# First names containing the term "Saint." What gives?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-containing-the-term-saint-what-gives/391166
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 7, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-containing-the-term-saint-what-gives/391166 "2007-02-07T01:33:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 2

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### Author: ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-containing-the-term-saint-what-gives/391166/21 "2007-02-07T22:28:02Z")

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[QUOTE=Polycarp]  
toponymic  
[/QUOTE]  
Thank you for teaching me a new word today.

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### Author: ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-names-containing-the-term-saint-what-gives/391166/22 "2007-02-08T00:10:02Z")

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[QUOTE=stuyguy]  
I…There are other examples I’ve encountered but forgotten…

(snip)

Is there any special significance to such names? Do they refer, as most people assume, to the holy individuals that Christians call “saints,” or do they refer to a different concept entirely? When did they die out, or did they?  
[/QUOTE]

I always wondered about [Edna St. Vincent Millay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_St._Vincent_Millay)

> [@](#):
>
> Her middle name is derived from St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York, where her uncle’s life had been saved just prior to her birth.

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