girl's name
Virginie
veer-zhee-NEE
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Letters 8
- Births on record 173,498
Virginie does not mean maiden. It descends from the Roman family name Verginius, and the connection to virgo was made later by Roman writers telling a story about a girl killed to save her honor.
- Virginie is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1974, when 10,540 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
Virginie over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2023, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 3,600 |
| 1910s | 1,980 |
| 1920s | 1,470 |
| 1930s | 700 |
| 1940s | 400 |
| 1950s | 1,430 |
| 1960s | 14,060 |
| 1970s | 79,130 |
| 1980s | 58,100 |
| 1990s | 9,610 |
| 2000s | 915 |
| 2010s | 135 |
| 2020s (to 2023) | 20 |
What Virginie means
Virginie has no securely known meaning. The maiden reading comes from a Roman reworking of the family name Verginius, not from the word virgo itself.
Where Virginie comes from
Virginie is the French form of Virginia, from Verginius, a Roman gens name of unknown derivation. Livy tells of Verginia, a girl stabbed by her own father to keep her from a corrupt magistrate, and the story pulled the family name toward virgo, a maiden — the spelling shifted from e to i to match. The American colony was named for Elizabeth I, the virgin queen, so it takes the reworked meaning rather than the original. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre's Paul et Virginie of 1788 carried the French form into wide use.
Virginie in use
Virginie peaked in France in 1974, when 10,540 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It no longer ranks in any of the six markets we track, across 173,498 lifetime births. Of the four names in this group that have left every chart, Virginie has the most recent peak by seventeen years.
How popular is Virginie?
In 2023, Virginie was given to 5 babies in France. It was given to fewer than five babies in the most recent year of published US data.
Where Virginie is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Virginie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Virginie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Virginie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Virginie
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Virginie in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Virginie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Virginie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Virginie
What does the name Virginie mean?
Not securely known. It comes from the Roman family name Verginius; the maiden reading was attached later.
Is Virginie related to the word virgin?
Only by reworking. Roman writers pulled Verginius toward virgo and the spelling followed.
Is the state of Virginia named for the same thing?
For Elizabeth I, the virgin queen — so it takes the reworked meaning rather than the original.
Does Virginie still rank?
Not in any of the six markets we track, despite a 1974 peak of 10,540 French births.
How popular is the name Virginie?
In 2023, Virginie was given to 5 babies in France. It was given to fewer than five babies in the most recent year of published US data.
Is Virginie a girl's or a boy's name?
Virginie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Virginie most popular?
Virginie peaked in 1974, when 10,540 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Virginie?
Virginie is usually shortened to Ginny.