Jacinto is a masculine given name of Spanish origin. Its meaning is connected to the jacinto flower, which is native to South America and has a pleasant scent. The name Jacinto was popularized in Spain by Saint Jacinto, who was a martyr during the Roman Empire's persecution of Christians.
The name Jacinto is composed of two elements: "iac" which means "to rejoice," and "-into," a suffix that signifies "belonging to." Therefore, Jacinto could be interpreted as meaning "belongs to joy" or "rejoicing one."
Throughout history, the name Jacinto has been associated with notable figures. One famous bearer of this name is Jacinto Benavente y Martínez (1866-1954), a Spanish dramatist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1922. He was known for his comedies of manners and was considered one of the greatest playwrights of the Spanish Golden Age.
Today, Jacinto is still used as a given name, particularly in Spain and Latin America. While it may not be as common as some other names, it remains a unique and meaningful choice for parents looking to give their child a distinctive name with a rich history behind it.
Here are some interesting statistics about the name Jacinto in the United States:
The name Jacinto first appeared in the U.S. Social Security records in the year 1909 with six babies born that year sharing the name.
The peak popularity of the name Jacinto was in 1925, with thirty-one births recorded that year. This trend continued until 1943 when the number of births increased significantly to twenty-eight.
In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a steady increase in the number of babies named Jacinto each year, reaching a peak of forty births in 1976.
The name Jacinto then experienced a decline in popularity throughout the late 1980s and most of the 1990s, with fewer than thirty births recorded annually during this period.
However, since the early 2000s, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of the name Jacinto. In 2022 alone, there were thirty-seven babies born sharing the name, marking a significant increase from previous years.
Over the past 124 years (from 1909 to 2023), a total of 2869 babies have been named Jacinto in the United States.