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A given name in French and Ligurian (Monaco)
Language contexts for this entry: French, Ligurian (Monaco)
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French
01 / Meaning & origin
Pons is a masculine given name documented in French and Ligurian (Monaco).
(Localité) Du latin pons (« pont »). (Prénom) Du latin Pontius. (Nom de famille) Du prénom ou de la localité.
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4 of 4 countries
03 / By the numbers
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04 / Through time
Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.
Pons— “fifth”
…From the diminutive of the Quinctian gens came Quintilius, and thence again Quintilianus, the most noted Roman rhetorician. Pontius is thought to be the Samnite or Oscan word for fifth, related to the Greek _pente_, and Keltic _pump_, five. It was an old nomen among those fierce Italians, and belonged to the sage who gave the wise advice against either sparing or injuring by halves, the Romans at the Caudine Forks. Pontius Pilatus should, it would seem, have brought it into…
…From the diminutive of the Quinctian gens came Quintilius, and thence again Quintilianus, the most noted Roman rhetorician. Pontius is thought to be the Samnite or Oscan word for fifth, related to the Greek _pente_, and Keltic _pump_, five. It was an old nomen among those fierce Italians, and belonged to the sage who gave the wise advice against either sparing or injuring by halves, the Romans at the Caudine Forks. Pontius Pilatus should, it would seem, have brought it into universal hatred, but it probably had previously become hereditary in Spain as Ponce, whence sprang the noble family of Ponce de Leon; the French had Pons; and the Italians, Ponzio, and our _Punch_ is by some said to be another form. It may, perhaps, come from _pons_ (a bridge).
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part IV, Chapter II (Latin Prænomina), Section V (Numeral Names) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)
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06 / Behind the facts
Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.
Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.
