The Baby Name Wizard

Reader Contributions

Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Virginia!

Comments and insights on the name Virginia: | Edit

Virginia is a sweet, simple, old fashioned Southern name. I would consider it, but I'm not so sure if I like the virgin aspect, but now that I know it means "spring," I think that aspect is gone.

Personal experiences with the name Virginia: | Edit

My most embarrassing experiences usually happen when I attend a conference or something where I am required to wear a name tag. More times than I care to remember, whoever writes out the name tags misspells my name as "VIRGINA" leaving out the final "I." This winds up with the awkward reading of my name sounding as "Vagina" and embarrassment on both parts.
As a teenager the chant was "Virgin?... yeah" or "Her name is Virginia... That's Virgin for short... but not for long!"

As an adult, I enjoy the uniqueness of the name, but as a teenager, 'Ginny' was preferred.

I find that often "Ginny" becomes 'Jeannie' or 'Jenny' depending on the region of the country.

I hated my name when I was growing up because kids would call me Virgin and Vagina. But you know what? I really like my name now. I'm so glad I don't have a dated name from the time I was born (early '80s) like Lindsay or Crystal. I think my name makes me sound sophisticated and intelligent. Nobody ever calls me Ginny (I don't really like that nickname anyway), but my little cousin used to call me Vina because she had trouble pronouncing my name. When I was little people would sometimes call me Victoria even after I told them my name was Virginia, which I hated.

My middle name is Virginia and I prefer it to my first name which is much more common for my age group. I want to start going by Virginia, but it would be too awkward to have some people calling me the by old name while some call me by a new one. Also, I had it misspelled as Virgina on my credit card and this bothers me deeply.

Nicknames for Virginia: | Edit

Gin, Ginny, Ginger, Gina, Ginia, Virgie, Virg, Virgo, V

Meanings and history of the name Virginia: | Edit

This name was first spelled Verginia, and was the feminine form of an ancient Roman clan name, Verginius. Over time its spelling changed due to its association with the Latin term virgo, meaning 'maiden.' This meaning has driven the use of the name ever since.

In 1587, this was the name given the first baby born to English colonists in the New World, Virginia Dare. Both the baby and her home colony were named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen of England. Virginia is the oldest surviving English place-name in the U.S. not wholly borrowed from a Native American word, and the fourth oldest surviving English place name, though it is Latin in form.

Famous real-life people named Virginia: | Edit

Virginia Apgar, American physician and creator of the Apgar test, still used today to assess the health of newborn infants
Virginia Centurione Bracelli, Roman Catholic saint
Virginia Patterson "Patsy" Cline, American country-western singer
Virginia Dare, first baby born in America of English parents in 1587
Virginia "Geena" Davis, American actress
Virginia Hamilton, American children's book author
Virginia Madsen, American actress
Virginia O'Hanlon, a young girl whose letter about the veracity of Santa Claus's existence prompted a famous 1897 editorial in the New York Sun newspaper titled "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus."
Virginia "Ginger" Rogers, American actress and dancer
Virginia "Gena" Rowlands, American actress
Virginia Satir, American author and psychotherapist
Virginia Wade, British tennis player
(Adeline) Virginia Woolf, British author (Mrs. Dalloway)
Virginia A. Zakian, American scientist and professor at Princeton University

Virginia in song, story & screen: | Edit

"Dancing Virginia" by Jump, Little Children
"Sweet Virginia" by The Rolling Stones
"Meet Virginia" by Train
"Virginia" by Tori Amos
"Virginia" by Dixie and Tom T. Hall
Virginia, girl to whom the song "Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel is addressed
Virginia Woolf, character in book and film "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham, played in the movie by Nicole Kidman
Virginia, a rare opera by Saverio Mercadante, 1866
Virginia, a novel by Ellen Glasgow