American Family Name Origins:
Baptiste
Frequency: (1630)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
French and English: from a medieval personal name, derived from the distinguishing epithet of St. John the Baptist, who baptized people, including Jesus Christ, in the river Jordan (Mark 1:9), and was later beheaded by Herod. The name is from Latin Baptista (Greek baptistēs, a derivative of the verb baptizein ‘to dip in liquid’, ‘to baptize’).
FOREBEARS: A Baptiste from the Île-de-France is documented in Quebec city in 1668 with the secondary surname St. Amour.
GIVEN NAMES: French 12%. Andre (3), Pierre (3), Yves (3), Germaine (2), Jacques (2), Jean Claude (2), Ricot (2), Agathe, Anite, Antoine, Cecile, Charlemagne.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
