What is the English equivalent of Javier?

Answer 1

xavier

Answer 2

Xavier

Xavier is the form that the Spanish name takes in English, Portuguese, French, and Catalan. The name comes to Spanish from the Basque cultures and languages of Euzkadi. (The provinces of the Basque Country historically straddle the frontier between southern France and northern Spain.)

In its original Basque, the name traces back to the word exaberri, for "new house." Over time, the word lost the beginning "e" and ending "i." Originally, the letter "x" was pronounced the same in Basque and Spanish as the English "sh." It ended up being written as the letter "j," which ultimately came to be pronounced the same as the German and Scottish "ch."

The name's popularity is linked in particular with the castle of Javier in the Basque province of Navarre. Perhaps the most famous member of that noble family is St. Francis Xavier [April 7, 1506-December 2, 1552]. For the Saint's name in Spanish is San Francisco Javier. And with his canonization, his name has the feast day of December 3.