Virgil

Derived from the Roman family name Vergilius, which likely has Etruscan roots of unrecorded meaning. The name was fixed in history by the Latin poet Publius Vergilius Maro, author of the Aeneid. English speakers adopted it during the Renaissance, and it eventually found an enduring foothold in early-twentieth-century rural America.

Virgil occupies a rare space between classical Latin poetry and a workshop full of spare lawnmower parts. It suggests a person who does not speak until spoken to, and then only in complete sentences. With forty-one percent of living bearers belonging to the Baby Boomer generation, the name brings to mind metal lunchboxes and pocket knives rather than Roman togas. It is an old name that never quite bothered to apologize for being old.