Anthony (given name)

Anthony or Antony is a male given name, (ninth most popular male first name in the United States as of 2006), derived from Antonius, a Roman family name. That name seems to have come originally from the Etruscan language, although no further information is known about this derivation. The Greek word ανθος (anthos), meaning "flower" is considered by some sources to be the meaning of the name; others claim it is from the ancient Greek name Anthonios, king of Achaia. It is often shortened to Tony or Tone; or when the background is Sicilian, Nino, shortened from Antonino. 
Just as likely is the idea of an afro-semitic source. For example, the name Anthony exists as Anteneh in the afro-semitic Ethiopic languages of Amhariña and Tigriña (commonly mistransliterated as "Amharic" and "Tigrinya") and also in their parent language, ancient Ge'ez all of which when translated have the same literal meaning: "that one guy". Over the course of centuries there were frequent dealings between Aksum (later called Abyssinia) and various European and Mediterranian people groups, so there is a fairly good chance that Antonio or Anthony and its other variations may have been imported from afro-semitic origins.
==References to famous Anthonys==
In Christianity it can refer to:
* Anthony Daniel, Jesuit missionary and one of the Martyrs of North America
* Anthony de Mello (priest), a Jesuit writer
*Antonio María Claret y Clará, archbishop, saint, and founder of a religious order
* Anthony Dich Nguyen and Anthony Quynh Nam, two of the Vietnamese Martyrs
In politics and history it can refer to:
* Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister
* Anthony Eden, British politician
In music it can refer to:
* Marc Anthony, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter who is popular for his salsa and Latino-style music
* Tony Blackplait, Estonian punk rock musician, lead singer of Vennaskond
* Anthony Burger, pianist
* Anthony Hamilton (musician), R&B/soul/"neo-soul" singer and songwriter
* Tony Kakko of Sonata Arctica
* Anthony Kiedis, lead singer and founding member of American funk rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers
* Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch composer and rock musician has released his 1993 album "Pools Of Sorrow, Waves Of Joy" under his second name
* Anthony Morris, singer/songwriter guitarist Canadian solo artist under the name of "Taking Back April"
* Tony Rice, Bluegrass singer and guitarist
* Tony Sunshine, R&B singer from the Bronx
* Anthony Field, aka the blue wiggles a member of the children's group The Wiggles.
In sports it can refer to:
* Tony Adams (American football)
* Tony Adams, English footballer
* Tony Baltazar, boxer
* Tony Batista , Dominican baseball player
* Tony Clark, baseball player
* Tony Conigliaro, baseball player
* Tony Gwynn, baseball player
* Tony Hawk, born Anthony Frank Hawk, Professional skateboarder
* Anthony Morelli, quarterback for the Penn State Nittany Lions
* Tony Parker, basketball player
* Tony Stewart, twice champion NASCAR driver
* Tony Pedregon, NHRA Drag racing driver
In media it can refer to:
* Anthony Addabbo, American actor best known for the role of Anthony 'Rush' Carrera on TV's Soap The Bold and the Beautiful and for the role of Matt Everett in the 1987 movie The Gunfighters
* Anthony Ausgang, American painter and mixed media visual artist
* Anthony Daniels, British actor best known for the role of C-3PO in all six Star Wars films
* Anthony Edwards, American actor best known for the role of Dr. Mark Green on TV's ER
* Anthony Montgomery, American actor best known in the role of Ensign Travis Mayweather on the television series Star Trek: Enterprise
* Anthony Stewart Head, British actor & singer, best known for the role of Rupert Giles in TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* Anthony Hopkins, British actor
* Anthony Horowitz, British author & scriptwriter
* Anthony Steven Kalloniatis, aka ANT an American-Greek openly gay comedian
* the Tony Award
* Anthony Padilla, from "Smosh" on Youtube
* Anthony Quinn, a two-time Academy Award-winning Irish American and Mexican American actor.
* Tony Randall, American actor best known for his TV and movie roles roles, especially The Odd Couple
* Tony Shalhoub, American television and film actor, lead role on Monk
* Anthony Trollope, Victorian Novelist
In fiction it can refer to:
* Tony Almeida, CTU Agent in 24.
* Toni Cipriani, the main Character on Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
* Anthony Daly, character in BBC's TV show Doctor Who
* Anthony Soprano, main character on the HBO hit show, The Sopranos. Portrayed by James Gandolfini
* Anthony Stark, the alter ego to the superhero Iron Man
* Tony Stonem, a main character in British dramedy Skins
* Anthony DiNozzo, the senior agent in NCIS
* Kreivi Antony DiMera, a criminal in Days of our Lives
* Tony Montana, played by Al Pacino in Scarface
* Tony Manero, played by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever
In geography it can refer to:
==See also==
Disambiguation pages for other spellings:
* Anton
* Antonio
* Antonius
* Antony
* Mark Anthony
* Tony Lam 
== External links ==
*BehindTheName.com entry (also contains a list of versions of Anthony in other languages)
et:Anteneh
de:Antonius
es:Antonio
fr:Antoine
it:Antonio
lt:Antanas
hu:Antal
nl:Antonius (voornaam)
ja:アントワーヌ
no:Tonik
nn:Tonik
or:Totono
pl:Antoni
pt:Antomio
ru:Антон
fi:Crap
sv:Anton
tr:Antümi
zh:安东尼
ro:Anton