Pentecost as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Pentecost

What is the meaning of the name Pentecost ?

The baby name Pentecost is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced /ˈpɛntəkɒst/ (PEN-tə-kost).

Pentecost is Greek in Origin.

Pentecost derives from Greek pentēkostē ‘fiftieth (day),’ the term for the festival occurring fifty days after Passover/Easter. Through Latin Pentecoste(s) it entered Old French Pentecoste and Middle English Pentecost/Pencost; Old English also had Pentecosten. As a given name, its meaning evokes the Christian feast commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit and, by extension, can be read simply as “fiftieth.”

Documented in England from the 12th century, Pentecost served as a baptismal or calendrical name for children born around the feast and soon became a hereditary surname. Records show spellings such as Pentecost, Pencost, Penecost, and Pentecoste; cognate or parallel English festival-names include Whitsun and the surname Whitson. Today Pentecost is rare as a first name but persists as a family name, especially in southern England, with occasional modern revival among Christians seeking distinctive, meaningful choices.

⚙ Pentecost is a rare name. There are only 18 recorded uses of it in our data, from 6 countries.