Petronius as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Petronius

What is the meaning of the name Petronius ?

The baby name Petronius is a boy name , 4 syllables long and is pronounced pe-TROH-nee-us.

Petronius is Etruscan, Latin in Origin.

Petronius is the Latin form of the Roman nomen Petronius, borne by the gens Petronia. Its root is probably Etruscan rather than transparently Latin: funerary inscriptions from Perusia preserve forms such as Petruni, with Latin adding the gentilic suffix -ius. The literal sense of the Etruscan base is not securely known, and links with Greek petra or later Latin Petrus, stone, are secondary-looking folk etymologies.

In Roman usage Petronius functioned chiefly as a family name, though it later entered Christian and European given-name stock. Gaius Petronius Arbiter, Nero’s courtier and the author traditionally associated with the Satyricon, fixed its literary profile in the first century CE. Related forms include Italian and Spanish Petronio, French Pétrone, and Portuguese Petrônio; modern use is rare, mostly antiquarian or Catholic in flavor, with Saint Petronilla belonging to the same name family.

⚙ Petronius is an extremely rare name. Across our dataset of national birth registries and international name records, Petronius appears only 6 times in total — found in 3 countries. If you're considering it, you'd be giving your child a name almost nobody else has.