Vasile as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Vasile

What is the meaning of the name Vasile ?

The baby name Vasile is a boy name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced vah-SEE-leh.

Vasile is Greek, Romanian in Origin.

Vasile is the Romanian form of Greek Basileios, written Βασίλειος in its earliest attested Greek form and built on basileus, king, ruler. The adjectival suffix -eios gives the sense royal or kingly, so the name’s literal force is regal, belonging to a king. Romanian phonology reshaped the initial Greek/Balkan form into Vasile, with final -e pronounced.

Its prestige in Eastern Christianity rests chiefly on Saint Basil of Caesarea, whose cult carried forms of the name through Greek, South Slavic, Romanian, and East Slavic usage. In Romanian history it appears among rulers and intellectuals, notably Vasile Lupu, prince of Moldavia in the seventeenth century, and the writer Vasile Alecsandri. Cognate forms include Basil, Basile, Basilio, Vasil, Vasyl, and Vasilije. In the United States, Vasile is rare in birth records and most visible in Romanian or Moldovan immigrant contexts.