Basile
A surname from the personal name Basil, ultimately meaning “kingly” or “royal.”
The #4,555 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 39,669 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Basile is best understood as a surname taken from the given name Basil or Basile. That personal name goes back to Greek basileus, meaning “king,” so the name originally carried the sense of “royal” or “kingly.” In French and Italian usage, Basile is the familiar form of that saint’s name, and the surname would have arisen from an ancestor bearing the baptismal name.
History
The sources consistently treat Basile as a saint’s name and as a family name formed from the personal name rather than from a place or occupation. French surname collections also note related spellings and forms such as Basire, Basilic, and Basely, suggesting local phonetic variation in different regions. Because the given name Basil was widely used in Christian Europe, the surname developed independently in more than one Romance-speaking area.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Greek root behind Basile also gave English the learned word “basilic” and the personal name Basil.
From the historical record
“1754. Married — Edward Burne and Susanna Basile : St. Geo. Han. Sq. i. 55. London, 24, 4, 9, 3, 29 ; New York, 9, 2, 425, I, 11.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)Notable people named Basile
- Giambattista Basile (1566–1632)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.