Panagiotis

Panagiotis is formed from Panagia, the All-Holy, one of the great Greek titles for the Virgin Mary. To name a son Panagiotis is to dedicate him, in a sense, to her. The name is among the most common male names in Greece, usually shortened in daily life to Panos or Takis, but given in full on baptismal certificates and wedding invitations. Four brisk syllables, pa-na-YO-tis, the soft gamma giving it its distinctive Greek lift. Written Παναγιώτης, it carries all of Orthodox Greece inside it: icon screens, candlelight, and island saint's-day feasts. Devotional by origin, utterly everyday in use.