Entry № 8235 · Latin origin

Portia Portia — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ POR-shah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Latin
Meaning
"Pig (Roman gens) / The Merchant of Venice's heroine"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Ancient (Latin)

A name that means "pig (roman gens) / the merchant of venice's heroine".

Portia is the English form of Porcia — feminine of the Roman gens name Porcius (from porcus, "pig"). A top-1000 US baby name since 1980. Portia (Merchant of Venice, c. 1596) — Shakespeare's heroine; a Renaissance heiress who disguises herself as a male lawyer to argue Antonio's case in court against Shylock; her "The quality of mercy is not strain'd" speech (Act IV, Scene 1) is among the most-quoted passages in Western legal literature. Considered one of Shakespeare's most-intellectually independent heroines; the role is among the most-coveted on the English stage. Portia Catonis (Porcia Catonis) (c. Portia Doubleday — Mr. Robot. Portia White (1911-1968) — Canadian contralto.

Pig (Roman gens) / The Merchant of Venice's heroine — a Latin name.

The name in its native script.

Portia
Transliteration
Portia
Pronunciation
/ ˈpɔːr.ʃə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Portia stands.

Portia does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Portias before her.

Real people
Portia de Rossi
Australian-American actress.
born 1973
Portia Catonis
Roman wife of Brutus.
c. 70 – 43 BCE
Portia White
Canadian contralto.
1911 – 1968
In fiction
Portia
Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
c. 1596

Names connected to Portia.

The number behind Portia.

7

The Seeker

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Portia reduce to 7, The Seeker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.