Agnès

Agnes is a feminine given name derived from the Greek Ἁγνή Hagnḗ, meaning 'pure' or 'holy'. The name passed to Italian as Agnese, to French as Agnès, to Portuguese as Inês, and to Spanish as Inés. It is also written as "Agness". Inez is an English variant. The Greek name descends from the Proto-Indo-European *h₁yaǵ-, meaning 'to sacrifice; to worship', from which also the Vedic term yajña originates. The name is mostly used in Greece and in countries that speak Germanic languages. It was the name of a popular Christian saint, Agnes of Rome, a fact which encouraged its wide use. "Agnes" was the third-most popular name for women in the English-speaking world for more than 400 years. Its medieval English pronunciation was Annis, and its usage and many of its forms coincided with the equally popular name "Anna", related in medieval and Elizabethan times to Agnes, though Anne/Ann/Anna derive from the Hebrew 'Hannah" ('God favored me') rather than from the Greek. It remained a widely used name throughout the 1960s in the United States, and last ranked among the top 1,000 names for American baby girls during that decade. The peak of its popularity came between 1900 and 1920, when it was among the top fifty given names for American girls. Agnieszka was the sixth-most popular name for girls born in Poland in 2007, having risen as high as third place in Sweden and Poland in 2006. It also ranked among the top one hundred names for baby girls born in Hungary in 2005. Neža, a Slovene shortened variant of the name, ranked among the top ten names for baby girls born in Slovenia in 2008. The French forms Inès and Ines both ranked among the top ten names for girls born in Brussels, Belgium in 2008.