Portia was originally an Ancient Roman name as spelt Porcia, used by girls born in the Porcii Catonii family.
-- Anonymous User 10/14/2006
I would have thought that if Portia is indeed the feminine form of Porcius, the ancient Romans would have spelt it Porcia. After all, the ancient Romans did not have a habit of replacing the 'c' in a male name with a 't' in the feminine version of the name. Just compare: Marcius --> Marcia and Roscius --> Roscia. All Latin names follow this kind of pattern; why would it suddenly be Porcius --> Portia instead of Porcius --> Porcia?
Isn't it more likely that Portia is the feminine form of Portius, which actually means "port, harbour"?
Portius is confused with Porcius on occasion, so it is not surprising if the same happens to Portia and Porcia. So perhaps that is the case here as well?