indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
Of unknown origin and meaning. Saint Ia was a 5th-century Cornish virgin martyr, an Irish princess, according to popular tradition, who travelled to Cornwall as a missionary and was martyred on the River Hayle under Tudur Mawr, ruler of Penwith. Ia gave her name to her burial place; St Ia's Church was erected over her grave and around the church grew the town of Porth Ia (later renamed St Ives in honour of a bishop named Ivo or Ive).