Daily Ancestorfons
Fons is Latin for a spring or fountain, and in church Latin for the baptismal font; de sacro fonte means from the holy font.
Fons first means a spring of water, then a fountain or well, and in Christian use the baptismal font. The BYU glossary gives fountain, spring and baptismal font.
Baptism entries mention the font when they name the sponsor who held the child there, called levans, so names near the word fonte usually belong to a godparent.
As seen in a recordLatin baptism register, Hungary, 1790s
E sacro fonte levavit Anna Halaszi, matrina
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "fons." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/latin/fons. Last checked 2026-10-12.