Victor

Victor is a masculine given name and, less commonly, a surname. It derives from the Latin victor meaning "conqueror" or "winner," from vincere "to conquer." The name has been used since ancient times and remains common in many cultures. Related forms include Vittorio in Italian, Víctor in Spanish, Victor in French and English, and Viktor in many Central and Eastern European languages. The feminine form is Victoria.

As a given name, Victor is widely used across continents and has produced many notable figures. Notable people include Victor Hugo, the 19th‑century French writer; Victor Vasarely, a Hungarian-born French artist regarded as a pioneer of op art; and Victor Fleming, an American film director who worked on Gone with the Wind. In literature and folklore, Victor Frankenstein is a fictional scientist in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein.

Victor is also used as a surname in various countries, and there are towns named Victor in the United States, including Victor, Colorado, and Victor, New York, among others.

In other contexts, "Victor" serves as the NATO phonetic alphabet code word for the letter V. The term also functions in English to denote the winner of a contest or conflict: the victor.