Saintes

Saintes; A city in the southeastern French département Charente-Maritime, the former capital of the Saintonge province; Saintes; A French Catholic diocese named after the above, its see; Saintes; A French arrondissement named after the above, its capital

From Middle French Xaintes, from Old French Xainctes, from Latin Santones, from Ancient Greek Σάντονες, Σάντονοι, Σάντωνες (Sántones, Sántonoi, Sántōnes), a Celtic tribe that lived in the region of Xainctonge and the settlement of Xainctes (now Saintes, France).

Saintes; A small French Caribbean island chain in the Leeward Islands, a dependency of Guadeloupe

Related: Saintois, Saintoise, saintois, saintoise

Ellipsis of îles des Saintes, from the capitalization of saintes, from Spanish Los Santos, from being named after All Saints' Day by Christopher Columbus in 1493, after the recently past holy day of November 1st, before discovery on 4 November of that year. The French feminine form "saintes" is related to the term "îles", which is feminine in French, whereas the original Spanish term "santos" is masculine, and related to the holiday "Día de Todos los Santos", which is also masculine.