The infants whom Herod massacred at Bethlehem were termed in Latin innocentes, from in (not), and noceo (to hurt).  These harmless ones were revered by the Church from the first, and honoured on the third day after Christmas as martyrs in deed.  The relics of the Holy Innocents were great favourites in the middle ages, and are to be found as frequently as griffins' eggs in the list of treasures at Durham; but names taken from them are almost exclusively Roman.  A lawyer of the time of Constantine was called Innocentius, and a Pope contemporary with St. Chrysostom handed it on to his successors, many of whom have subsequently assumed this title, and are called by their subjects Innocenzio. (History of Christian Names, Yonge, 1884).