A web site called “Breaking Stigma” explains that the word “…traces back to the late sixteenth century when they would mark people (with a visible brand or cuts) for certain crimes…” “A great representation of this kind of mark would be within the book, ‘The Scarlet Letter’.”  Stigma is used in current language to indicate a person who is ostracized because of some behavior, crime, medical condition, or anything else that could cause disgrace or forced isolation from others.