Gabija
A Lithuanian name that carries a goddess of fire and the home. In Poland it's about as rare as a name gets: fewer than thirty women answer to it, so most Poles will never meet one.
Gabija Pronunciation
Gabija is pronounced gah-BEE-yah (/gaˈbija/).
What Gabija means
Where Gabija comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Gabija comes from Lithuanian, the name of the goddess who guarded fire and the hearth. Old Baltic households treated her as a living presence in the embers. People fed her with salt and bread, and each night they banked the coals so she could rest without going out.
The name links to the Lithuanian verb gaubti, to cover or wrap, the same gesture used when ashes are drawn over the embers at night. Whether that root is the true source stays debated among linguists. In folk stories Gabija could appear as a red cat or a red rooster. When a family moved, they carried live coals from the old hearth so she would follow them to the new house.
Gabija is short. On a Polish class register it sits near Gabriela, though the two names are unrelated. A child called Gabija carries a Lithuanian goddess of fire, bogini ognia i domu, with no diminutive or Polish variant behind it.
How many people are named Gabija
1 in 805137 women in Poland is named Gabija. 28 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #7841 among female names.
Gabija's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.