Cecilia

Cecilia comes from the Roman family name Caecilius, and behind that name stands the Latin word caecus, meaning blind. That is the origin, the sense Polish still records as ślepa. The Caecilii were an old clan of the Republic, and their name passed down to the woman later honored as Saint Cecilia, a Roman martyr who became the patron of music.

In Italy and Spain the name spread widely. Scandinavia took it up as well. Polish settled on the spelling Cecylia, and everyday speech softened it into Cesia and Cela.

The literal sense of blind faded from what most people heard in it. By the time of Saint Cecilia the name pointed to a musician's saint, and her feast falls on the 22nd of November. On a Polish class register you might find a Cecylia seated beside a Cela, one name written in two keys.