Gerwazy

Gerwazy comes from the Germanic name that Latin reshaped into Gervasius. The first part is ger, a spear, a word that armed a great deal of old Germanic naming. The name reached Polish through the Church calendar, where Saint Gervasius shares his feast with Protasius. Their day falls on June 19, so an imieniny for Gerwazy sits in early summer.

The sense of "honored, revered", czczony and szanowany in Polish, attached itself later, once the saint was venerated and the spear behind the name had faded from view. That is how a weapon became a blessing.

Polish readers meet Gerwazy first in Mickiewicz. In Pan Tadeusz he is Gerwazy Rębajło, the old klucznik of the Horeszko house, loyal past reason and handy with a rapier he calls Scyzoryk. The name has kept that literary weight ever since.

It is not a common choice now. A boy named Gerwazy stands out on a class register. Short, though. Two syllables of spear and reverence.