Paz

Paz comes from the Latin word pax, which means peace. Spanish kept the sense and the sound, and paz is still the ordinary Spanish word for peace. As a given name it grew from the Marian title María de la Paz, Mary of Peace, and Paz became the short form people used. In Spain it is a woman's name, carried by the actress Paz Vega.

There is a second thread. In Hebrew, paz is its own word, and it means fine gold. The two meanings sit side by side without one explaining the other, which is why the name reads at home in both Spanish and Jewish families.

The Polish gloss is simple. Pokój. On a Polish class register the name looks unusual, four letters and no ending to soften it. The meaning underneath stays fixed: peace, from pax.