Perpetua
Straight from Latin *perpetuus*, "continuous, uninterrupted": the same root behind *perpetual* and *perpetuity*. In Poland it barely registers today, so meeting a Perpetua would stay with you.
Perpetua Pronunciation
Perpetua is pronounced per-pe-TOO-ah (/pɛrpɛˈtua/).
What Perpetua means
Where Perpetua comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Perpetua comes straight from Latin. The adjective perpetuus meant continuous, uninterrupted, running on without a break. The same root gives English perpetual and perpetuity, and the Polish sense stays close: nieprzerwana, wieczna.
The name has a documented owner. Vibia Perpetua was a young woman martyred at Carthage in 203, and the prison account known as the Passio Perpetuae records her own words. That text is one of the earliest surviving pieces of writing by a Christian woman. Her feast falls on 7 March, shared with Felicitas, which fixes Perpetua on the Polish name-day calendar.
In Poland the name is rare. A teacher reading a class register will meet far more Perpetuas among nuns and in old parish books than in the front row. The meaning has not shifted. Perpetua still points back to perpetuus, to something that continues without end.
When Perpetua celebrates name day
Perpetua appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 7 March.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Perpetua
1 in 2817979 women in Poland is named Perpetua. 8 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #19293 among female names.
Perpetua as a middle name
Perpetua is a first name for 8 women in Poland and a middle name for another 24, a 25/75 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1472nd, between Nikodema (24) and Phương (24).
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#1470 Nhung24
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#1471 Nikodema24
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#1472 Perpetua24
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#1473 Phương24
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#1474 Radzisława24