Pelaheia
Greek at root, "of the sea", carried into Poland as a Ukrainian form of Pelagia. Just 28 women here go by it, and no newborn has been recorded with it this century: most Poles will never meet one.
Pelaheia Pronunciation
Pelaheia is pronounced pe-lah-KHE-yah (/pɛlaˈxɛja/).
What Pelaheia means
Where Pelaheia comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Pelaheia comes from Greek, from pelagos, the open sea. The Latinized form most readers know is Pelagia, and Pelaheia is the Ukrainian shape of that same name. Its short meaning stays close to the root: of the sea, morska in Polish. The salt water is right there in the sound.
The sea meaning is not a later gloss. It sits in the word itself, unlike names where a virtue got attached long after the fact. Early Christian tradition carried the name through Saint Pelagia of Antioch, and that is how it spread east into Ukrainian usage. Diminutive forms grew up around it in village speech.
In Ukraine the name wore down into softer, homelier versions over generations. It reached Polish ears through that eastern neighbourhood, keeping the Greek bones intact.
Picture a name-day entry at the parish office, Pelaheia written in full beside its variant Pelagia. Both point back to the same water. A child named this carries a word older than any border near her. The meaning does not shift with translation. From Greek to Ukrainian to Polish, it still says: of the sea.
How many people are named Pelaheia
1 in 805137 women in Poland is named Pelaheia. 28 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #7904 among female names.