Pelahiia
The Ukrainian spelling of Pelagia, from a Hebrew root meaning "of the sea". Just 28 women in Poland carry it, so most Poles have never met one.
Pelahiia Pronunciation
Pelahiia is pronounced pe-LAHKHY-yah (/pɛˈlaxjja/).
What Pelahiia means
Where Pelahiia comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Pelahiia arrives in Poland by way of Ukraine, where the name settled and stayed. Most Polish readers will meet it first through Pelagia, the variant that fills old parish registers and name-day calendars. Its stated meaning is "of the sea," morska in Polish, and its origin traces back to Hebrew.
The Eastern church gave the name a well-known bearer in Saint Pelagia of Antioch, an early martyr venerated across the Orthodox and Greek Catholic world. That veneration helps explain why the name held on firmly in Ukrainian families, and why it crossed into Polish usage along the border. A child called Pelahiia today might appear as Pelagia on an official form at the urząd.
The two forms stand in for one another. Its meaning holds: morska, of the sea.
How many people are named Pelahiia
1 in 805137 women in Poland is named Pelahiia. 28 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #7905 among female names.