Pascal (given name)
Pascal is a masculine given name. It is a Francophone name, cognate of Italian name Pasquale, Spanish name Pascual, Catalan name Pasqual and Portuguese name Pascoal. "Pascal" is common in French-speaking countries, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. Derived feminine forms include "Pascale", "Pascalle" or "Pascalina". Pascal is also common as a surname in France, and in Italy (in Piedmont, Aosta Valley and, as "De Pascal", in Friuli-Venezia Giulia). Pascal derives from the Latin "paschalis" or "pashalis", which means "relating to Easter", from the Latin term for "Easter", "pascha", Greek Πάσχα, from the Aramaic "pasḥā" (Hebrew  pesach) "Passover" (since the Hebrew holiday Passover coincides closely with the later Christian holiday of Easter, the Latin word came to be used for both occasions). The Christian given name is in origin from the meaning "one born on Easter day", or "born on Pentecost" (see below). Variations of the given name include: Paschal, Pasqual, Pasquale, Paskal, Pascoal, Pascale, Pascha, Paschalis, Pascual, Pascoe, and Pasco. The name arises in the early medieval period, in Latin spelled "Paschalis". An early bearer is Antipope Paschal (fl. 687), and Pope Paschal I (d. 824). A variant Latin form of the name is "Paschasius ; this is the name of the 9th-century Frankish saint Paschasius Radbertus. Peter Pascual (Petrus Paschasius", d. 1299) was a bishop and martyr of medieval Andalusia. "Saint Pascal" (or "San Pasqual") refers to Paschal Baylon (1540–1592), a Spanish friar and mystic. Baylon was born on 24 May 1540 to Aragonese peasants. His parents named him "Pasqual" because he was born on the day of the feast of Pentecost (not Easter), because Pentecost in Spain was known as "the Pasch (or Passover) of the Holy Ghost" at the time. After Pascual Baylon's beatification (1618) and canonization (1690), it became common  to give the name "Pascal" to children born on the feast day of Saint Pascal (17 May) rather than on Easter or Pentecost, or independently of the child's date of birth.