Pascal is a masculine and feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

. It is a

Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

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 many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

and, as ''De Pascal'', in

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

). Pascal derives from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''paschalis'' or ''pashalis'', which means "relating to

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

", from the Latin term for "Easter", ''pascha'',

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Πάσχα, from the

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

''pasḥā'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

''pesach'') "

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

" (since the Jewish 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 originally derives from the meaning "one born on Easter day", or "born on

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

" (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. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

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

(not Easter), because Pentecost in Spain was known as "the Pasch (or Passover) of the Holy Ghost" at the time.Staniforth, Oswald. "St. Pascal Baylon." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 191

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.

People

* Pascal Bentoiu (1927–2016), Romanian modernist composer * Pascal Brendel (born 2003), German gymnast * Pascal Broulis (born 1965), Swiss politician * Pascal Caffet (born 1962), French pastry confectioner and chocolate maker¨ * Pascal Charbonneau (born 1983), Canadian chess Grandmaster and financial analyst * Pascal Chimbonda (born 1979), French footballer * Pascal Couchepin (born 1942), Swiss politician * Pascal Covici (1885–1964), Romanian Jewish-American book publisher and editor * Pascal Cygan (born 1974), French retired footballer * Pascal Dozie (1939–2025), Nigerian entrepreneur and businessman * Pascal Groß (born 1991), German professional footballer * Pascal Gygax (born 1974), Swiss psycholinguist * Pascal Hervé (1964–2024), French cyclist * Pascal Hitzler, German-American computer scientist * Pascal Köpke (born 1995), German footballer * Pascal Langdale (born 1973), English actor * Pascal Lecamp (born 1958), French politician * Pascal Leddin (born 1999), German politician * Pascal Légitimus (born 1959), French actor, comedian and theatre director * Pascal Obispo (born 1965), French singer-songwriter * Pascal Olmeta (born 1961), French former football goalkeeper * Pascal Payet (born 1963), French murderer noted for his prison escapes * Pascal Pia, French writer, journalist, illustrator and scholar born Pierre Durand (1903–1979) * (1954–2006), French voice actor * Pascal Rheaume (born 1973), Canadian ice hockey player in the National Hockey League * Pascal Rogé (born 1951), French pianist * Pascal Siakam (born 1994), Cameroonian basketball player in the National Basketball Association * Pascal Soriot (born 1959), chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca * Pascal Stenzel (born 1996), VFB Stuttgart player which played also in Borrussia Dortmund * Pascal Struijk (born 1999), Dutch footballer * Pascal Thévenot (born 1966), French politician * Pascal Trépanier (born 1973), Canadian ice hockey player in the National Hockey League * Pascal Vicedomini, founder and producer of the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival * Pascal Vincent (born 1971), Canadian ice hockey head coach for the National Hockey League’s

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. The Blue Jackets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern C ...

* Pascal Wehrlein (born 1994), German-Mauritian Formula E and Formula 1 driver.

Fictional characters

* Pascal, a character from the action-role playing game '' Nier: Automata'' * Pascal, a character from the action-role playing game ''

Tales of Graces is an action role-playing game, action role-playing video game developed by Namco Tales Studio and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Wii. It was initially only released in Japan in December 2009. It is the twenty-first main installment of ...

'' * Pascal, Rapunzel's pet chameleon from the 2010 film '' Tangled'' * Pascal Sauvage, a character from the spy comedy '' Johnny English'' * Pascal Curious, a pre-made Sim from the social simulation game '' The Sims 2'' * Pascal, a sea otter NPC in the ''

Animal Crossing is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. It was created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. The player character is a human who lives in a village inhabited by various anthropomorphic animals and can ...

'' series

People

Fictional characters

References

See also