Feminine form of Petronius, from Latin 'petra' meaning 'rock' or 'stone.'
Petrona is the feminine form of Pedro, the Spanish adaptation of the Latin Petrus, which itself translates the Greek Petros — meaning 'rock' or 'stone.' The name traces directly to Simon Peter, the apostle whom Jesus renamed in the Gospel of Matthew, declaring 'upon this rock I will build my church.' This biblical etymology gave Peter and all its derivatives enormous prestige throughout the Catholic world, and feminine forms like Petronilla and Petrona spread across medieval Europe in honor of the apostolic legacy.
In Latin America, Petrona became particularly associated with domesticity and culinary tradition through Petrona C. de Gandulfo, an Argentine cookbook author whose landmark work El libro de Doña Petrona (first published 1934) became the most-sold book in Argentine publishing history after the Bible. She was a cultural institution, appearing on television for decades and teaching generations of Argentine households the art of criollo cuisine.
Her name became virtually synonymous with home cooking across the Southern Cone, giving Petrona a warm, nourishing cultural resonance that pure etymology cannot capture. The name is also borne by Petrona Viera (1895–1960), a pioneering Uruguayan painter who was deaf from childhood and became a celebrated artist despite enormous social barriers. Today Petrona remains in use primarily in rural and traditional communities across Latin America, carrying the dual heritage of apostolic strength and remarkable women who bore it with distinction. It has the texture of a grandmother's name — unfashionable by current standards but carrying genuine weight.