The 1585 founding and the names João Pessoa has had

Before being called João Pessoa, the city founded in 1585 was already known as Nossa Senhora das Neves, Filipeia, Frederica and Paraíba.

João Pessoa was founded on August 5, 1585, on the banks of the Sanhauá River, under the name Cidade Real de Nossa Senhora das Neves — a reference to the date in the Catholic calendar dedicated to this Marian devotion. This was the first of a sequence of names the city received throughout its history, reflecting political changes and shifts in control over the captaincy over the centuries.

Still during the Portuguese colonial period, the city came to be called Filipeia de Nossa Senhora das Neves, in tribute to King Philip II of Spain, who also ruled Portugal at the time of the Iberian Union. During the Dutch occupation of the Northeast, between 1634 and 1654, the city was renamed Frederikstadt (or Frederica), in honor of the Prince of Orange Frederick Henry of Nassau.

With the expulsion of the Dutch and the return of Portuguese rule, the city was once again called Nossa Senhora das Neves and, later, came to be referred to simply as Paraíba (or Parahyba), a name it kept for much of the 19th century and the early 20th century, which was also the name of the state. The current name, João Pessoa, was adopted in 1930 in tribute to the then-president of the state, João Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, assassinated on July 26 of that year — an episode with national repercussions that preceded the Revolution of 1930.

This succession of names is today told as part of the city's identity, recalled on commemorative dates, in press articles and in historical content about the Paraíba state capital.