In addition to common houseleek, names include variations of the following: The specific epithet tectorum means "of house roofs", referring to a traditional location for these plants.

[6] Many of its popular names in different languages reflect an association with the Roman thunder-god Jupiter, notably the Latin barba Jovis (Jupiter's beard), referred to in the Floridus traditionally attributed to Aemilius Macer,[15] and its French derivative joubarbe, which has in turn given rise to jubard and jo-barb in English; or with the Norse thunder-god Thor as in German Donnerbart.

William Fernie tells a tale in support of this: History relates that a botanist tried hard for eighteen months to dry a plant of the House Leek for his herbarium, but failed in this object.

[6] Jacob Grimm quotes a Provençal troubadour: "e daquel erba tenon pro li vilan sobra lur maiso" — "and that plant they keep against evil atop their house.

[24][25] In Ireland, the houseleek was known as tóirpín and was placed over doorways and in cow-dung; it was believed to protect a house from lightning-strike or burning.

[29] The juice has been used in herbal medicine as an astringent and treatment for skin and eye diseases, including by Galen and Dioscorides, to ease inflammation and, mixed with honey, to treat thrush; however, large doses have an emetic effect.

[30] Pliny also mentions it, and Marcellus Empiricus listed it as a component in external treatments for contusions, nervous disorders, intestinal problems and abdominal pain, and mixed with honey, as part of the antidotum Hadriani (Hadrian's antidote), a broad-spectrum palliative for internal complaints.