Cuba is a Roman Goddess of Children Who watches over children in their beds, blessing them as they sleep. Her name derives from the Latin verb cuba, which has the primary sense of "lying down", and is usually taken to mean "to rest or sleep" or "to be in bed"; it is related to the word cubiculum, "bedroom" or "bed". As Her sister Goddess Cunina is specifically concerned with infants in cradles, it would seem that Cuba is in charge of protecting young children who have graduated to using a bed and who are no longer infants.

She is associated with other protective Goddesses of childhood such as Educa, Who blesses children's food, and Potina, Who blesses their drink; and She is said to be the sister to both Cunina and Rumina, the Goddess of Breastfeeding, all three of Whom were given offerings of milk rather than wine. The fact that there are several minor Goddesses dedicated to specific issues of childhood is not a sign of the triviality or absurdity of ancient pagan thinking (as St. Augustine would have it) but rather an indication of what a precarious time childhood in the ancient world could be, before the days of vaccinations and antibiotics when more than one in four children did not live through their first year. Another meaning of cuba is "to be [lying down because one is] sick" or even "to be [lying down because one is] dead", and it is likely that Cuba was also prayed to to help sick children get well (which does usually involve a lot of rest) and to avoid death.

Perhaps then Cuba is not just a guardian angel-type Who protects children as they sleep, but a healer Goddess Who helps sick children get better through the powers of bed-rest and sleep.

Cuba is sometimes linked with Juno, either as an aspect of that Goddess or as one of Her associates; Juno, as the Roman Mother-Goddess, was especially concerned with childbirth and healthy children.