Beautiful Polish male names: list and meaning. Polish names Polish female names complete list

Male names in Poland are part of cultural heritage, which has been accumulating for centuries. By names you can trace the history of the country, since it was customary to name children in honor of saints, national heroes, the rulers of the country and prominent figures different eras. Now it is difficult to say which of the names are originally Polish, since the history of the country and its culture are closely intertwined with the cultures of neighboring states. Therefore, many men European names very similar, but in the Polish interpretation they sound more melodic and beautiful.

Meaning of Polish male names

When choosing a name for their newborn son, Polish parents are faced with the problem of which name is most suitable for the child. There are a huge number of male names in Poland and each of them has a lot of specific value, which will accompany the bearer of the name all his life and leave its mark on it. The Poles believe that the chosen name gives a person destiny, so they approach its choice very responsibly.
Beautiful and sonorous men's Polish names very often associated with positive human qualities: Andrzej means brave, Boniface means courageous, Wojciech means calm, Darium means rich, Felix is ​​sure to grow up happy, and Klimek means merciful. Often male names reflect the qualities that are inherent in warriors, because men at all times have been associated with military campaigns and conquests: Anselm is a protector, Bronislav is glorious in arms, Vincent means a conqueror, Jedrzej is a warrior, Leszek is an intercessor, and Sigmund is a winner.

When choosing a name for their son, it is advisable for parents not to forget about some rules:

• The boy’s name must be sonorous and beautiful, and must also be melodiously combined with the surname
• It is advisable to find out the meaning of the chosen name, so that in the future you will not be surprised where the child got certain character traits
• If a family wants to follow fashionable trends in naming, then it is necessary to familiarize themselves with the most popular names. Statistics show that over the past decade, Jakub and Kasper have held leading positions in the ranking of the most popular names in Poland. Slightly lower in the ranking are Antoni, Jan, Filip, Michal, Franciszek and Szymon. The least popular are the ancient Polish names Lubomir, Boguslav and Jurand. But there are a number of names in Poland that, despite the capricious fashion, are always loved by the people. Therefore, among the Poles of different ages so many men named Marek, Jan, Stanislaw, Wojciech, Piotr, Maciej, Pawel.

Naming according to Polish law

Polish laws impose a number of specific requirements for male names.

Since there are many surnames in the country (Wuycik, Kovalchuk, Novak), hearing which, it is not always possible to understand what gender a person is we're talking about. Therefore, the name must clearly indicate whether the person behind the surname is a man or a woman. Most often, male names end with a consonant: Tomasz, Zbigniew, Alexander, Wojciech.

But there are a number of names in the Polish male name book that have vowels -i, -ы, -o at the end: Scheosni, Jerzy, Anthony, Mieszko, Constants. And the endings -a, -ya are very rare: Cuba, Barnaba, Aurelia, Bonaventura.

Not only women can bear the name Maria in Poland. It can also belong to a man, but most often it is not the main name, but is used as a middle name, for example Bronislaw Maria Komorowski.

According to Polish law, the official number of names that can be indicated on documents should not be more than two. The first name is given to the child by the parents at birth, and most often this name is used in Everyday life. During the baptismal ceremony, the child is given the second name by the priest according to the calendar - this is the name of the saint who will be the patron and guardian angel for life. The middle name can also be indicated in documents, but it is more often used during prayers and confessions.

Until March 2015, Polish laws prohibited the use of foreign names, but let's hope that now Jan will not turn into John, and Michal into Michael.

Origin of Polish male names

The history of Polish names dates back to the times pre-Christian era. It was then that sonorous male names with old roots began to appear in Poland. Slavic origin: Bozidar, Slawomir, Yaroslav, Zdimir.

In the 9th-12th centuries, Christianity came to Poland, and, of course, the names of Christian saints became very popular. Therefore, ancient Greek (Krzysztof, Grzegorz, Tomasz), Hebrew (Michal, Jozef), Roman (Marek, Marcin), Latin (Lukasz) and Slavic (Stanislav, Miroslav) names appeared in the Polish name book.

In the Middle Ages, Catholicism was established in Poland, and children began to be given names from the Catholic calendar: Adam, Peter, Paul, Bernard. During the medieval period Christian names stopped using, but many of them simply changed a little and acquired a Polish sound: John turned into Jan, Fedor into Theodore, and Bartholomew became Bartholomew.

The culture of Poland was greatly influenced by neighboring countries, and it was from there that new infusions took place into the Polish nomenclature. The Polish names Olgert and Witold have Lithuanian roots and come from Algerdas and Vytautas, but Sigmund, Gustav and Erwin are from Germany.

Diminutive variants of Polish names

In Poland, it is very popular to use names in a diminutive form in everyday speech. And this applies not only to small children, but also applies to adults. It is quite appropriate to address a man named Wladyslaw - Pan Vladek, call Zbigniew Zbyszek, and Jakub will readily respond to the names Kuba, Jakubek or Kubus. But among the diminutive names there are also those that are very different from the original. When you hear them, you won’t immediately guess who they are talking about. It turns out that Lolek is actually Karol, and Charek is Caesar.

All Polish male names of any origin sound beautiful, proud and very melodic, which is why they adorn real gentlemen from Poland.

The first places among Polish female names are also occupied by Zuzanna, Julia, Maja, Zofia, Hanna, Aleksandra, Amelia. And the boys were often called - Kacper, Antoni, Filip, Jan, Szymon, Franciszek, Michał.
The Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs analyzed statistics from 2014, as well as the last 10 years in all voivodeships of the country. And they came to the conclusion that little has changed over the past decade. The only change concerned the name Lena: it became a leader, displacing the name Yulia in 2013. But Yakub has been a favorite among male names since 2004.
The popularity of names differs depending on the province. Thus, the most girls with the name Lena were born in 2014 in the voivodeships of Kuyavia-Pomerania, Lubusz, Lodz, Mazowieckie, Opole, Podkarpackie, Silesia, Świętokrzyski, Warmia-Masuria, and Wielkopolskie. And girls with the name Zuzanna are in the voivodeships of Lublin, Lesser Poland, and Pomerania. In Lower Silesia and West Pomeranian Voivodeship, parents most often named their daughters Hanna.
With boys the situation is more homogeneous: Yakub is in the lead almost everywhere. The only exception is the Mazowieckie Voivodeship, where Janow was registered the most in 2014.
But children were least often called by Old Polish names - such as Bogusława, Mirosława, Lubomir, Jurand.

Popular Polish surnames

To the very popular names include Nowak, Kowalski and Wiśniewski. Currently, 277 thousand Nowaks, 178 thousand Kowalskis, 139 thousand Wisniewskis are registered in Poland.
Also in the top ten most common Polish surnames are Wujcik, Kowalczyk, Kaminski, Lewandowski, Dąbrowski, Zielinski, Szymanski. (Wójcik, Kowalczyk, Kamiński, Lewandowski, Dąbrowski, Zieliński, Szymański).

In Poland it will now be possible to call children by foreign names

From March 1, 2015, children will be able to give names of foreign origin. Previously, there was a regulation according to which all names had to be “as Polish as possible”: Jan, not John or Johann, Katarzyna, not Catherine, etc.
However, it will still be possible to give a child no more than two names. In addition, parents should choose names that are not offensive or degrading.
In this case, the final decision on whether the chosen name meets all the requirements is made by the civil registry officer.

In Poland they like to adhere to traditions and treat them with respect. The same applies to male names, because they are part of the cultural heritage. By names you can easily trace the history of the country and changes in trends. In fact, Polish male names are very melodic and beautiful.

Choosing a name at the birth of a child is an exciting, but serious process that should be treated with responsibility. After all, names contain hidden magic that will accompany the owner until death. But there are several unspoken rules when choosing a name for a boy:

It is preferable to find out the meaning of the name before naming your son, so as not to be surprised by certain character traits in the future.

If the family follows fashion in naming, you should familiarize yourself with the popular ones on this moment names

Girls give preference to those men whose names are well-known and also melodiously combine with their surname

In Poland, a newborn receives one or two names, depending on the preferences of the parents. The number of names that are allowed to be given to a child is established by law. Name selection comes from two sources:

Biblical name, that is, the name of one of the saints
Slavic name

The rule is that the name is given to the child at baptism. In the past, during the ceremony itself, the child was given two names, thus he acquired several patron saints at once. Today this process is more of a tribute to tradition, since the second name is not often used in ordinary life Poles. As soon as a child reaches adolescence, when undergoing the sacrament of anointing, he is given a third (or second) name, necessarily Christian, which is not used outside the church.

As in many countries with the Catholic faith, name days are celebrated in Poland. This day marks the day of your patron saint. Name days are accompanied by a trip to church, where it is customary to read several prayers for health. But most Poles still stick to celebrating birthdays exclusively.

In Poland, a birthday celebration is a closed celebration. The event is held among family and close friends, since often the date of birth is known only to these people. In contrast, the name day holiday is celebrated in a wide circle of acquaintances, with colleagues or other acquaintances, for example. You can find out the date of your name day both in the calendar itself and on the Internet.

Polish law stipulates that the personal (first) name must clearly reflect the gender of the owner. Most female names in Poland, along with Russian names, have the ending -a, -ya. Despite Russian traditions, in Poland a name of this kind can also be given to a male person. Among the list of male name choices, there are also several names with this ending, such as Elijah, meaning “Lord my God,” or Mary, meaning “desired.” However, such names are rare among men and are more related to the latter. But don’t be surprised if you meet a man with this name.

It is important to add that previously in Poland the name Mary was not used out of respect for the Blessed Virgin, and also because of the halo of holiness with which the Mother of God is surrounded. For the same reasons, many similar diminutive names appeared, but, nevertheless, different from the name Maria.

Fashion is one of the factors when choosing a name for a boy. Some parents like to name their children after famous people famous personalities, heroes of films and books, or in honor of national heroes of Poland. Roger, Vinicius or Emanuel certainly sounds unusual. According to statistics, the most popular male names are: Jan, Petr, Filip, Michal, Antoni, Eustachi and Miezhko.

In the canon of Polish names there are many whose meanings are of a bright nature:

Defense (Alexey, Andrzej, Boris, Victor, Vincent, Gustav, Zigmund, Kondrat).
Son of God (Amadeus, Boguslav, Gabriz, Dominic, Rafal, Simon, Timotheus, Urias).
Health (Ambrosius, Valentin, Valery, Ivan, Cornelius).
Victorious (Aron, Boniface, Bronislav, Witold, Karol, Lyudmil, Mikolay, Ferdinand).

It is interesting to note that Poles call each other by diminutive names. This can be applied not only to a child or an elderly person, but also to a middle-aged man. By the way, it is also allowed to address unfamiliar people in a diminutive form. Jakub may be called Kubus, Maria may be called Manka, and Karol may be called Lelek. However, for citizens of other countries this is not surprising; such treatment also occurs there.

You can view the list of names available for selection in church books or in various Internet sources. But it’s still worth considering the choice of a name for a boy without ardent fanaticism, since he will have to wear it all his life.

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Polish names, both male and female, are very diverse. Among them there are many that are common in neighboring countries, but there are many native Polish names. They are a reflection of the bright pages Polish history and national traditions.

Polish names sound unusual to the ears of foreigners, but they are very melodic and convey all the richness of beautiful Polish speech.

Origin of Polish names

Until the Middle Ages, Poles used names that came from ancient times and had ancient Greek, Latin and Roman origins, and especially revered Christian saints. Many names were of Slavic origin - Miroslav, Slawomir, Yaroslav, Mieczyslaw, Radoslaw, and they are popular among Poles to this day. Close ties with neighboring countries – Kievan Rus, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Germany led to the fact that many names were borrowed from their culture - Witold and Olgert have Lithuanian origin, Albert and Erwin – originally German names. Familiar to the Russian ear: Varvara, Fyodor, Margarita, Bartholomew, Ivan Polish language acquired a different sound - Barbara, Teodor, Małgorzata, Bartolomew and Jan, and since then have been considered Polish names.

The first Polish-sounding names began to appear in the Middle Ages, and their spread was greatly influenced by folk traditions, religion and legislation.

In the Middle Ages, Catholicism was finally established in Poland, and even when naming, they began to adhere to Catholic traditions - children were named after Catholic saints. And since then, Anna, Paul, Magdalena, Peter, Maria, Anthony, Regina and others have become very popular Polish names.

The history of the people has enriched the Polish name book with such names as Franciszek, Janusz, Agnieszka, Zofia. They were forgotten for some time, but now the fashion for them is being revived again.

Legislation

According to Polish law, a citizen can indicate only two personal names in documents. Because the Polish surnames(Kopach, Novak, Koval) often do not give an idea of ​​the man or woman in question, it is important that the name indicates gender. Almost all Polish female names end in -a (Eva, Monika, Yanina). Male names most often have a consonant at the end (Wojciech, Tomasz, Alexander), although there are also vowel letters -i, -y, -o and even -a (Antoni, Konstanty, Mieszko, Barnaba). It’s very funny that the name Maria can be not only feminine, but also masculine. But in men it is more often found as a middle name. For example, the official name former president countries sounds Bronislaw Maria Komorowski.

Church traditions

Since the Poles are zealous Catholics, a newborn child must undergo baptism. At this time, the priest gives the child the name of a saint whose name day falls on the day of christening. It is believed that this saint will be a protector and patron throughout his life. this person, and Catholic Poles give it great importance. This name, like the one given by parents at birth, can be indicated in official documents, but in everyday life it is rarely used.

Many Polish children aged 9-12 undergo their first communion (confirmation) ceremony, where they can choose another name for themselves. Usually this is the name of a Catholic saint, whom the child already consciously chooses as his patron, but it is not officially indicated.

Fashion trends

The use of certain names when naming newborns very much depends on fashion trends V modern society. Children were once named after national heroes, literary characters or statesmen. Today it is fashionable to give names in honor of the heroes of your favorite TV series and films, in honor popular actors, athletes or politicians.

10 most popular names in 2014

Statistics show that the popularity of names varies from year to year, but some are always successful. Having analyzed the data over several years, we can conclude that the same names are most popular in almost all voivodeships of the country. For many years now, Jakub has been the leader among male names, and female name Julia only in 2014 it gave way to the name Lena.

The most popular names in 2000

The most unpopular names in 2014

In various historical periods, certain names became leaders, since many parents named their child in honor of some person popular at that time. Thus, after the appointment of the Polish priest Karol Wojtyla as head catholic church, many Polish babies were named after him. In the 2000s, all of Poland admired the best athlete of the decade, ski jumping record holder Adam Malysz. And this name enjoyed unprecedented popularity.

The most popular names in different historical periods

Diminutive names

In everyday life in Poland, it is customary to use the diminutive form of the name, and this is how they address not only children, but also respected adults. To achieve this, the Polish language uses various suffixes. As a result, Peter turns into Petrek and Petrus, Julia into Yulka and Yulcha, and Yadviga into Yadzia.

Sometimes the name changes beyond recognition: Caesar is called Charek, and Karol is called Lolek, but in Poland this does not surprise anyone.

State in Central Europe. It borders with Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia. The capital is Warsaw. Population 38,192,000 (2010). 96.74% of the Polish population considers themselves Poles. Other large ethnic groups– Silesian Germans (0.4%), Belarusians (0.1%), Ukrainians (0.1%), Gypsies, Jews. Official language– Polish. Catholics predominate among believers. Other faiths are also represented: Judaism, Lutheranism and Orthodoxy. The name list of Poles is dominated by traditional Catholic names.

Statistics on first and last names for public use in Poland are offered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration – Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji (MSWiA). In the section of the State Central Register (Centralne Rejestry Państwowe) you can find current statistics on the 50 most popular names newborns in Poland. And only for the current year. Less current data (for the previous year and earlier) is not stored on the site. But they can be found on specialized resources dedicated to Polish names. They all refer to official statistics from the specified ministry website. On one resource I found lists of the most common six names of newborns from 1996 to 2006 (for each year separately). From this we can conclude that the state's publication of a list of the most popular names of the year has a relatively long tradition.

If you look at the top 5 names in Poland over the past 13 years, you get the impression of a fairly strong adherence to tradition in the matter of choosing names. During this time, 10 male and 12 female names visited this group. The long-time leader among boys' names is Jakub(first place since 2000). The second position since 2003 has been held by the name Kacper. Over 13 recent years In the top five all the time there were only two male names - Jakub And Mateusz. The shortest stay in the top 5 is the names Filip(entered the top 10 in 2009) and Bartosz(in 2006–2008). Names are currently gaining popularity Szymon And Filip. The name is Mateusz, on the contrary, it is losing popularity. Leading among girls' names since 2001 Julia Moreover, it entered the top 5 only in 2000. In second place is Maja, which was not in the top 5 until 2006. Perhaps this is the only one from the top 5 about which we can say that its popularity is clearly growing. It has become fashionable Zuzanna, but compared to 2008, it dropped by one position. Popularity of names Victoria And Olivia is clearly on the decline. Women's names show less stability in use compared to men's names. Thus, not a single female name has remained in the top 5 for the past 13 years. "Long-liver" is the name Alexandra, which was in the top 5 from at least 1996 until about 2007 (I don't have data for that year).

Here I want to show information on the 20 most common names newborns over three years, so that trends in the popularity of names can be seen. A more extensive list for 2009 can be found on the MSWiA website (see bottom of page for links). The data for 2008 had already been removed from that site and I found it only on the Polish resource about names.

Boys names

Girls names

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