Polish male names and their meaning. Polish surnames for men and women Polish patronymics for men

The European Championship will be held in Poland. "Spartak" plays with "Legia". The main goalkeeper of Arsenal is a Pole. The best right-back in the Bundesliga (according to some estimates) is also a Pole. Sports journalists and commentators often have to deal with Polish surnames or even the names of Polish teams, which they pronounce and spell incorrectly.

Smart people told me to make this memo and stop grumbling on Facebook. I hasten to follow their precepts.

So, a few rules-principles:

1. Polish has nasal vowels - ę And ą. They are read mainly as “e(e)n” and “he”, except before b and p (then “e(e)m” and “om” - for example, the name of a Polish football club Zagłębie - "Zaglebie" or "pipe" in Polish - "trą ba", thrombus); beforeć, dź - “e (e) n” and “he”. Sometimes after soft ale ą is read as "yon (m)" - for example, the name of the Polish club participating in the Europa LeagueŚląsk - "Shlensk" (Silesia, in Polish). It is important to check how accurately the name of a particular athlete is written in Polish. Squiggles cannot be skipped, reading and writing changes fundamentally. For example, the surname of Jacek Bonk (Bąk) in Russia was read as "Bak" for a long time, the surname of Krzysztof Longiewka (L ą giewka) was read as "Lagiyevka". The surname of the Arsenal goalkeeper (Szczęsny) is thus read and spelled as "Schęsny" and not as "Ščesny".

2. Hissing. The combination sz is read as "sh", the combination cz - as "h". A great example is the name and surname of the Borussia right-back: Łukasz Piszczek = Lukasz Piszczek. Combinationrz reads like "w". At the beginning of the 2000s, a defender played in the Polish national team, whose last name is (Rzą sa) Russian journalists wrote and read as "Rzhasa", while correctly - "Jons". As "zh" is also read ż, as "zh" - ź. Consonant "c" before "i” is read as “h”. For example, the name of the football player "Vidzeva" of the 90s -Citko- reads like "Chitko", not like "Citko".

3. The letter "el". There are two in Polish. Just "l" is "el" soft, "le". But “ł” is read as a cross between “y” and “v”, and in Russian it is enough to read it as “el” solid, i.e. "l".

4. The letter ń is read as "n". For example, the surname of Arsenal's second goalkeeper (Fabiański) should be pronounced and spelled as "Fabianski(y)".

5. No need to stretch combinations ie or ia. If it says L ą giewka- read "Longevka", that is, "e", not "ie". If you need to read "ee", the combination will look like "ije”, for example Żmijewski - Żmievski (th). In the case of "ia" - see the example of Fabiansky, although "Fabiansky" or the name "Adrian" would certainly not be some serious mistake. The consonant softens (“b”), “a” turns into “I”. The combination "iu” is “yu”, not “iu”. The combination "io" is "o (yo)", not "io".

6. Combinationch read as "x". And nothing else.

7. For some reason not entirely clear to me, the namesWojciech AndMaciej in Rus' it is customary to read and write as "Wojciech" and "Matsej", while it is correct - "Wojciech" and "Machey". Same with the nameMarcin - we like to write and read "Marcin", but you need - "Marcin". But this has already been discussed above.

8. The Polish "y" is, of course, "s", not "and". But in Russian there is no, for example, a hard "h". Therefore, the name of the late Polish president (Kaczyński), for example, we read and write as "Kaczyński" and not "Kaczyński". In names like Justyna or Patryk, spelling and reading as "and" is also acceptable: Justina, Patrick.

9. An enchanting combination for a Russian person " śc" can be read and written as "st" (for example, Tadeusz Kosciuszko -Tadeusz Kosciuszko). Or "sc". But right - "shch". For example, if Laurent Koscielny from Arsenal lived in the homeland of his ancestors, he would be Koshchelny. Church, that is.

10. It is advisable to incline Polish male surnames into -i, -s, following the model of Russian surnames, into -i, -i. At the same time, it is possible to design them in the nominative case on the model of Russian surnames. So, Wojciech Kovalevsky - and Wojciech Kovalevsky. Robert Lewandowski - and Robert Lewandowski.

11. Polish female surnames in -a tend to follow the pattern of Russian surnames in -aya, and in the nominative case they can be arranged in the same way. Practice with Barbara Brylska.

This, in general, is enough for the correct reading and spelling of Polish surnames. But to further facilitate the work, I will give two extensive examples.

1. Players called by the coach of the Polish national team Franciszek Smuda (Franciszek Smuda) for friendly games with Germany and Mexico: goalkeepers - Wojciech Szczęsny, Grzegorz Sandomierski, Przemysław Tytoń, stress on the first syllable ); defenders - Jakub Wawrzyniak (Jakub Wawrzyniak, emphasis in the name on the first syllable, in the surname on the second), Arkadiusz Głowacki (Arkadiusz Głowacki), Hubert Wołąkiewicz, Tomasz Jodłowiec (Tomasz Jodłowiec, stress in the surname on the second syllable), Kamil Glick (Kamil Glik); midfielders - Dariusz Dudka (Dariusz Dudka), Adam Matushchik (Adam Matuszczyk, accent in the name on the first syllable), Eugen Polanski (Eugen Polanski), Ludovic Obraniak (Ludovic Obraniak, accent in the name on the second syllable), Rafał Murawski (Rafał Murawski) , Szymon Pavlovsky (Szymon Pawłowski), Jakub Błaszczykowski (Jakub Błaszczykowski), Sławomir Peshko (Sławomir Peszko, emphasis in the surname on the first syllable), Adrian (Adrian) Mezheevsky (Adrian Mierzejewski), Maciej Rybus (Maciej Rybus); forwards - Paweł Brożek, Robert Lewandowski (

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

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

Origin of Polish names

Until the Middle Ages, the Poles used names that came from ancient times and were of ancient Greek, Latin and Roman origin, especially revered Christian saints. A lot of names were of Slavic origin - Miroslav, Slavomir, Yaroslav, Mechislav, Radoslav, and they are popular among Poles to this day. Close ties with neighboring states - Kievan Rus, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Germany led to the fact that many names were borrowed from their culture - Vitold and Olgert are of Lithuanian origin, Albert and Erwin are originally German names. Barbara, Fedor, Margarita, Bartholomew, Ivan, familiar to the Russian ear, acquired a different sound in Polish - Barbara, Theodore, Małgorzata, Bartholomew and Jan, and have since been considered Polish names.

The first names with a Polish sound began to appear in the Middle Ages, and the process of their distribution 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 called the names of Catholic saints. And since then, Anna, Pavel, Magdalena, Peter, Maria, Anthony, Regina and others have become very popular Polish names.

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

Legislation

According to Polish law, a citizen can indicate only two personal names in documents. Since Polish surnames (Kopach, Nowak, 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, Janina). Male names most often have a consonant at the end (Wojciech, Tomasz, Alexander), although there are also vowels -i, -s, -o and even -a (Antoni, Konstanty, Meshko, Barnaba). It is very funny that the name Maria can be not only female, but also male. But in men, it is more common in the form of a middle name. For example, the official name of the former president of the country is Bronislav Maria Komorowski.

Church traditions

Since the Poles are zealous Catholics, a newborn child must undergo a rite of baptism. At this time, the priest gives the child the name of the saint, whose name day falls on the day of christening. It is believed that this saint will be the protector and patron of this person throughout his life, and Catholic Poles attach great importance to this. This name, like that 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 go through the rite of first communion (confirmation), where they can choose another name for themselves. Usually this is the name of a Catholic saint, whom the child already consciously chooses as patrons, but it is not officially indicated.

Fashion trends

The use of certain names when naming newborns is very dependent on fashion trends in modern society. Once upon a time, children were named after national heroes, literary characters or statesmen. Today it is fashionable to give names in honor of the heroes of your favorite TV shows and films, in honor of popular actors, athletes or politicians.

10 most popular names in 2014

Statistics say that the popularity of names changes from year to year, but some are always successful. After analyzing the data for several years, we can conclude that in almost all voivodeships of the country the same names are most popular. For many years, Jakub has been the leader among male names, and the female name Julia only in 2014 gave way to the name Lena.

Most popular names in 2000

The most unpopular names in 2014

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

The most popular names in different historical periods

Pet names

In everyday life in Poland, it is customary to use a diminutive form of the name, and this is how they address not only children, but also respected adults. For this, various suffixes are used in Polish. As a result, Peter turns into Petrek and Petrus, Yulia into Yulka and Yulcha, and Yadviga into Yadzya.

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

Polish names can be roughly divided into pagan, pre-Christian and Catholic. The latter are of ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic origin. Variants borrowed from the languages ​​of neighboring countries are common.

Features of Polish names

Polish law prohibits giving children more than two names. Thirdly, the child can take at will, during the first communion at 9-10 years old. But it will not appear in official documents. It is a common tradition to name a newborn in honor of a saint from the church menologion.

Until 1.03. 2015 the law did not allow citizens of the country to call the child a foreign name. Until now, there are a number of requirements that limit the choice. The Polish Language Council is compiling a list of names that are not recommended for parents to use. The final decision when registering a newborn is made by an employee of the Civil Registry Office.

Almost all female Polish names end in -a. Mary, as in other Catholic countries, is worn by both sexes. For example, from 2010 to 2015 Bronislav Maria Komorowski was the President of the country.

Poles love to add diminutive suffixes. For male names, -ek and -us are used, for female ones: -ka, -cia, -sia, -usia, -unia, -dzia. Some variants in the original form have the endings -ek: Marek, Jacek, Franciszek.
Sometimes words are transformed beyond recognition. For example, Wojciech is affectionately called Cheshchek, and Caesar is called Charek. Karol eventually turned into Karolek, then into Lelik. Baseya turns out to be Barbara, and Aga could be Agatha or Agnieszka. The owners of names with the root -slav are called: Slavek (boys, men), Slavka (girls, women).

Beautiful old names in Poland

Old Polish names are most often formed by combining the stems of two words. Many variants of Slavic origin have the second part "slav". For example:

Kazimesh or Casimir ("announcing peace") - the name of the representatives of the Polish princely dynasties of the Jagiellons, Piasts. It was worn:

1. violinist Ney;
2. artist Malevich;
3. "father of the American cavalry", participant of the American Civil War Pulavsy;
4. Russian military leader Levitsky.

Most of the above names are paired, they are transformed into feminine ones by adding the ending -a. Often there is a component of “fierce” (spring) and “peace”, in various combinations: Yaromir, Yarognev (“spring anger”), Yaropelk (“spring of peoples”), Yarek, Radzhimir (the first root means “joy”), Lubomir , Nemir, Dragomir.

A similar principle of creation has options:

• Bratomite - good for brother;
• Bogumil, Boguhval;
• Bozidar, Bogdan;
• Vlodek - rule by the rules;
• Vlodzimierz - a peaceful ruler;
• Vitold - forest ruler;
• Dobrogost, Milogost - a kind guest;
• Zbigniew - get rid of anger;
• Lyudmil - benefit to the people;
• Radovit - the second part of the word comes from the Old Slavonic vit "life" or Russian "knight";
• Radzimish - happy world;
• Radomil.

Two-part names were formed not only with the help of Old Slavonic words, but also Old Germanic, Late Latin. For example:

• Wilhelm from willo and helm- "will" and "helmet";
• Herald from ger and wald - "spear" + "power, strength";
• Gerard from ger and hard - "spear" + "steadfast, hard";
• Zygmunt from zigu and munt - "victory" + "protection";
• Clotilde from hlud and hild - "loud, glorious" and "battle";
• Matilda from maht hild - "strength, power" and "battle";
• Raimund from ragin munt - "law" + "protection";
• Norbert nord, berth - "north" and "bright";
• Friederik (Friederika) from fridu and riki - "peace" + "rich, powerful";
• Yadviga from hadu and wig - "discord" and "war".

Polish names of Latin origin

Popular names of the Roman Empire: personal (pranomen), family (nomen), nicknames (cognomen) became the basis for Polish counterparts. Thus, Flavian is derived from Flavianus, "belonging to the Flavian genus." Polish names were formed from cognomens:

• Anthony - according to one version, came from the epithet of the Greek god Dionysus "to fight";
• Beatrice, Beata - from Viatrix "traveler, traveler", later transformed into Beatrix under the influence of the Latin word beata "blessed";
• Benedict - from Benedictus, "blessed";
• Blazhey - from Blasius, "lisping";
• Vincent - from Vincentius, "victorious";
• Vit - from Vitus, "life";
• Felicia, Felix, Felitsyan, Felitsyan - felix "happy";
• Karina - from Carinus "dear, dear";
• Clara, Clarysa - from Clarus, "light";
• Clemens, Clementine, Clementia - from Clemens "merciful";
• Maximilian, Maxim - from mavimus, "greatest";
• Marian, Marianna - from Marianus, from the family Mariev;
• Marek, Marcellinus, Marcellina - from Marcus, possibly in honor of the god of war;
• Modest, Modesta, Modestina - from modestus "modest";
• Sylvester - from silvestris "forest";
• Julia, Julian, Juliana, Juliusz, Julita - from Julius, the founder of the family is Yul, the son of Aeneas;
• Justin, Justina, Justinian - from Justus or justinus, "fair".

For newborn girls, parents came up with names that are consonant with beautiful Latin words. So there are options:

• grace ("grace");
• Gloria ("glory");
• Yolanta, Viola, Violetta (from viola "violet");
• Olivia (olive "olive tree");
• Stella (stella star);
• Monica (moneo "inspire, call").

According to one version, Maya was called daughters in honor of the last spring month. Sylvanas comes from the forest deity of the same name from ancient mythology. Franciszek (feminine Francischka) is a variation of the Late Latin Franciscus "Frankish, French".

Popular names in Poland with Hebrew roots

The names of biblical heroes are difficult to recognize in some Polish counterparts. For example, Gabriel - was formed from Gabriel, Bartosz and Bartholomew from Bartholomew, and Mateusz, Maciej - from Matthew. Popular Polish names that came from Biblical Hebrew are shown in the table.

Polish variants of names of ancient Greek origin

A significant part of the Catholic menologion consists of names of ancient Greek origin. They have been modified in accordance with the phonetics of the Polish language. Examples are shown in the table.

The history of the origin of some traditional Polish names

Popular Polish names are borrowed from the Lithuanian language: Olgerd, translated as “glorious”, Keistut “to endure, endure”, Witold “to see the people”, Danuta. The name Grazhin (from the Lithuanian grażus "beautiful") has an interesting story. It was invented in 1822 by Adam Mickiewicz while on vacation in Vilnius. The poem "Grazhina" became the author's first notable work. The name became fashionable in Poland, then in Lithuania.

Malvin's name was also coined by the poet. In 1765, the Scotsman James MacPherson created it from the Gaelic phrase Mala Mhin, "smooth-browed." Malvina he called the heroine of the work "Ossian's Poems".

Names-antonyms are popular in Poland. They originally indicated the origin, place of birth or residence of the owner. For example:

• Caetan, Caetan - a man from Gaeta (Italy);
• Lukaz - from Lutsania;
• Magdalena - from the ancient Greek "from Magdala", a village on the shores of Lake Galilee;
• Adrian - from Adria or the Adriatic;
• Leocadia - arrived from the island of the same name;
• Lydia - from the region of Asia Minor;
• Judita is Jewish, a woman from Judea.

Wanda was probably originally called a representative of the tribe of the Vandals or the Wends (a group of Western Slavs). According to another version, this name, popular even outside the country, was invented by Vincent Kaldubek, a medieval chronicler.
Tenderness, harmonious sounding distinguishes female Polish names of Slavic origin:

• Milena "dear";
• Viburnum from the name of the tree, or from the Old Slavonic "heat, glow" or from the ancient Greek kale "beautiful";
• Faith;
• Lyuba;
• Nadzheya (Hope, Russian equivalent);
• Berry.

Tadeusz, according to one version, comes from the Aramaic word Taddai, translated as "chest, heart." The patron saint Thaddeus is listed in the calendar. The popularity of this name was promoted by Adam Mickiewicz. The hero of his poem "Pan Tadeusz" was named after Kosciuszko, leader of the 1794 independence uprising.

Names borrowed from the Scandinavian language: Inga (goddess of fertility), Oscar (from Ásgeirr "divine spear"), Eric ("rich, powerful"). Ancient Germanic roots have:

• Karl - "man, husband";
• Erwin - "warrior friend";
• Adela (Adela, Adelaide, Adeline) - "noble";
• Odo - "wealth";
• Irma, Emma - "comprehensive";
• Berta - "bright"
• Jadwiga - "struggle, discord."

The name Karolina means "belonging to Charles". Later, a paired male version was created - Caroline. Yvona, Coleta, Nikola (from Nicole), Alicia - Polish analogues of French names.

The most popular names in modern Poland

Polish male names Jan, Jakub, Piotr, Mateusz, Anthony, Shimon, Philip are consistently in the top of the most popular. In recent years, the Katsper variant (Casper, Gaspar) has become fashionable. The name probably comes from the Chaldean "gizbar", which means "keeper of treasures".

The rating of female names is headed by Zofia, Lena (Magdalena's variant), Julia, Zuzanna. Hannah, Maria, Maya, Olivia, Amelia, Alicia are on the list of popular ones. Traditional names remain common: Agnieszka, Malgorzhata, Jadwiga, Barbara, John.

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

Statistics on given names and surnames for public use in Poland is offered by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration - Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji (MSWiA). In the section of the State Central Register (Centralne Rejestry Państwowe) you can find up-to-date statistics on the 50 most popular names of newborns in Poland. And only for the current year. Less relevant 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. All of them refer to official statistics from the indicated website of the ministry. On one resource, I found lists of the most frequent six names of newborns from 1996 to 2006 (for each year separately). From this we can conclude that the publication by the state of the list of the most popular names of the year has a relatively long tradition.

Looking at the top 5 names in Poland over the past 13 years, one gets the impression of a fairly strong commitment to tradition in terms of naming. During this time, 10 male and 12 female names have been in this group. Perennial leader among the names of boys - Jakub(first place since 2000). The second position since 2003 is held by the name Kacper. Over the past 13 years, there were only two male names in the top five all the time - Jakub And Mateusz. The shortest stay in the top 5 is the stay of names Philip(entered the top 10 in 2009) and Bartosz(in 2006–2008). Names are gaining popularity Szymon And Philip. name mateusz, on the contrary, it is losing popularity. Among the names of girls since 2001, the leader Julia. Moreover, it entered the top 5 only in 2000. In second place - maja, which was not in the top 5 until 2006. Perhaps this is the only one of the top 5, which can be said that its popularity is clearly growing. It became fashionable Zuzanne, but compared to 2008, it dropped one position. Name Popularity Victoria And Olivia is clearly on the decline. Women's names show less stability in use compared to men's. So, not a single female name has lasted 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 around 2007 (I don't have data for that year).

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

Boys names

Girls names

Sources: