The basic set of popular Polish first names comes from the Christian tradition and includes many names also known in other countries of Europe and the world. A significant number of them were assimilated by the Polish language in the Middle Ages and later.
Polish tradition demands that children's names should indicate the gender, as the language declines them like all other nouns. Another reason is practicality, especially today, when some women's surnames drop the traditional suffixes referring to marital status (-owa, -ina for a Mrs and -ówna, -anka for a Miss). When the surname does not end with -ska or -cka, it is often only the first name that specifies the gender. Girls' names usually end with -a (e.g. Barbara, Ewa, Maria), and boys' names with a consonant (e.g. Andrzej, Marcin, Tomasz), -i or -y (e.g. Antoni, Konstanty, Walery) and occasionally with -o (e.g. Mieszko) although there are a few boys' names ending with -a (Barnaba, Bonawentura). Some are deceptive: Marian is a boy's name.
Poles often have two first or Christian names, one of them being the name of a patron saint chosen for the child at his/her Catholic baptism. Typically, both names are used only in documents; in everyday contacts the first name suffices.
The choice of the name is affected by a variety of factors. In the past children were named after kings and princes, national heroes, forbears or other family members, or favourite literary characters. Religion was also important - a saint whose name was chosen was supposed to protect the child throughout his or her life. Today many names are taken from imported soap operas (and sound rather odd, to say the least, especially when combined with an ordinary surname), performers, sportsmen or other celebrities. In this vein, many boys born over the last few years have been baptised Adam in honour of the ski-jumping champion Adam Ma³ysz.
Many parents believe that their child should have a rare, unusual or foreign-sounding name. It's hard to say whether a young Emanuel, Winicjusz, Narcyz, Roger, Betina or Romanela will thank them when he or she grows up.
On the other hand, many names that were once popular but then came to be seen as old-fashioned or too ordinary, are again returning to parents' favour. More and more frequently you can meet a young Sta¶ (Stanis³aw), Kazio (Kazimierz), W³adek (W³adys³aw), Anto¶ (Antoni), Franek (Franciszek), Ja¶ (Jan), Marysia (Maria), or Zosia (Zofia).
Typical Slavonic names - Bo¿ydar, Dobros³aw, Ro¶cis³aw, S³awoj, Sêdzimir, D±brówka, Dobrawa, Domos³awa, Dobrochna, Dobromi³a - occur but are on a decline in some parts of society. On the rare occasions when they are still chosen, the reason is a desire to be original rather than any attachment to tradition. Traditional names that are still popular include Bronis³aw, Miros³aw, Slawomir, Mieczys³aw, Rados³aw, and Jaros³aw. Old Polish names have interesting etymologies: for instance, W³adys³aw meant the one who is to gain power; Bo³es³aw - the one who is expected to become famous; Bogumi³ - a person favoured by God; Bogus³aw - the one who is to praise God.
Poles are extremely creative when it comes to inventing diminutive and familiar forms. Every name has at least a few of them. Curiously, they are used not only to address children but adults as well, even if they are much older than the speaker. A Zofia for example can be called Zosia, Zo¶ka, Zosieñka, Zochna, Zocha; Maria - Marysia, Mary¶ka, Marysienka, Marychna, Mania, Mañka, Maniusia, Maja, Majka, Marusia, not to mention a handful of related names such as Maryla, Maryna, Marianna, Mariola. For this name, the reason for the wealth of close-sounding alternatives is the fact that in Old Poland the name Maria was normally reserved for the Virgin Mary and only came into widespread use in the 17th century with the arrival of French queens named Marie.
Trendy girl's names in today's Poland: Aleksandra, Natalia, Karolina, Patrycja, Kinga, Klaudia, Magdalena, Julia, Gabriela, Dominika, Justyna, Paulina, Weronika, Angelika, Sylwia, Anita, Zuzanna, Alicja, Kamila, Oliwia.
Traditional girl's names: Anna, Barbara, Danuta, El¿bieta, Ewa, Gra¿yna, Helena, Irena, Jadwiga, Joanna, Józefa, Katarzyna, Krystyna, Maria, Renata, Stanis³awa, Stefania, Teresa, Zofia.
Trendy boy's names: Kamil, Jakub, Patryk, Adrian, Micha³, Dawid, Kacper, Mateusz, Karol, Krzysztof, Sebastian, Jan, Marcin, Daniel, Szymon, Bart³omiej, Filip, Krystian, Pawe³, Adam, Rafa³, Arkadiusz, Konrad, £ukasz, Dariusz, Dominik, Oskar, Andrzej, Damian, Przemys³aw, Rados³aw.
Traditional boy's names: Józef, W³adys³aw, Piotr, Stanis³aw, Kazimierz, Tadeusz, Mieczys³aw, Lech, Boles³aw, Bogus³aw, Wojciech, Zbigniew, Zdzis³aw.
Like every sphere of life, name-giving is subject to various fashions that change every several years. However, there is a group of ever-popular names which resist all trends. These include Anna, Maria, Joanna, Katarzyna, Agnieszka, Magdalena, Malgorzata and Barbara for girls, and Wojciech, Piotr, Pawe³, Jan, Tomasz, Marek, Maciej, and Krzysztof for boys.
