Baby Name: Maria

The country of Poland is located in Central Europe and shares a border with seven other countries (including Russia, Germany, and Slovakia).

Last year, Poland welcomed approximately 305,000 babies — 290,000 of which were born to Polish parents and 15,000 of which were born to non-Polish parents (many of them Ukrainian refugees).

What were the most popular names among all these babies? Zofia and Antoni.

Here are Poland’s top 50 girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

1. Zofia, 5,714 baby girls
2. Zuzanna, 5,558
3. Hanna, 5,261
4. Laura, 5,095
5. Maja, 4,979
6. Julia, 4,936
7. Oliwia, 4,440
8. Alicja, 4,261
9. Pola, 4,087
10. Lena, 3,811
11. Maria, 3,732
12. Emilia, 3,188
13. Amelia, 3,143
14. Antonina,3,133
15. Wiktoria, 3,037
16. Liliana, 2,860
17. Iga, 2,847 – a diminutive of either Jadwiga or Ignacja
18. Michalina, 2,749
19. Marcelina, 2,720
20. Helena, 2,680
21. Klara, 2,523
22. Aleksandra, 2,370
23. Gabriela, 2,220
24. Anna, 1,965
25. Kornelia, 1,927
26. Lucja, 1,862
27. Blanka, 1,853
28. Nela, 1,840
29. Nadia, 1,792
30. Natalia, 1,734
31. Jagoda, 1,554
32. Lilianna, 1,472
33. Milena, 1,467
34. Anastazja, 1,297
35. Mia, 1,217
36. Kaja, 1,213
37. Nikola, 1,109
38. Nina, 1,102
39. Weronika, 1,081
40. Róza, 1,074
41. Rozalia, 1,072
42. Aniela, 1,039
43. Sara, 998
44. Barbara, 993
45. Matylda, 968
46. Karolina, 887
47. Martyna, 840
48. Liwia, 821
49. Agata, 811
50. Eliza, 756

Boy Names

1. Antoni, 6,670 baby boys
2. Jan, 6,341
3. Aleksander, 6,201
4. Nikodem, 6,155
5. Franciszek, 5,696
6. Jakub, 5,535
7. Leon, 5,091
8. Mikolaj, 4,499
9. Stanislaw, 4,265
10. Filip, 4,107
11. Ignacy, 4,086
12. Szymon, 4,069
13. Wojciech, 3,539
14. Adam, 3,348
15. Kacper, 3,251
16. Tymon, 3,164
17. Marcel, 3,081
18. Maksymilian, 3,055
19. Michal, 2,758
20. Wiktor, 2,709
21. Oliwier, 2,551
22. Tymoteusz, 2,278
23. Milosz, 2,234
24. Igor, 2,226
25. Julian, 2,040
26. Piotr, 1,987
27. Oskar, 1,932
28. Gabriel, 1,712
29. Dawid, 1,489
30. Krzysztof, 1,352
31. Bartosz, 1,315
32. Dominik, 1,271
33. Natan, 1,222
34. Bruno, 1,214
35. Mateusz, 1,209
36. Hubert, 1,152
37. Karol, 1,141
38. Alan, 1,058
39. Fabian, 1,014
40. Tomasz, 977
41. Maciej, 975
42. Henryk, 948
43. Cezary, 892 (tie)
44. Tadeusz, 892 (tie)
45. Artur, 858
46. Ksawery, 849 – a form of Xavier
47. Pawel, 753
48. Milan, 727
49. Daniel, 717
50. Kazimierz, 674 (tie)
51. Kuba, 674 (tie)

(Because L-with-a-stroke doesn’t render properly on my site, you’ll have to imagine one exists in several of the above: the girl name Lucja and the boy names Mikolaj, Stanislaw, Michal, Milosz, and Pawel.)

Poland’s data goes all the way down to names with just two instances of usage, so here’s a sampling of the rare baby names at the opposite end of the spectrum:

The two Lilibets were likely named with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s daughter Lilibet Diana (b. 2021) in mind.

Finally, here are Poland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Imiona nadawane dzieciom w Polsce – Otwarte Dane, Poland’s birth rate in decline shows study – The First News, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Poland (public domain)