For example there are 4 names connected to the Christmas time:
1. Santa Claus is a Polish Święty Mikołaj (German Michel or Klaus, English Nicholas or Nick, French Nicolas and Nicole for female) who gave gifts to our polite children.
2. At the turn of the old and new years we celebrate Sylwester – meaning “a wild man from forest, a forester”.
3. And at Christmas Eve, always on the 24th of December Adam (Hebrew “people, a man made of soil”) and Ewa (Hebrew “life, a life’s donor”) celebrate their namesday. Both of these are still popular in Poland and Ewelina, popular as well, derives form Ewa.
"Polish eagle" Adam Małysz
The greatest polish romantic writer Adam Mickiewicz
The other group is of Evangelia’s origin: all of evangelists’ names are used nowadays in Poland although Jan was given rather to our grandfathers and fathers:
1.Jan (Hebrew “Jahwe is merciful”, Latin – Giovanni, German – Johann, Hans, English – John, Joe, Johnny, Jack, French – Jean, Hungarian – Janos)
2.Łukasz (Latin – Lucanus “coming from Lucania in south Italy”, English – Lucas, Luke)
3.Marek (Latin – Marcus “god Mars’ son”, German – Markus, English – Mark)
4.Mateusz (Latin – “Jahwe’s gift”, German – Matthaus, English – Matthew, Hungarian - Mate); a separate name Maciej comes from this one.
The last 3 names are very popular among Polish boys and young men.
Polish parents use willingly some Saints’ names:
1.Michał (Hebrew - Michael “who is like God”, English – Michael, Mike, French – Michel, Spanish – Miguel) is Archangel’s name, although its female version Michalina is very rare
saint Michael Archangel kills the dragon
2.Rafał (Hebrew – Rafael “God healed”), also Archangel’s name
3.Piotr (Latin – Petrus “a rock”, English Peter, French – Pierre, Spanish – Pedro)
4.Krzysztof (Greek – Christophoros “carrying Christ, the man who carries Christ across the river”, English – Christopher, Chris, Spanish – Cristobal), in Polish tradition he is the drivers’ Patron
saint Christopher
5.Paweł (Latin – Paulus “small, not tall”, English – Paul, Spanish – Pablo, Hungarian – Pal), Apostle’s name; and its female version Paulina is more and more popular name among girls
John Paul II
Some names are rooted in our history:
1.Lech – the name of the legendary king who established Poland; its diminutive form Leszek can be a separate name; probably comes from Old Polish “leść” – means “treason, hypocrycy”
2.Tadeusz (Hebrew “courageous”) was the name of one of our national hero fighting for our freedom and famous in America; his name is given to an Australian peak Kościuszko’s Mountain”
3.Kazimierz (Old Polish – “Kazimir – “kazi” (“destroy”)+ “mir” (“peace”) = “this one who destroys peace”; nowadays only the educated in Polish linguistics people can decipher its original meaning) is the name of several of our kings, among others the king who established our town Będzin.
Tadeusz Kościuszko
Polish President Lech Kaczyński
Polish King Casimir the Great
In Polish set of names there are also two interesting phenomena:
Names created by writers:
1. Wanda – a female name created by one of our chronicle’s writer in XIII century who derived it from a supposed name of a river Vandalus (probably Polish Vistula)
2. Grażyna – our greatest romantic writer Adam Mickiewicz created it taking a Lithuanian word “grażi” meaning “beautiful”, still popular.
Names coming from Czech language and maintained in Czech forms in contemporary Polish although we had their synonyms in Old Polish:
1.Wacław (Old Polish – Więcław “more fame”, contemporary Czech form – Vaclav)
2.Władysław (Old Polish – Włodzisław “this one who governs fame”, Hungarian - Laszlo).
All of these are not given now but you can find them among our grandparents.
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