Boguchwał
Just twelve men in Poland carry it today, and no boy has been given it in years. The name is Slavic, put together from the words for God and praise: "to praise God".
Boguchwał Pronunciation
Boguchwał is pronounced bo-GOOKH-fahw (/bɔˈguxfaw/).
What Boguchwał means
Where Boguchwał comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
`Boguchwał` is a Slavic compound built from two clear parts: Bogu, "to God," and chwał, from the verb "to praise." Put together they give the short meaning "to praise God," or in Polish chwalić Boga. This is one of the old dithematic names Slavic parents formed by joining two words into a wish, and here the wish is plainly devotional.
The name has a documented medieval bearer. `Boguchwał II` was bishop of Poznań from 1242 until his death on 14 May 1253, and tradition links him to the Kronika wielkopolska, the Greater Poland Chronicle. Records also call him `Bogufał`, a softened spoken form of the same name.
There is a feminine variant, `Boguchwała`, formed the same way from the same two roots.
Today `Boguchwał` is rare. A child who carries it now stands out on any Polish class register, next to a page of shorter, newer names. The parts stay legible even so. Anyone who knows the words can read Bogu and chwał and arrive at the meaning: praise God.
How many people are named Boguchwał
1 in 1778849 men in Poland is named Boguchwał. 12 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #13991 among male names.
Boguchwał as a middle name
Boguchwał is a first name for 12 men in Poland and a middle name for another 26, a 32/68 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1666th, between Bazyl (26) and Christer (26).
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#1664 Aurel26
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#1665 Bazyl26
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#1666 Boguchwał26
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#1667 Christer26
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#1668 Clive26