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Bruno

Germanic at root, tied to "brown" and to old words for armour and protection. Given only to boys, it has climbed back into use: more newborns carried it last year than in years past, though meeting one still registers.

Bruno Pronunciation

Bruno is pronounced BROO-no (/ˈbrunɔ/).

Alive in 2025
17,388
Newborns 2025
1,052
National rank
#291
Next name day
12 July
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What Bruno means

Where Bruno comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Bruno grew out of Germanic soil, from the element brun. That single root pulled in two directions. One was a color, brown. The other was the brünne, the coat of mail a fighter wore into battle, which is where the sense of armour and protection comes from.

So the name reads twice over. Brown, plain and earthen, sits beside a shield of iron rings.

History handed the name to Bruno of Cologne, the scholar who withdrew to the Alps and founded the Carthusian order around 1084. His feast falls on the sixth of October, still the Polish imieniny for anyone who carries the name. Centuries later Giordano Bruno, the philosopher, took it to the stake in Rome in 1600. A boy named Bruno on a school register in Gdańsk inherits both men before he can spell either surname. The short meaning stays with him the whole time: brown earth on one side, a coat of protective mail on the other.

When Bruno celebrates name day

Bruno appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 12 July.

Next name day
12 July
Monday in 2027
Next one in 260 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

Also celebrates

Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.

How many people are named Bruno

1 in 1228 men in Poland is named Bruno. 17,388 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #291 among male names.

People with the name Bruno 2019 → 2025
17,388 +7,329 since 2019
2020 10,785 +726
2021 12,186 +1,401
2022 13,566 +1,380
2023 14,893 +1,327
2024 16,196 +1,303
2025 17,388 +1,192

Bruno's popularity over time

1,052 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #66 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.

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1,052 newborns with the name Bruno in 2025
national rank #66 that year

Where parents choose Bruno

Bruno is most popular in Pomeranian, 39% above the national average (796 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+36%) and Opole (+21%). It is least common in Lublin and Podlaskie, 54% and 44% below average respectively.

Chosen most
  • Pomeranian
    +39%
    1 in 185 babies
  • Greater Poland
    +36%
    1 in 189 babies
  • Opole
    +21%
    1 in 212 babies
Chosen least
  • Lublin
    −54%
    1 in 558 babies
  • Podlaskie
    −44%
    1 in 463 babies
  • Subcarpathian
    −34%
    1 in 388 babies

Bruno as a middle name

Bruno is a first name for 17,388 men in Poland and a middle name for another 2,546, an 87/13 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 160th, between Paul (2,571) and James (2,511).

As a first name
17,388
As a middle name
2,546
first name 87% middle name 13%
Middle-name ranking men

Look up another name

Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

Next in ranking → Larysa #292