Brygida
A Celtic name meaning "exalted one" or "strength". Around 14,000 Polish women carry it, but it fades a little each year, so meeting a young Brygida stays with you.
Brygida Pronunciation
Brygida is pronounced brih-GEE-dah (/brɨˈgida/).
What Brygida means
Where Brygida comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Brygida grew from Celtic roots, from an Old Irish word for strength and height, the sense of an exalted one. Long before it reached Poland it belonged to Brigid, a figure of Irish myth tied to fire, poetry, and smithcraft. The short meaning that Polish dictionaries still record, wzniosła and potężna, keeps that early charge of power close.
Saint Brigid of Ireland carried the name into Christian Europe, and centuries later Brygida Szwedzka, Bridget of Sweden, was named one of the patron saints of the continent by John Paul II in 1999. Her feast gave the name a fixed place on the Polish calendar. Open a school register in a small town. The Brygidas are few, and the name stands out on the page.
The meaning has stayed literal here. Where some names gather a softer sense over time, Brygida still points back to strength. Its origin is Celtic, its recorded meaning potężna, powerful.
When Brygida celebrates name day
Brygida appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 1 February.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
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 Brygida
1 in 1590 women in Poland is named Brygida. 14,180 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #315 among female names.
Brygida's popularity over time
4 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1017 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #315 name among living women, even as it slips to #1017 among newborns.
Where Brygida is most popular
Brygida is most popular in Subcarpathian, 378% above the national average (4 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+101%) and Pomeranian (+96%).
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Subcarpathian4 girls born+378%
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Greater Poland3 girls born+101%
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Pomeranian2 girls born+96%
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Masovian4 girls born+63%
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Lesser Poland2 girls born+27%
Brygida as a middle name
Brygida is a first name for 14,180 women in Poland and a middle name for another 9,311, a 60/40 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 114th, between Sara (9,660) and Milena (9,194).
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#112 Honorata9,820
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#113 Sara9,660
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#114 Brygida9,311
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#115 Milena9,194
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#116 Faustyna9,032