Jadwiga
A Slavic name that carries the sense of battle: a warrior woman at its root. After quieter years it's climbing back, with more girls given the name last year than at any point since 2000.
Jadwiga Pronunciation
Jadwiga is pronounced yahd-VEE-gah (/jadˈviga/).
What Jadwiga means
Where Jadwiga comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jadwiga comes from a Slavic root bound up with battle and war. The Polish gloss keeps that edge: wojowniczka, waleczna kobieta, a woman who fights. Nothing soft hides in the meaning.
The name's best-known bearer earned every letter of it. Jadwiga Andegaweńska was crowned in Kraków in 1384, and the crown named her king, rex, rather than queen. She ruled Poland until her death in 1399, and the Church canonized her in 1997. A second Jadwiga, Hedwig of Silesia, married Henryk Brodaty and later gave her name to the abbey at Trzebnica.
Daily life shortens all of that. On a school register it becomes Jadzia. Friends say Jaga. Both stay warm, though the full form on the official record still means battle and war.
When Jadwiga celebrates name day
Jadwiga appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 17 July.
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 Jadwiga
1 in 100 women in Poland is named Jadwiga. 225,070 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #58 among female names.
Jadwiga's popularity over time
268 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #156 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2005. Still the #58 name among living women, even as it slips to #156 among newborns.
Where Jadwiga is most popular
Jadwiga is most popular in Greater Poland, 55% above the national average (246 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+32%) and Masovian (+30%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Świętokrzyskie, 44% and 41% below average respectively.
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Greater Poland246 girls born+55%
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Pomeranian144 girls born+32%
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Masovian339 girls born+30%
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Lower Silesian119 girls born+3%
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Lesser Poland171 girls born+2%
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Opole33 girls born−3%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian73 girls born−10%
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Warmian-Masurian45 girls born−15%
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Silesian137 girls born−18%
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Podlaskie39 girls born−20%
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West Pomeranian45 girls born−28%
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Lubusz24 girls born−35%
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Lublin48 girls born−37%
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Łódź59 girls born−37%
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Świętokrzyskie24 girls born−41%
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Subcarpathian50 girls born−44%
Jadwiga as a middle name
Jadwiga is a first name for 225,070 women in Poland and a middle name for another 193,823, a 54/46 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 14th, between Joanna (199,782) and Monika (163,923).
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#12 Krystyna219,755
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#13 Joanna199,782
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#14 Jadwiga193,823
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#15 Monika163,923
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#16 Janina158,653