Lesława
A Slavic name meaning "forest glory," the female pair to Lesław. Only about 535 women in Poland carry it, and not one newborn has been given it in over two decades, so meeting one now is memorable.
Lesława Pronunciation
Lesława is pronounced les-WAH-vah (/lɛsˈwava/).
What Lesława means
Where Lesława comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Lesława is a Slavic name built from two old roots. The first is "las," the forest, and the second is "-sław," the element of glory and fame that ends so many Slavic names. Put together they give the meaning that has followed the name: forest glory, or in Polish, sława lasu.
The masculine variant is Lesław, and the two have traveled together. A woman named Lesława shares her name's bones with every Bogusław, Mirosław, and Stanisław whose second half means the same praise. That common ending places her in a wide family of Slavic names.
Read on a school register, Lesława sits among names older than Poland's Christian centuries. It belongs to the stock of dithematic names that later revivalists brought back into use.
The forest half stands out. Few names keep the word for woodland so plainly. When someone introduces herself as Lesława, she keeps the older word for the trees close. Forest glory: sława lasu.
How many people are named Lesława
1 in 42138 women in Poland is named Lesława. 535 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1284 among female names.
Lesława as a middle name
Lesława is a first name for 535 women in Poland and a middle name for another 244, a 69/31 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 434th, between May (246) and Claire (243).
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#432 Lisa246
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#433 May246
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#434 Lesława244
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#435 Claire243
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#436 Marina242