Magdalena
Around 434,000 Polish women carry it, a name you run into everywhere, yet far fewer girls get it now than a generation ago. From Greek, it means "woman from Magdala".
Magdalena Pronunciation
Magdalena is pronounced mahg-dah-LE-nah (/magdaˈlɛna/).
What Magdalena means
Where Magdalena comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Magdalena reaches Polish through Greek, where the form Magdalēnē marked a person as coming from Magdala, a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee. The plain sense stays close to that ground: a woman from Magdala. So the name started as a description of a place before it settled on any person.
In Poland it shortens fast. Family and friends reach for Magda. Marta stands nearby as a related form, with its own name-day and its own line in the calendar.
Magdalena's imieniny falls on 22 July, the feast of Maria Magdalena. That date is fixed. A girl signing an official form at the urząd writes the long version, then hears Magda everywhere else. The oldest layer holds under all of it: a woman from Magdala.
When Magdalena celebrates name day
Magdalena appears 10 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 10 April.
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 Magdalena
1 in 52 women in Poland is named Magdalena. 434,401 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #16 among female names.
Magdalena's popularity over time
388 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #128 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #16 name among living women, even as it slips to #128 among newborns.
Where parents choose Magdalena
Magdalena is most popular in Lesser Poland, 66% above the national average (906 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Opole (+50%) and Silesian (+25%). It is least common in Lubusz and West Pomeranian, 36% and 28% below average respectively.
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Lesser Poland
+66%1 in 250 babies
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Opole
+50%1 in 276 babies
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Silesian
+25%1 in 332 babies
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Lubusz
−36%1 in 645 babies
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West Pomeranian
−28%1 in 578 babies
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Lower Silesian
−20%1 in 520 babies
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Lesser Poland+66% 906 born1 in 250 babies+66%
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Opole+50% 167 born1 in 276 babies+50%
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Silesian+25% 686 born1 in 332 babies+25%
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Podlaskie+5% 166 born1 in 396 babies+5%
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Lublin+2% 251 born1 in 409 babies+2%
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Subcarpathian+2% 297 born1 in 406 babies+2%
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Holy Cross−2% 131 born1 in 423 babies−2%
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Pomeranian−10% 318 born1 in 463 babies−10%
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Greater Poland−13% 452 born1 in 476 babies−13%
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Łódź−16% 257 born1 in 493 babies−16%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−18% 216 born1 in 506 babies−18%
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Warmian-Masurian−18% 142 born1 in 506 babies−18%
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Masovian−19% 689 born1 in 514 babies−19%
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Lower Silesian−20% 302 born1 in 520 babies−20%
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West Pomeranian−28% 146 born1 in 578 babies−28%
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Lubusz−36% 77 born1 in 645 babies−36%
Magdalena as a middle name
Magdalena is a first name for 434,401 women in Poland and a middle name for another 301,969, a 59/41 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 9th, between Elżbieta (312,408) and Agnieszka (275,512).
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#7 Małgorzata332,804
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#8 Elżbieta312,408
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#9 Magdalena301,969
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#10 Agnieszka275,512
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#11 Zofia265,565