Stanisława

Stanisława grows from two old Slavic roots. The first, stani, comes from a verb meaning to become or to stand firm. The second, sław, means glory. Read together they form the small wish that gives the name its sense: become glory, or in Polish, stań się sławną. It is the feminine of Stanisław.

The name has belonged to women who left a mark on Polish memory. Stanisława Przybyszewska, born in 1901, wrote The Danton Case, a fierce play about the French Revolution that theatres still stage. Stanisława Leszczyńska worked as a midwife at Auschwitz and delivered babies inside the camp. Different lives, one name.

In a Kraków class register the name might stand in full, Stanisława, while the same girl answers at home to nothing so grand. The masculine line of the family carries Staś, Stach, and Staszek, diminutives worn smooth by daily use. The full form keeps its old wish plain: become glory.