Filemon
Almost no one carries it: barely a dozen Poles, every one of them male. A small run of newborns, three last year, is nudging it up from near zero, and at root it's Greek for "affectionate".
Filemon Pronunciation
Filemon is pronounced fee-LE-mon (/fiˈlɛmɔn/).
What Filemon means
Where Filemon comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Filemon reaches Polish from the Greek Philemon, built on the verb "phileo," to love, to hold dear. The old adjective "philos" meant dear or affectionate, and that sense sits in the name today: życzliwy, przyjazny. A Filemon is, by the root, someone warmly disposed toward others.
Antiquity left two well-documented bearers. Ovid, in the Metamorphoses, tells of Philemon and Baucis, an old married pair who fed two travelers who turned out to be gods. The New Testament preserves a short letter, the Epistle to Philemon, addressed by Paul to a man of that name. Both stories tie the name to hospitality and goodwill, which fits its meaning.
In Poland the name stays rare and formal. On a class register it stands out. The imieniny fall in early March, when a Filemon might hear his name read at Mass.
The name grew no standard Polish diminutive of its own. What endures is the plain root: phileo, to love, and the sense it leaves behind, affectionate.
When Filemon celebrates name day
Filemon appears 3 times in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 8 March.
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 Filemon
1 in 1642014 men in Poland is named Filemon. 13 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #13305 among male names.
Filemon's popularity over time
3 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1240 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2023.
Where Filemon is most popular
Filemon is most popular in Masovian, 510% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025).
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Masovian2 boys born+510%
Filemon as a middle name
Filemon is a first name for 13 men in Poland and a middle name for another 9, a 59/41 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 3281st, between Feliciano (9) and Fox (9).
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#3279 Faustino9
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#3280 Feliciano9
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#3281 Filemon9
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#3282 Fox9
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#3283 Freddie9