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German

A Germanic name meaning "brother" or "kinsman". Fewer than 350 men in Poland carry it, all of them male, so most Poles have never met one: a handful of boys still get it each year.

German Pronunciation

German is pronounced GER-mahn (/ˈgɛrman/).

Alive in 2025
326
Newborns 2025
2
National rank
#1671

What German means

Where German comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

The name German comes from a Germanic root, and the meaning attached to it is warm and plain: brother, kinsman. It names closeness by blood rather than rank or fortune.

German took its firmest hold in Russia. There it belongs to Gherman Titov, who flew aboard Vostok 2 in August 1961 and became the second human to orbit the Earth. His flight lasted more than a day, seventeen orbits above the planet. At twenty-five he was the youngest person in space at the time.

The name keeps no diminutive of its own here, no softer variant, no feminine partner. A Polish class register would list it once, clear and undivided. What remains is the plain sense it began with: brother, one of the same kin.

When German celebrates name day

German appears 11 times in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 7 March.

How many people are named German

1 in 65479 men in Poland is named German. 326 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1671 among male names.

People with the name German 2019 → 2025
326 +229 since 2019
2020 102 +5
2021 111 +9
2022 138 +27
2023 233 +95
2024 271 +38
2025 326 +55

German's popularity over time

2 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1581 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2020.

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2 newborns with the name German in 2025
national rank #1581 that year

Where German is most popular

German is most popular in Masovian, 510% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025).

More common than average Less common than average

German as a middle name

German is a first name for 326 men in Poland and a middle name for another 46, an 88/12 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1130th, between Fatih (46) and Honorat (46).

As a first name
326
As a middle name
46
first name 88% middle name 12%

Look up another name

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