Gleb
A Slavic name carried mainly in Russian, from a root read as "heir of god". In Poland it stays rare, a name most people have never met, though a small run of boys through the 2020s is nudging it up from almost nothing.
Gleb Pronunciation
Gleb is pronounced GLEP (/glɛp/).
What Gleb means
Where Gleb comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Gleb comes to us from the Slavic world, and it is bound tightly to Russia. Among the earliest saints venerated in Kievan Rus were two brothers, Boris and Gleb, killed in 1015 and honored as passion-bearers. From them the name moved out through the Orthodox calendar.
The meaning fixed to Gleb is "heir of God." Some scholars trace the form back to Old Norse Guðleifr, which carries that same sense of one left as God's heir. Whatever the route, the name settled into Russian speech and stayed there.
A Polish ear hears something else. Gleb sits close to gleba, the word for soil, so it picks up an association with earth and land. That sense was attached later. It never was the origin. On a class register in Poland, Gleb still reads as a visitor from the east, short and firm, an heir of God by its oldest meaning.
When Gleb celebrates name day
Gleb appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 24 July.
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 Gleb
1 in 36931 men in Poland is named Gleb. 578 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1239 among male names.
Gleb's popularity over time
9 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #734 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2015.
Where Gleb is most popular
Gleb is most popular in Lubusz, 444% above the national average (4 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+129%) and Lower Silesian (+115%). It is least common in Silesian, 41% below average.
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Lubusz4 boys born+444%
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Masovian12 boys born+129%
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Lower Silesian5 boys born+115%
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West Pomeranian2 boys born+60%
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Greater Poland5 boys born+57%
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Łódź2 boys born+7%
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Silesian2 boys born−41%
Gleb as a middle name
Gleb is a first name for 578 men in Poland and a middle name for another 4, a 99/1 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 5417th, between Giowani (4) and Godfried (4).
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#5415 Gintaras4
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#5416 Giowani4
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#5417 Gleb4
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#5418 Godfried4
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#5419 Gonzague4