Hieronim
From Greek, it carries the sense of a "sacred name". Only about 4,500 Polish men hold it, few enough that most people here have never met one, though it's given a little more often now than a decade ago.
Hieronim Pronunciation
Hieronim is pronounced khye-RO-nyeem (/xjɛˈrɔɲim/).
What Hieronim means
Where Hieronim comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Hieronim comes from the Greek Hierṓnymos, built from hieros, sacred, and onoma, name. The meaning sits close to the surface. Put the two Greek pieces together and you get a sacred name, in Polish święte imię.
The best known bearer gave the name its long reach. Hieronim ze Strydonu, known in English as Saint Jerome, spent years translating scripture into Latin, and the version he produced, the Vulgate, became the standard Bible of the Western Church for more than a thousand years. A man whose life's work was words happened to carry a name that means one.
The name also branches into feminine forms, hieronima and the older heronima, both rare in Poland now. Every year on the thirtieth of September a Hieronim can point to his imieniny on the calendar, shared with the scholar-saint. Say the name at a school roll call and it stands out among the Kubas and Anteks, a little formal, clearly old. What it means has not moved in fifteen centuries: a sacred name.
When Hieronim celebrates name day
Hieronim appears 8 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 8 February.
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 Hieronim
1 in 4746 men in Poland is named Hieronim. 4,498 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #512 among male names.
Hieronim's popularity over time
21 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #500 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2011.
Where parents choose Hieronim
Hieronim is most popular in Lubusz, 132% above the national average (4 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lesser Poland (+78%) and Masovian (+71%). It is least common in Silesian and Lublin, 75% and 44% below average respectively.
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Lubusz
+132%1 in 12,414 babies
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Lesser Poland
+78%1 in 16,208 babies
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Masovian
+71%1 in 16,870 babies
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Silesian
−75%1 in 113,792 babies
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Lublin
−44%1 in 51,338 babies
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West Pomeranian
−32%1 in 42,213 babies
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Lubusz+132% 4 born1 in 12,414 babies+132%
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Lesser Poland+78% 14 born1 in 16,208 babies+78%
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Masovian+71% 21 born1 in 16,870 babies+71%
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Warmian-Masurian+20% 3 born1 in 23,931 babies+20%
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Greater Poland+7% 8 born1 in 26,905 babies+7%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian+5% 4 born1 in 27,345 babies+5%
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Subcarpathian−4% 4 born1 in 30,141 babies−4%
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Lower Silesian−8% 5 born1 in 31,427 babies−8%
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Łódź−9% 4 born1 in 31,680 babies−9%
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Podlaskie−12% 2 born1 in 32,893 babies−12%
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West Pomeranian−32% 2 born1 in 42,213 babies−32%
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Lublin−44% 2 born1 in 51,338 babies−44%
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Silesian−75% 2 born1 in 113,792 babies−75%
Hieronim as a middle name
Hieronim is a first name for 4,498 men in Poland and a middle name for another 3,760, a 54/46 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 138th, between Emanuel (3,783) and Rudolf (3,742).
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#136 Fryderyk3,791
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#137 Emanuel3,783
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#138 Hieronim3,760
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#139 Rudolf3,742
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#140 Gustaw3,718