Istvan
Fewer than 70 men in Poland carry it, and none have been named it this century: most Poles will never meet an Istvan. The name is Greek at root, from a word for a crown or wreath.
Istvan Pronunciation
What Istvan means
Where Istvan comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Istvan is the Hungarian form of Stephen, and it traces back to the Greek Stephanos, meaning crown or wreath. The word named a circlet of leaves, the prize a runner won at the games. On a Polish form at the urząd the spelling can sit near Stefan, a local cousin of the same Greek root.
The meaning is old and plain. Polish kept another version too, Szczepan, remembered on the 26th of December for Saint Stephen.
One bearer wore a real crown. István I ruled as the first king of Hungary and was crowned around the year 1000. The church later counted him a saint, which pushed the sense of Stephanos close to the literal. The name still points back to that wreath.
How many people are named Istvan
1 in 328403 men in Poland is named Istvan. 65 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4521 among male names.
Istvan as a middle name
Istvan is a first name for 65 men in Poland and a middle name for another 11, an 86/14 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 2943rd, between Imtiaz (11) and Jacinto (11).
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#2941 Hyusein11
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#2942 Imtiaz11
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#2943 Istvan11
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#2944 Jacinto11
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#2945 Jackob11