Jadwiga
A Slavic name that carries the sense of battle: a warrior woman at its root. After quieter years it's climbing back, with more girls given the name last year than at any point since 2000.
Jadwiga Pronunciation
Jadwiga is pronounced yahd-VEE-gah (/jadˈviga/).
What Jadwiga means
Where Jadwiga comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Jadwiga comes from a Slavic root bound up with battle and war. The Polish gloss keeps that edge: wojowniczka, waleczna kobieta, a woman who fights. Nothing soft hides in the meaning.
The name's best-known bearer earned every letter of it. Jadwiga Andegaweńska was crowned in Kraków in 1384, and the crown named her king, rex, rather than queen. She ruled Poland until her death in 1399, and the Church canonized her in 1997. A second Jadwiga, Hedwig of Silesia, married Henryk Brodaty and later gave her name to the abbey at Trzebnica.
Daily life shortens all of that. On a school register it becomes Jadzia. Friends say Jaga. Both stay warm, though the full form on the official record still means battle and war.
When Jadwiga celebrates name day
Jadwiga appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 17 July.
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 Jadwiga
1 in 100 women in Poland is named Jadwiga. 225,070 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #58 among female names.
Jadwiga's popularity over time
268 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #156 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2005. Still the #58 name among living women, even as it slips to #156 among newborns.
Where parents choose Jadwiga
Jadwiga is most popular in Greater Poland, 55% above the national average (246 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+32%) and Masovian (+30%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Holy Cross, 44% and 41% below average respectively.
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Greater Poland
+55%1 in 875 babies
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Pomeranian
+32%1 in 1,023 babies
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Masovian
+30%1 in 1,045 babies
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Subcarpathian
−44%1 in 2,411 babies
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Holy Cross
−41%1 in 2,310 babies
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Lublin
−37%1 in 2,139 babies
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Greater Poland+55% 246 born1 in 875 babies+55%
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Pomeranian+32% 144 born1 in 1,023 babies+32%
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Masovian+30% 339 born1 in 1,045 babies+30%
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Lower Silesian+3% 119 born1 in 1,320 babies+3%
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Lesser Poland+2% 171 born1 in 1,327 babies+2%
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Opole−3% 33 born1 in 1,397 babies−3%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−10% 73 born1 in 1,498 babies−10%
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Warmian-Masurian−15% 45 born1 in 1,595 babies−15%
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Silesian−18% 137 born1 in 1,661 babies−18%
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Podlaskie−20% 39 born1 in 1,687 babies−20%
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West Pomeranian−28% 45 born1 in 1,876 babies−28%
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Lubusz−35% 24 born1 in 2,069 babies−35%
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Lublin−37% 48 born1 in 2,139 babies−37%
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Łódź−37% 59 born1 in 2,148 babies−37%
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Holy Cross−41% 24 born1 in 2,310 babies−41%
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Subcarpathian−44% 50 born1 in 2,411 babies−44%
Jadwiga as a middle name
Jadwiga is a first name for 225,070 women in Poland and a middle name for another 193,823, a 54/46 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 14th, between Joanna (199,782) and Monika (163,923).
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#12 Krystyna219,755
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#13 Joanna199,782
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#14 Jadwiga193,823
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#15 Monika163,923
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#16 Janina158,653