Karolina
Nearly 295,000 Polish women carry it, though it's handed out far less now than a generation ago. Germanic at root: the feminine of Karol, from a word for "free man".
Karolina Pronunciation
Karolina is pronounced kah-ro-LEE-nah (/karɔˈlina/).
What Karolina means
Where Karolina comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Karolina grows from a Germanic root, the same one behind Karol and the Latin Carolus. That root meant "free man", a plain word for a free-born member of a tribe. When the word crossed into a woman's name, the grammar turned it, and Polish readers came to hear Karolina as wolna kobieta, a free woman.
The name keeps close company. Karol is its cross-gender twin, and Karola stands next to it as a variant, one letter lighter.
Poland gave the name a face in Karolina Kózkówna, a village girl killed in 1914 and later beatified. Her imieniny falls on 18 November, so a Karolina in a school register might find her name day marked near the end of autumn. The root stays where it began. Free man in the old Germanic sense, wolna kobieta in Polish mouths.
When Karolina celebrates name day
Karolina appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 5 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 Karolina
1 in 76 women in Poland is named Karolina. 294,757 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #34 among female names.
Karolina's popularity over time
472 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #113 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #34 name among living women, even as it slips to #113 among newborns.
Where parents choose Karolina
Karolina is most popular in Opole, 56% above the national average (207 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+40%) and Subcarpathian (+35%). It is least common in Holy Cross and Greater Poland, 43% and 39% below average respectively.
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Opole
+56%1 in 223 babies
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Silesian
+40%1 in 249 babies
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Subcarpathian
+35%1 in 258 babies
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Holy Cross
−43%1 in 609 babies
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Greater Poland
−39%1 in 569 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−37%1 in 550 babies
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Opole+56% 207 born1 in 223 babies+56%
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Silesian+40% 914 born1 in 249 babies+40%
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Subcarpathian+35% 467 born1 in 258 babies+35%
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Lesser Poland+33% 867 born1 in 262 babies+33%
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Lower Silesian+15% 517 born1 in 304 babies+15%
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Lublin+12% 330 born1 in 311 babies+12%
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Podlaskie+7% 202 born1 in 326 babies+7%
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Lubusz±0% 142 born1 in 350 babies±0%
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West Pomeranian−6% 229 born1 in 369 babies−6%
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Masovian−12% 899 born1 in 394 babies−12%
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Pomeranian−14% 362 born1 in 407 babies−14%
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Łódź−29% 258 born1 in 491 babies−29%
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Warmian-Masurian−31% 142 born1 in 506 babies−31%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−37% 199 born1 in 550 babies−37%
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Greater Poland−39% 378 born1 in 569 babies−39%
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Holy Cross−43% 91 born1 in 609 babies−43%
Karolina as a middle name
Karolina is a first name for 294,757 women in Poland and a middle name for another 112,040, a 72/28 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 27th, between Aleksandra (116,155) and Urszula (101,121).
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#25 Jolanta117,441
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#26 Aleksandra116,155
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#27 Karolina112,040
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#28 Urszula101,121
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#29 Wiktoria98,949