Maciej
More than a quarter of a million Polish men carry it, yet fewer boys get it every year now. A Slavic form at root, it carries the old sense "gift of God".
Maciej Pronunciation
Maciej is pronounced MAH-chey (/ˈmat͡ɕɛj/).
What Maciej means
Where Maciej comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Maciej is the Polish form of Matthias, and it took its shape on Slavic ground. The meaning it holds, "gift of Yahweh," reaches back through Matthias to a Hebrew root. In Poland the name shed its foreign edges and became fully domestic, worn close and easy as Maciek in daily speech.
The calendar gives Maciej his day on the 24th of February, the feast of Saint Matthias the Apostle. An old weather proverb hangs on that date: "Na świętego Macieja pierwsza wiosny nadzieja," the first hope of spring. So the name sits at winter's edge.
Read down a school register and Maciej stands among the ordinary Polish names, formal on the official form at the urząd and softened to Maciek among friends. The meaning stays constant, "gift of Yahweh," even when few who use it stop to weigh it.
How many people are named Maciej
1 in 80 men in Poland is named Maciej. 267,477 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #40 among male names.
Maciej's popularity over time
517 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #104 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #40 name among living men, even as it slips to #104 among newborns.
Where Maciej is most popular
Maciej is most popular in Lublin, 34% above the national average (454 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Warmian-Masurian (+32%) and Opole (+19%). It is least common in Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 29% and 18% below average respectively.
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Lublin454 boys born+34%
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Warmian-Masurian314 boys born+32%
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Opole181 boys born+19%
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Podlaskie249 boys born+14%
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Świętokrzyskie203 boys born+11%
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West Pomeranian299 boys born+7%
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Lesser Poland796 boys born+6%
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Silesian782 boys born+4%
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Lower Silesian530 boys born+2%
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Masovian1,170 boys born0%
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Pomeranian480 boys born−2%
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Lubusz157 boys born−4%
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Łódź378 boys born−10%
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Subcarpathian354 boys born−11%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian297 boys born−18%
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Greater Poland506 boys born−29%
Maciej as a middle name
Maciej is a first name for 267,477 men in Poland and a middle name for another 109,293, a 71/29 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 29th, between Henryk (118,587) and Janusz (107,970).
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27
121,294Mateusz
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28
118,587Henryk
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29109,293Maciej
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30
107,970Janusz
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31
105,522Karol
When Maciej celebrates name day
Maciej appears 3 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 30 January.