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Bronisław

A Slavic name meaning "defender of glory". Around 20,000 Polish men carry it, and it's given quietly now: a couple dozen boys a year, enough that meeting one sticks with you.

Bronisław Pronunciation

Bronisław is pronounced bro-NYEES-wahf (/brɔˈɲiswaf/).

Alive in 2025
20,509
Newborns 2025
23
National rank
#272

What Bronisław means

Where Bronisław comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Bronisław is built from two old Slavic parts. The verb bronić means to defend, and sława means glory, so the name reads as defender of glory. That older sense sat comfortably in a warrior culture, where guarding a family's honor mattered as much as winning it.

The name bends easily. Bronisław has a feminine variant, Bronisława, while the short forms Bronia and Bronka soften it for daily use. In a school register you might find a formal Bronisław on one line and a boy answering to Bronek at the break.

Real people gave the name substance. Bronisław Malinowski reshaped anthropology in the early twentieth century, and Bronisław Komorowski served as Poland's president from 2010 to 2015. Their lives tied the name to scholarship and public office rather than to legend alone.

Say it slowly and the meaning still holds. Defender of glory, obrońca chwały, keeps both roots in plain view.

How many people are named Bronisław

1 in 1041 men in Poland is named Bronisław. 20,509 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #272 among male names.

People with the name Bronisław 2019 → 2025
20,509 -7,852 since 2019
2020 27,672 -689
2021 25,867 -1,805
2022 24,108 -1,759
2023 22,744 -1,364
2024 21,621 -1,123
2025 20,509 -1,112

Bronisław's popularity over time

23 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #486 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2006. Still the #272 name among living men, even as it slips to #486 among newborns.

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23 newborns with the name Bronisław in 2025
national rank #486 that year

Where Bronisław is most popular

Bronisław is most popular in Pomeranian, 136% above the national average (22 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Masovian (+69%) and Greater Poland (+69%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Podlaskie, 74% and 52% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Bronisław as a middle name

Bronisław is a first name for 20,509 men in Poland and a middle name for another 27,598, a 43/57 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 79th, between Ireneusz (27,731) and Leon (25,610).

As a first name
20,509
As a middle name
27,598
first name 43% middle name 57%
Middle-name ranking men

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Next in ranking → Yaroslav #127