Lesław

Lesław is a Slavic name grown from two old roots. Las means forest, sława means glory, and set side by side they give the short meaning: glory of the forest. Its feminine form is Lesława.

The name has a fairly precise birthday. In 1847 the Warsaw poet and folklorist Roman Zmorski published a dark Romantic poem titled Lesław. Szkic fantastyczny, and the name walked out of that book and into real parish records. Zmorski packed his verse with strzygi, drowned women, and other folk demons, so the forest inside the name leaned more toward the eerie than the picturesque. The sense of it as something gentle and green came later, attached by readers rather than by the poet.

Today Lesław is uncommon. Polish statistics record just eight boys given the name in 2025, which makes it read on a class register like a grandfather's name rather than a classmate's. The two pieces still hold, though. Las and sława, forest and glory, with Lesława standing beside it.