Lucjan
A Latin name meaning "light", worn today by a shade over 14,000 Polish men and given only to boys. It's climbing back into use after quiet years, though meeting a Lucjan is still memorable.
Lucjan Pronunciation
Lucjan is pronounced LOOTS-yahn (/ˈlut͡sjan/).
What Lucjan means
Where Lucjan comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Lucjan traces back to the Latin Lucianus, a Roman family name formed from Lucius. Behind all of them stands the noun lux, light, which is why the short meaning holds so plainly: światło. The origin is not a metaphor here. The word for light sits right there in the root.
Poland gave the name a memorable bearer in Lucjan Rydel, the poet and playwright whose 1900 wedding to a peasant bride became the subject of Wyspiański's drama Wesele. Through him the name reached readers who never met the man.
The feminine variant, Lucjanna, follows the same Latin thread. Picture a school register with a Lucjan called near the top of the L page. On the seventh of January, his imieniny, the name comes off the calendar and belongs to one person. What Lucjan keeps returning to is that first Latin root, lux: light, światło.
How many people are named Lucjan
1 in 1468 men in Poland is named Lucjan. 14,546 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #310 among male names.
Lucjan's popularity over time
204 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #180 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.
Where Lucjan is most popular
Lucjan is most popular in Pomeranian, 72% above the national average (159 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lubusz (+54%) and Kuyavian-Pomeranian (+45%). It is least common in Świętokrzyskie and Subcarpathian, 54% and 52% below average respectively.
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Pomeranian159 boys born+72%
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Lubusz48 boys born+54%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian99 boys born+45%
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West Pomeranian76 boys born+44%
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Greater Poland182 boys born+35%
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Warmian-Masurian56 boys born+25%
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Lower Silesian102 boys born+4%
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Masovian230 boys born+4%
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Opole27 boys born−6%
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Łódź68 boys born−14%
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Podlaskie35 boys born−15%
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Silesian105 boys born−26%
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Lesser Poland81 boys born−43%
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Lublin33 boys born−49%
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Subcarpathian36 boys born−52%
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Świętokrzyskie16 boys born−54%
Lucjan as a middle name
Lucjan is a first name for 14,546 men in Poland and a middle name for another 13,321, a 52/48 split — almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 97th, between Oskar (13,343) and Emil (12,312).
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95
13,771Lech
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96
13,343Oskar
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9713,321Lucjan
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98
12,312Emil
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99
11,470Alojzy
When Lucjan celebrates name day
Lucjan appears 3 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 7 January.