Ludwik
From Germanic roots meaning "famous warrior". Meeting a Ludwik is memorable, but the name is on solid footing: more boys were given it last year than through most of the 2000s, and it sits inside the top 500 for Polish boys.
Ludwik Pronunciation
Ludwik is pronounced LOOD-veek (/ˈludvik/).
What Ludwik means
Where Ludwik comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ludwik comes from the Germanic name Hludwig, built from hlūd, meaning famous or loud, and wīg, meaning war or battle. Put together they give the short meaning that has followed the name ever since: famous warrior. The same root fans out across Europe into the German Ludwig, the French Louis, and the English Lewis, so a Polish Ludwik shares an ancestor with kings and composers abroad.
In Poland the name found its own bearers. Ludwik Zamenhof, born in Białystok in 1859, invented Esperanto and hoped a shared language might soften old hatreds. His first name promised a famous warrior, though he fought with grammar and goodwill rather than a sword.
For girls the name crosses over as Ludwika, the same warrior root under a different ending.
Read a class register and you might still find one Ludwik among the newer names. It is uncommon now. The meaning holds steady: a famous warrior.
When Ludwik celebrates name day
Ludwik appears 10 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 12 February.
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 Ludwik
1 in 2084 men in Poland is named Ludwik. 10,241 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #360 among male names.
Ludwik's popularity over time
122 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #233 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2001.
Where Ludwik is most popular
Ludwik is most popular in Masovian, 23% above the national average (224 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+14%) and Pomeranian (+13%). It is least common in Lubusz and Podlaskie, 49% and 32% below average respectively.
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Masovian224 boys born+23%
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Lower Silesian92 boys born+14%
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Pomeranian86 boys born+13%
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Greater Poland123 boys born+11%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian58 boys born+3%
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West Pomeranian45 boys born+3%
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Łódź67 boys born+3%
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Silesian120 boys born+2%
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Lublin49 boys born−7%
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Świętokrzyskie26 boys born−9%
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Lesser Poland95 boys born−19%
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Warmian-Masurian30 boys born−19%
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Opole19 boys born−20%
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Subcarpathian44 boys born−29%
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Podlaskie23 boys born−32%
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Lubusz13 boys born−49%
Ludwik as a middle name
Ludwik is a first name for 10,241 men in Poland and a middle name for another 19,094, a 35/65 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 89th, between Gabriel (22,230) and Bernard (18,530).
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#87 Radosław22,343
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#88 Gabriel22,230
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#89 Ludwik19,094
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#90 Bernard18,530
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#91 Cezary17,694