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.
When Maciej celebrates name day
Maciej appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 30 January.
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 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 parents choose Maciej
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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Lublin
+34%1 in 226 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
+32%1 in 229 babies
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Opole
+19%1 in 255 babies
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Greater Poland
−29%1 in 425 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−18%1 in 368 babies
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Subcarpathian
−11%1 in 341 babies
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Lublin+34% 454 born1 in 226 babies+34%
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Warmian-Masurian+32% 314 born1 in 229 babies+32%
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Opole+19% 181 born1 in 255 babies+19%
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Podlaskie+14% 249 born1 in 264 babies+14%
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Holy Cross+11% 203 born1 in 273 babies+11%
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West Pomeranian+7% 299 born1 in 282 babies+7%
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Lesser Poland+6% 796 born1 in 285 babies+6%
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Silesian+4% 782 born1 in 291 babies+4%
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Lower Silesian+2% 530 born1 in 296 babies+2%
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Masovian±0% 1,170 born1 in 303 babies±0%
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Pomeranian−2% 480 born1 in 307 babies−2%
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Lubusz−4% 157 born1 in 316 babies−4%
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Łódź−10% 378 born1 in 335 babies−10%
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Subcarpathian−11% 354 born1 in 341 babies−11%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−18% 297 born1 in 368 babies−18%
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Greater Poland−29% 506 born1 in 425 babies−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 Mateusz121,294
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#28 Henryk118,587
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#29 Maciej109,293
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#30 Janusz107,970
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#31 Karol105,522