Mieczysław
Around 72,000 Polish men carry it, yet barely two dozen boys got it last year: a name held mostly by older generations now. Slavic at root, put together from words for "sword" and "glory".
Mieczysław Pronunciation
Mieczysław is pronounced mye-CHIHS-wahf (/mjɛˈt͡ʂɨswaf/).
What Mieczysław means
Where Mieczysław comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Mieczysław is a Slavic name built from two old roots. The second, sław, means glory or fame. The first is usually read as miecz, sword, which yields the short gloss "sword glory". Many scholars treat that sword sense as a later folk reading, since the name grew from the same early stock as Mieszko and older forms like Miecisław. The Polish sense that stuck is gentler: zdobywający sławę, one who wins renown.
In everyday speech the name softens. Friends call a Mieczysław "Mietek", and a school class register might carry that short form for years. The feminine Mieczysława gives a daughter the same two roots.
Poland has real bearers to point to. Mieczysław Fogg sang for decades and lived to nearly ninety. The name held. Behind the affectionate "Mietek" sits the older reading, sław for glory and miecz for sword.
How many people are named Mieczysław
1 in 295 men in Poland is named Mieczysław. 72,381 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #149 among male names.
Mieczysław's popularity over time
24 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #483 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2005. Still the #149 name among living men, even as it slips to #483 among newborns.
Where Mieczysław is most popular
Mieczysław is most popular in Lower Silesian, 91% above the national average (22 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+53%) and Warmian-Masurian (+52%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Silesian, 77% and 70% below average respectively.
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Lower Silesian22 boys born+91%
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Greater Poland24 boys born+53%
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Warmian-Masurian8 boys born+52%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian12 boys born+50%
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Pomeranian16 boys born+49%
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Masovian35 boys born+35%
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Lesser Poland21 boys born+27%
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Podlaskie5 boys born+4%
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West Pomeranian4 boys born−35%
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Łódź4 boys born−57%
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Silesian5 boys born−70%
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Subcarpathian2 boys born−77%
Mieczysław as a middle name
Mieczysław is a first name for 72,381 men in Poland and a middle name for another 62,417, a 54/46 split — almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 47th, between Szymon (62,434) and Sławomir (60,990).
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45
62,511Daniel
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46
62,434Szymon
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4762,417Mieczysław
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48
60,990Sławomir
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49
60,849Mikołaj