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Mieszko

Barely 7,000 Polish men carry it, yet the name is climbing back: a few hundred boys get it every year now, always boys. A Slavic name that reads as "sword and glory".

Mieszko Pronunciation

Mieszko is pronounced MYESH-ko (/ˈmjɛʂkɔ/).

Related names
Mieszek
Alive in 2025
7,182
Newborns 2025
376
National rank
#421
Next name day
1 January
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What Mieszko means

Where Mieszko comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Mieszko is a Slavic name, and for Poles it belongs first to a ruler. Mieszko I led the Polans in the tenth century and accepted baptism in 966, an event long remembered as the baptism of Poland. The name enters the written record at the start of Polish statehood.

Its modern gloss, "sword and glory," travels through Mieczysław, where miecz means sword and the old element sław means fame. That sense was fastened onto Mieszko later, by association, because the oldest source of the name is still argued over by scholars. The safest thing to say is short. Mieszko marks a Slavic beginning.

Today the name is rare, and it reads as historical rather than old-fashioned. Picture a school register where one Mieszko sits among the Kubas and Anteks, a boy carrying a king's name to no great trouble. On an imieniny card it shortens with ease to Mieszek.

When Mieszko celebrates name day

Mieszko appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 1 January.

Next name day
1 January
Friday in 2027
Next one in 113 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

How many people are named Mieszko

1 in 2972 men in Poland is named Mieszko. 7,182 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #421 among male names.

People with the name Mieszko 2019 → 2025
7,182 +2,516 since 2019
2020 4,951 +285
2021 5,434 +483
2022 5,878 +444
2023 6,360 +482
2024 6,770 +410
2025 7,182 +412

Mieszko's popularity over time

376 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #133 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.

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376 newborns with the name Mieszko in 2025
national rank #133 that year

Where Mieszko is most popular

Mieszko is most popular in West Pomeranian, 54% above the national average (183 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+41%) and Lubusz (+38%). It is least common in Podlaskie and Świętokrzyskie, 45% and 38% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Mieszko as a middle name

Mieszko is a first name for 7,182 men in Poland and a middle name for another 1,782, an 80/20 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 183rd, between August (1,855) and Erwin (1,769).

As a first name
7,182
As a middle name
1,782
first name 80% middle name 20%
Middle-name ranking men

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Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

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