Waldemar
Around 104,000 Polish men carry it, yet it's slipping out of use: just seven boys got it last year. A Slavic name that reads as "renowned ruler".
Waldemar Pronunciation
Waldemar is pronounced vahl-DE-mahr (/valˈdɛmar/).
What Waldemar means
Where Waldemar comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Waldemar reaches back into Slavic roots, where the pieces mean to rule and to be famous. Put together, they give the short meaning that follows the name everywhere: renowned ruler, or in Polish sławny władca. The same two ideas sit inside its close relative Włodzimierz, and behind the eastern Vladimir, so a Waldemar stands in old and princely company.
In Poland the name softens fast. Friends and family reach for Waldek, and the grand sense of a ruler shrinks to something ordinary and friendly. A teacher reads Waldemar from the class register on the first day. By the second week he is Waldek to everyone.
The meaning does not demand that a Waldemar rule anything. It marks the name's shape, not the man. What stays is the pairing of władza, the power to rule, with fame, and a diminutive that keeps the whole thing warm. Renowned ruler on the birth certificate, Waldek at the door.
When Waldemar celebrates name day
Waldemar appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 5 May.
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 Waldemar
1 in 205 men in Poland is named Waldemar. 104,345 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #123 among male names.
Waldemar's popularity over time
7 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #839 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #123 name among living men, even as it slips to #839 among newborns.
Where Waldemar is most popular
Waldemar is most popular in Greater Poland, 174% above the national average (15 boys born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+86%) and Świętokrzyskie (+42%). It is least common in Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 28% below average.
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Greater Poland15 boys born+174%
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West Pomeranian4 boys born+86%
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Świętokrzyskie2 boys born+42%
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Lower Silesian5 boys born+25%
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Lesser Poland7 boys born+21%
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Masovian10 boys born+11%
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Pomeranian4 boys born+7%
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Silesian6 boys born+4%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian2 boys born−28%
Waldemar as a middle name
Waldemar is a first name for 104,345 men in Poland and a middle name for another 47,337, a 69/31 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 59th, between Zdzisław (50,403) and Wiktor (46,809).
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#57 Bogdan50,472
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#58 Zdzisław50,403
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#59 Waldemar47,337
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#60 Wiktor46,809
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#61 Przemysław45,598