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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/).

Related names
Valdemar Waldek
Alive in 2025
104,345
Newborns 2025
7
National rank
#123
Next name day
11 December
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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.

Next name day
11 December
Friday in 2026
Next one in 47 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 Waldemar

1 in 205 men in Poland is named Waldemar. 104,345 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #123 among male names.

People with the name Waldemar 2019 → 2025
104,345 −10,581 since 2019
2020 114,089 −837
2021 112,088 −2,001
2022 109,965 −2,123
2023 108,031 −1,934
2024 106,227 −1,804
2025 104,345 −1,882

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.

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7 newborns with the name Waldemar in 2025
national rank #839 that year

Where parents choose Waldemar

Waldemar is most popular in Greater Poland, 174% above the national average (15 boys born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+86%) and Holy Cross (+42%). It is least common in Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 28% below average.

Chosen most
  • Greater Poland
    +174%
    1 in 14,350 babies
  • West Pomeranian
    +86%
    1 in 21,106 babies
  • Holy Cross
    +42%
    1 in 27,717 babies
Chosen least
  • Kuyavian-Pomeranian
    −28%
    1 in 54,690 babies

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).

As a first name
104,345
As a middle name
47,337
first name 69% middle name 31%
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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