Monika
Close to 377,000 Polish women carry it, but it's fading fast: just 92 newborn girls last year. Greek at root, read as "advisor" or "the one".
Monika Pronunciation
Monika is pronounced mo-NYEE-kah (/mɔˈɲika/).
What Monika means
Where Monika comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Monika reaches back to Greek. One line traces it to monos, meaning alone or single, which is where the Polish readings jedyna and samotna come from: the one, the solitary. Its close variant Monica traveled the same road under a Latin spelling.
The most documented early bearer is Saint Monica of Hippo, mother of Augustine, whose feast falls on 27 August. Her Polish name-day, the imieniny, still sits on that date. A child called Monika might read her own name on a school class register and never guess it once meant the single one.
The sense of "advisor" attached to the name later, a folk reading rather than the Greek root. Both meanings live in the name now. Monika stays short. Whatever the etymology, the form Monika and its variant Monica still keep the old Greek monos underneath.
When Monika celebrates name day
Monika appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 4 May.
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 Monika
1 in 60 women in Poland is named Monika. 377,372 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #24 among female names.
Monika's popularity over time
92 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #257 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #24 name among living women, even as it slips to #257 among newborns.
Where Monika is most popular
Monika is most popular in Podlaskie, 47% above the national average (45 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+25%) and Pomeranian (+24%). It is least common in Lubusz and Opole, 39% and 35% below average respectively.
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Podlaskie45 girls born+47%
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Silesian132 girls born+25%
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Pomeranian85 girls born+24%
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Greater Poland111 girls born+11%
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Lesser Poland112 girls born+6%
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Lower Silesian76 girls born+4%
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Masovian154 girls born−7%
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Warmian-Masurian30 girls born−10%
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West Pomeranian35 girls born−11%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian45 girls born−12%
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Łódź52 girls born−12%
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Lublin38 girls born−20%
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Subcarpathian44 girls born−22%
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Świętokrzyskie19 girls born−26%
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Opole14 girls born−35%
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Lubusz14 girls born−39%
Monika as a middle name
Monika is a first name for 377,372 women in Poland and a middle name for another 163,923, a 70/30 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 15th, between Jadwiga (193,823) and Janina (158,653).
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#13 Joanna199,782
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#14 Jadwiga193,823
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#15 Monika163,923
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#16 Janina158,653
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#17 Helena155,002