Sambor

Sambor comes from two old Slavic roots. The first is sam, meaning alone or by oneself. The second is the element bor-, meaning to fight, the same piece found in older names like Borzysław. Put together they give the short meaning kept here: lone warrior, in Polish walczący samotnie.

For a stretch it was a name of rulers. Sambor I governed Gdańsk Pomerania late in the twelfth century, and Sambor II held the land around Tczew a few decades after him. Among the dukes of Pomerelia it worked as a plain name for a son who might one day inherit.

It is not a common name now. A Sambor on a school register stands out at once, and a teacher may pause before reading it out. Still the parts stay legible to a Polish ear: sam for alone, bor for the fight, and between them a fighter who holds his ground by himself.