Andrzej
From the Greek for "manly". More than half a million Polish men carry it, one of the most familiar names in the country, but among newborns it's fading fast now.
Andrzej Pronunciation
Andrzej is pronounced AHND-zhey (/ˈandʐɛj/).
What Andrzej means
Where Andrzej comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Andrzej reaches back to the Greek Andreas, formed from andreios, meaning manly, and behind that sits andros, the word for man. So the short sense, mężny and odważny, brave, was there in the Greek from the start. This is one of the older names in Poland, carried by kings and by the apostle Andrew.
The name bends easily. Jędrek is the warm, everyday form a boy answers to in a school register, while Andrei is the variant that turns up across the eastern border. Same root, different mouths.
Every year the name gets its own night. Andrzejki, the eve of Saint Andrew on the twenty-ninth of November, is when Poles pour wax through a key and read the shadow on the wall to guess what the future holds. The custom is old and still kept. A boy named Andrzej shares his name-day with a fortune-telling ritual, which few names can claim.
The meaning holds: manly, mężny, odważny.
When Andrzej celebrates name day
Andrzej appears 38 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 4 February.
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.
-
in 73 days6 JanuaryWednesday in 2027
-
in 86 days19 JanuaryTuesday in 2027
-
in 93 days26 JanuaryTuesday in 2027
-
in 99 days1 FebruaryMonday in 2027
-
in 100 days2 FebruaryTuesday in 2027
-
in 113 days15 FebruaryMonday in 2027
-
in 116 days18 FebruaryThursday in 2027
-
in 169 days12 AprilMonday in 2027
-
in 184 days27 AprilTuesday in 2027
-
in 200 days13 MayThursday in 2027
-
in 202 days15 MaySaturday in 2027
-
in 204 days17 MayMonday in 2027
-
in 216 days29 MaySaturday in 2027
-
in 217 days30 MaySunday in 2027
-
in 221 days3 JuneThursday in 2027
-
in 244 days26 JuneSaturday in 2027
-
in 252 days4 JulySunday in 2027
-
in 260 days12 JulyMonday in 2027
-
in 261 days13 JulyTuesday in 2027
-
in 264 days16 JulyFriday in 2027
-
in 265 days17 JulySaturday in 2027
-
in 269 days21 JulyWednesday in 2027
-
in 283 days4 AugustWednesday in 2027
-
in 298 days19 AugustThursday in 2027
-
in 300 days21 AugustSaturday in 2027
-
in 308 days29 AugustSunday in 2027
-
in 330 days20 SeptemberMonday in 2027
-
in 333 days23 SeptemberThursday in 2027
-
in 357 days17 OctoberSunday in 2027
-
in 360 days20 OctoberWednesday in 2027
-
in 7 days1 NovemberSunday in 2026
-
in 16 days10 NovemberTuesday in 2026
-
in 30 days24 NovemberTuesday in 2026
-
in 34 days28 NovemberSaturday in 2026
-
in 46 days10 DecemberThursday in 2026
How many people are named Andrzej
1 in 41 men in Poland is named Andrzej. 523,382 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #9 among male names.
Andrzej's popularity over time
119 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #237 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #9 name among living men, even as it slips to #237 among newborns.
Where parents choose Andrzej
Andrzej is most popular in Lesser Poland, 48% above the national average (181 boys born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+40%) and Opole (+21%). It is least common in Holy Cross and Warmian-Masurian, 37% and 33% below average respectively.
-
Lesser Poland
+48%1 in 1,254 babies
-
West Pomeranian
+40%1 in 1,319 babies
-
Opole
+21%1 in 1,537 babies
-
Holy Cross
−37%1 in 2,918 babies
-
Warmian-Masurian
−33%1 in 2,761 babies
-
Lublin
−30%1 in 2,633 babies
-
Lesser Poland+48% 181 born1 in 1,254 babies+48%
-
West Pomeranian+40% 64 born1 in 1,319 babies+40%
-
Opole+21% 30 born1 in 1,537 babies+21%
-
Podlaskie+21% 43 born1 in 1,530 babies+21%
-
Lower Silesian+11% 94 born1 in 1,672 babies+11%
-
Masovian+9% 208 born1 in 1,703 babies+9%
-
Pomeranian−2% 78 born1 in 1,889 babies−2%
-
Greater Poland−10% 105 born1 in 2,050 babies−10%
-
Kuyavian-Pomeranian−14% 51 born1 in 2,145 babies−14%
-
Lubusz−14% 23 born1 in 2,159 babies−14%
-
Subcarpathian−14% 56 born1 in 2,153 babies−14%
-
Silesian−20% 98 born1 in 2,322 babies−20%
-
Łódź−24% 52 born1 in 2,437 babies−24%
-
Lublin−30% 39 born1 in 2,633 babies−30%
-
Warmian-Masurian−33% 26 born1 in 2,761 babies−33%
-
Holy Cross−37% 19 born1 in 2,918 babies−37%
Andrzej as a middle name
Andrzej is a first name for 523,382 men in Poland and a middle name for another 406,153, a 56/44 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 4th, between Stanisław (447,673) and Paweł (399,071).
-
#2 Piotr603,686
-
#3 Stanisław447,673
-
#4 Andrzej406,153
-
#5 Paweł399,071
-
#6 Józef381,053