Arnaud
From a Germanic root meaning "eagle ruler", carried into Poland in its French spelling. It's rare enough that most Poles have never met one: only about 120 men hold it, and it goes to boys alone.
Arnaud Pronunciation
Arnaud is pronounced ahr-NAH-oot (/arˈnaut/).
What Arnaud means
Where Arnaud comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Arnaud is the French form of a Germanic name built from two old roots: "arn," meaning eagle, and "wald," meaning rule or power. Together they give the sense the name still keeps, eagle ruler, one who governs the way an eagle holds the sky. The same roots sit behind Arnold, which took hold in Germany and England while Arnaud settled into French.
The eagle did real work here. In these old names the bird stood for height, sharp sight, command over a wide field. A child called Arnaud was tied to that picture of a watcher who rules from above.
One medieval bearer keeps the name checkable. Arnaut Daniel, an Occitan troubadour of the twelfth century, was praised by Dante in the Purgatorio as the finest craftsman of his mother tongue. His name is that same eagle root in a southern spelling.
In a Polish szkoła register today, Arnaud reads as plainly French, a guest among the Piotrs and Jakubs. It arrives with its origin intact: eagle power, władający jak orzeł.
How many people are named Arnaud
1 in 173546 men in Poland is named Arnaud. 123 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #3026 among male names.
Arnaud as a middle name
Arnaud is a first name for 123 men in Poland and a middle name for another 30, an 80/20 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1526th, between Adem (30) and Asif (30).
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#1524 Yurii31
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#1525 Adem30
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#1526 Arnaud30
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#1527 Asif30
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#1528 Casey30