Bogdan
A Slavic name built on the idea of a gift "given by god". After years of decline it's climbing back, and with around 92,000 men already carrying it, the name still rings familiar.
Bogdan Pronunciation
Bogdan is pronounced BOG-dahn (/ˈbɔgdan/).
What Bogdan means
Where Bogdan comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Bogdan is built from two old Slavic roots, Bog for god and dan for given, so the whole name means "given by god." Polish keeps that sense plain in the phrase dar od Boga. When Slavic scribes met the Greek name Theodoros, they made Bogdan to say the same thing in their own words, and Latin reached the same meaning in Deodatus.
The name is old on Polish soil. Its earliest recorded form dates to 1136, which makes it one of the few native compound names to survive from pagan times.
A boy called Bogdan might also answer to the variant Bogda, while a girl in the family could be Bogusia, the softer diminutive. On a school register the teacher marks his imieniny for 6 lutego, the most popular of the many name days Bogdan holds. Whatever else shifts around it, the two roots keep their old sense: Bog and dan, god and given.
How many people are named Bogdan
1 in 230 men in Poland is named Bogdan. 92,744 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #128 among male names.
Bogdan's popularity over time
121 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #234 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2013. Still the #128 name among living men, even as it slips to #234 among newborns.
Where Bogdan is most popular
Bogdan is most popular in Lubusz, 97% above the national average (31 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+75%) and Pomeranian (+50%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Podlaskie, 74% and 62% below average respectively.
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Lubusz31 boys born+97%
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Lower Silesian87 boys born+75%
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Pomeranian70 boys born+50%
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Greater Poland95 boys born+39%
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West Pomeranian35 boys born+31%
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Silesian78 boys born+8%
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Warmian-Masurian21 boys born−8%
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Masovian101 boys born−10%
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Lesser Poland64 boys born−11%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian27 boys born−22%
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Świętokrzyskie11 boys born−37%
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Opole8 boys born−45%
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Łódź22 boys born−45%
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Lublin17 boys born−48%
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Podlaskie8 boys born−62%
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Subcarpathian10 boys born−74%
Bogdan as a middle name
Bogdan is a first name for 92,744 men in Poland and a middle name for another 50,472, a 65/35 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 57th, between Czesław (50,993) and Zdzisław (50,403).
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55
52,574Damian
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56
50,993Czesław
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5750,472Bogdan
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58
50,403Zdzisław
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59
47,337Waldemar
When Bogdan celebrates name day
Bogdan appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 19 March.