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Bolesław

Slavic to the core, put together from roots that mean "great glory". Around 17,600 men carry it and not a single woman ever has, though it stays uncommon enough that meeting one tends to stick.

Bolesław Pronunciation

Bolesław is pronounced bo-LES-wahf (/bɔˈlɛswaf/).

Related names
Bolek Bolesława
Alive in 2025
17,605
Newborns 2025
43
National rank
#289

What Bolesław means

Where Bolesław comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Bolesław comes from Slavic roots. The first part, bole, means "great" or "more"; the second, sław, means "glory." Put them together and you get wielka sława, great glory.

The name belonged to kings. Bolesław Chrobry, Bolesław the Brave, was crowned the first king of Poland in 1025, and later rulers took the same name after him. A boy called Bolesław grew up sharing his name with the men who built the early Polish state.

Everyday speech softens it. The diminutive is Bolek, the form a brother or a classmate would use. The cross-gender Bolesława hands the same glory to a daughter.

In the nineteenth century the writer Aleksander Głowacki chose Bolesław Prus as his pen name, and it is under that borrowed first name that his novels are still read. Call the roll in a Polish class today and you may still hear Bolek answer to great glory.

How many people are named Bolesław

1 in 1213 men in Poland is named Bolesław. 17,605 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #289 among male names.

People with the name Bolesław 2019 → 2025
17,605 -6,355 since 2019
2020 23,356 -604
2021 21,895 -1,461
2022 20,562 -1,333
2023 19,462 -1,100
2024 18,525 -937
2025 17,605 -920

Bolesław's popularity over time

43 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #373 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2004. Still the #289 name among living men, even as it slips to #373 among newborns.

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43 newborns with the name Bolesław in 2025
national rank #373 that year

Where Bolesław is most popular

Bolesław is most popular in Lower Silesian, 66% above the national average (34 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+51%) and Masovian (+36%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Lublin, 56% and 55% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Bolesław as a middle name

Bolesław is a first name for 17,605 men in Poland and a middle name for another 24,574, a 42/58 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 82nd, between Wacław (24,968) and Hubert (23,737).

As a first name
17,605
As a middle name
24,574
first name 42% middle name 58%
Middle-name ranking men

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