Cezariusz

Cezariusz comes straight from Latin, built on the family name Caesar. The old Roman writer Pliny recorded one ancient explanation: that a Caesar was born with a full head of hair, from caesaries, meaning a thick head of hair. So the short meaning attached to the name is "hairy," a sense that grew up around the Caesar line rather than a strict translation of the word itself.

In Polish the name keeps close company with its variant Cezary, which most people meet more often on a school class register. Cezariusz is the fuller, more formal cousin. Friends and family tend to shorten it. Say hello to Czarek.

There is a feminine form too, Cezaria, for a daughter given the same Roman root. All of them lead back through Latin to a name once carried by emperors, though a Polish boy named Cezariusz answers to something far more ordinary at the bus stop. The grand origin and the everyday nickname sit side by side. On his imieniny he is Cezariusz on the card and Czarek at the door, one name that still means, at the far Latin end of it, "hairy."