Daphne
Almost no one in Poland carries it: barely 56 women in all, so meeting one would stick with you. Still, a girl or two has arrived in each of the last couple of years, from the Greek for "laurel".
Daphne Pronunciation
What Daphne means
Where Daphne comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
In Greek, daphne is the word for the laurel tree. The name comes straight from it. Old stories tell of a nymph named Daphne who fled the god Apollo. To escape him she was changed into a laurel, and from then on Apollo wore its leaves. Winners at the games and poets alike were crowned with the same green.
The root is Greek, yet the name found its firmest home in English. Daphne du Maurier, who published Rebecca in 1938, is still its most famous bearer. The short meaning stays close to the plant: laurel, the tree of victory.
Picture the name read out from a class register in Wrocław. In Polish the laurel is wawrzyn, the leaf that once crowned the winner.
How many people are named Daphne
1 in 402568 women in Poland is named Daphne. 56 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4948 among female names.
Daphne's popularity over time
2 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1513 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2023.
Daphne as a middle name
Daphne is a first name for 56 women in Poland and a middle name for another 27, a 67/33 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1371st, between Christin (27) and Ewa Maria (27).
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#1369 Ceren27
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#1370 Christin27
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#1371 Daphne27
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#1372 Ewa Maria27
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#1373 Gosia27