Edgar
From the Old English *ead* and *gar*, "wealth" and "spear," which folded together into "rich spear." It sits just inside Poland's top thousand and stays exclusively male, though most Poles have never met one.
Edgar Pronunciation
Edgar is pronounced ED-gahr (/ˈɛdgar/).
What Edgar means
Where Edgar comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Edgar begins as the Old English Eadgar, a fusion of ead, meaning wealth or riches, and gar, a spear. The short meaning came down to us intact: rich spear, or in Polish bogata włócznia. The origin is Germanic, the cultural home English.
England gave the name a real king. Edgar the Peaceful ruled from 959 and was crowned at Bath in 973, a ceremony that later shaped English coronation rite. Centuries on, Shakespeare handed the name to the loyal son in King Lear, and readers everywhere know Edgar Allan Poe, whose middle name honoured the family that raised him.
On a Polish class register, an Edgar still reads as slightly foreign, a name borrowed rather than native. It carries no diminutive of its own here. That plainness suits it.
The two halves stay legible after a thousand years. Wealth and a weapon, ead and gar, folded into one short name: rich spear.
When Edgar celebrates name day
Edgar appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 10 June.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Edgar
1 in 21325 men in Poland is named Edgar. 1,001 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #964 among male names.
Edgar's popularity over time
11 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #668 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2008.
Where Edgar is most popular
Edgar is most popular in Lower Silesian, 144% above the national average (11 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lesser Poland (+130%) and Masovian (+77%). It is least common in Pomeranian and Łódź, 53% and 45% below average respectively.
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Lower Silesian11 boys born+144%
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Lesser Poland15 boys born+130%
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Masovian18 boys born+77%
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West Pomeranian4 boys born+65%
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Greater Poland5 boys born−19%
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Silesian5 boys born−23%
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Łódź2 boys born−45%
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Pomeranian2 boys born−53%
Edgar as a middle name
Edgar is a first name for 1,001 men in Poland and a middle name for another 445, a 69/31 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 335th, between Karl (448) and Barnaba (439).
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#333 Frank450
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#334 Karl448
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#335 Edgar445
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#336 Barnaba439
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#337 Louis439