Eleonora
From Greek, the name reads as "god is my light". Only about 7,000 Polish women carry it, so meeting one tends to stick in memory, and each year a handful of girls still get it.
Eleonora Pronunciation
Eleonora is pronounced e-le-o-NO-rah (/ɛlɛɔˈnɔra/).
What Eleonora means
Where Eleonora comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Eleonora carries Greek roots, and it reached Polish after a long detour through the courts and languages of western Europe. Close beside it sits the variant Leonora, the same name with its first syllable trimmed away. The two forms travel together.
The meaning usually given for Eleonora is "god is my light," in Polish "bóg jest moim światłem." This reading came later. Speakers caught the sound of the word for god at the front of the name and pulled the rest toward light, and the interpretation held.
Picture the school register: a girl written down as Eleonora who answers to Ela by the second week. The full form stays for the urząd and the official line for the imię. Eleonora bends without breaking, and Leonora waits a step to the side, ready to be chosen instead.
When Eleonora celebrates name day
Eleonora appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 21 February.
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 Eleonora
1 in 3227 women in Poland is named Eleonora. 6,985 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #430 among female names.
Eleonora's popularity over time
28 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #449 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2006. Still the #430 name among living women, even as it slips to #449 among newborns.
Where parents choose Eleonora
Eleonora is most popular in Masovian, 103% above the national average (46 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+99%) and Silesian (+17%). It is least common in Łódź and Lubusz, 38% and 37% below average respectively.
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Masovian
+103%1 in 7,701 babies
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Lower Silesian
+99%1 in 7,857 babies
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Silesian
+17%1 in 13,387 babies
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Łódź
−38%1 in 25,344 babies
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Lubusz
−37%1 in 24,829 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−28%1 in 21,876 babies
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Masovian+103% 46 born1 in 7,701 babies+103%
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Lower Silesian+99% 20 born1 in 7,857 babies+99%
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Silesian+17% 17 born1 in 13,387 babies+17%
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Lesser Poland+4% 15 born1 in 15,128 babies+4%
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Pomeranian−15% 8 born1 in 18,415 babies−15%
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Subcarpathian−22% 6 born1 in 20,094 babies−22%
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West Pomeranian−26% 4 born1 in 21,106 babies−26%
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Greater Poland−27% 10 born1 in 21,524 babies−27%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−28% 5 born1 in 21,876 babies−28%
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Lubusz−37% 2 born1 in 24,829 babies−37%
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Łódź−38% 5 born1 in 25,344 babies−38%
Eleonora as a middle name
Eleonora is a first name for 6,985 women in Poland and a middle name for another 5,540, a 56/44 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 142nd, between Paula (5,627) and Iga (5,232).
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#140 Julita5,638
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#141 Paula5,627
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#142 Eleonora5,540
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#143 Iga5,232
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#144 Romana5,184