Genowefa
An older Poland lives in this name: around 46,000 women carry it, nearly all born long ago, while newborns almost never get it now. From a Slavic root, it marks a woman by her family, her *ród*: woman of the family.
Genowefa Pronunciation
Genowefa is pronounced ge-no-VE-fah (/gɛnɔˈvɛfa/).
What Genowefa means
Where Genowefa comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Genowefa reaches back to a Slavic root, and the name carries a plain meaning: woman of the family. The old word ród names a line of kin, the people you belong to before you belong to anyone else. So Genowefa marks a woman by that belonging, by her place in the ród.
For generations the name lived comfortably in Polish villages and towns. Its short form, Genia, softened it for daily use, the version a sister or neighbour would call across a room. Genowefa on the birth certificate, Genia everywhere else.
In Poland her imieniny falls on the third of January. Picture the name in a school register, near the top of the alphabet, read out on a cold morning. The sound belongs to an older Poland, and many women who carry it were born before the war.
The name has grown rarer among newborns. Still, the meaning holds steady: woman of the family, a woman of the ród.
When Genowefa celebrates name day
Genowefa appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 3 January.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
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 Genowefa
1 in 486 women in Poland is named Genowefa. 46,380 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #199 among female names.
Genowefa's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Genowefa as a middle name
Genowefa is a first name for 46,380 women in Poland and a middle name for another 27,302, a 63/37 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 71st, between Oliwia (29,977) and Mirosława (26,134).
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#69 Kamila31,160
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#70 Oliwia29,977
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#71 Genowefa27,302
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#72 Mirosława26,134
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#73 Sabina25,797