Hleb
A Slavic name meaning "heir of god". Around 800 men in Poland carry it, and it's given so seldom that most Poles will never meet one.
Hleb Pronunciation
Hleb is pronounced KHLEP (/xlɛp/).
What Hleb means
Where Hleb comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Hleb comes from the Slavic naming tradition, and a Polish speaker catches something familiar in it right away: chleb, the word for bread. They sit one letter apart. The name has been given the meaning "heir of god," a sense of inheritance that has nothing to do with the loaf.
History supplies a real bearer. Saint Gleb, killed in 1015 with his brother Boris, became one of the first figures canonized in Kievan Rus, and Hleb stands as the East Slavic form of that same name. The link to "heir of god" points back through older roots, and it settled onto the name as its accepted sense rather than as plain description.
Read out on a Polish class register, Hleb looks short and blunt beside the longer names around it, and it takes no diminutive. The bread association never quite leaves. The meaning underneath stays "heir of god."
How many people are named Hleb
1 in 26353 men in Poland is named Hleb. 810 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1046 among male names.
Hleb's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.