Hugo
A comeback name climbing back into wider use, though still rare enough that most Poles have never met one. Germanic at root, it carries the sense of "mind" or "spirit".
Hugo Pronunciation
Hugo is pronounced KHOO-go (/ˈxugɔ/).
What Hugo means
Where Hugo comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Hugo comes from Germanic soil, from an old word for the mind and the spirit, the faculty that reasons and holds memory. The short meaning has never strayed far from that source. To bear this name is to be linked with thought itself.
Poland took the name in and kept it. Hugo Kołłątaj, a leading mind of the Polish Enlightenment and one of the framers of the Constitution of 3 May 1791, wore it well. A name grown from the word for mind suited a man who spent his life reforming how his country thought.
Victor Hugo carried it into literature. Two short syllables. In a school register today it sits among the Antonis and Franciszeks, plain and unforced. The meaning underneath stays the same as it was in the beginning: mind, spirit, the rozum a child grows into.
When Hugo celebrates name day
Hugo appears 6 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 9 April.
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 Hugo
1 in 7888 men in Poland is named Hugo. 2,706 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #616 among male names.
Hugo's popularity over time
124 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #230 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.
Where parents choose Hugo
Hugo is most popular in Lower Silesian, 62% above the national average (116 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+35%) and Masovian (+24%). It is least common in Holy Cross and Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 84% and 62% below average respectively.
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Lower Silesian
+62%1 in 1,355 babies
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Greater Poland
+35%1 in 1,618 babies
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Masovian
+24%1 in 1,771 babies
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Holy Cross
−84%1 in 13,858 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−62%1 in 5,757 babies
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Lublin
−62%1 in 5,704 babies
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Lower Silesian+62% 116 born1 in 1,355 babies+62%
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Greater Poland+35% 133 born1 in 1,618 babies+35%
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Masovian+24% 200 born1 in 1,771 babies+24%
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Pomeranian+15% 77 born1 in 1,913 babies+15%
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Lesser Poland+13% 117 born1 in 1,939 babies+13%
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West Pomeranian+1% 39 born1 in 2,165 babies+1%
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Lubusz−3% 22 born1 in 2,257 babies−3%
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Łódź−3% 56 born1 in 2,263 babies−3%
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Silesian−5% 99 born1 in 2,299 babies−5%
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Warmian-Masurian−24% 25 born1 in 2,872 babies−24%
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Subcarpathian−29% 39 born1 in 3,091 babies−29%
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Opole−57% 9 born1 in 5,122 babies−57%
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Podlaskie−57% 13 born1 in 5,060 babies−57%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−62% 19 born1 in 5,757 babies−62%
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Lublin−62% 18 born1 in 5,704 babies−62%
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Holy Cross−84% 4 born1 in 13,858 babies−84%
Hugo as a middle name
Hugo is a first name for 2,706 men in Poland and a middle name for another 753, a 78/22 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 264th, between Euzebiusz (753) and Jean (746).
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#262 Luis756
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#263 Euzebiusz753
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#264 Hugo753
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#265 Jean746
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#266 Anatol735