Iwona
Around 232,000 Polish women carry it, yet it has nearly vanished from the maternity ward: just five newborn girls last year. The name is Slavic, tied to a word for the yew tree and the bow cut from its wood.
Iwona Pronunciation
Iwona is pronounced ee-VO-nah (/iˈvɔna/).
What Iwona means
Where Iwona comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Iwona grows from Slavic roots, and the meaning passed down with it is plain: the yew tree, and the bow cut from its wood.
Bowyers prized the yew. Its timber bends far and springs back hard, which made it the wood of choice for the longbow across much of old Europe. A name tied to that tree points to something useful and hard-wearing, closer to a workshop than a garden. The meaning of "bow" comes from what people made of the wood, so it sits a step behind the tree itself.
The variants stay near the source. Iwetta and Iweta trim and soften the sound while keeping the same root. Read down a Polish class register and you might find all three near each other, one teacher working through the list.
Iwona marks her imieniny most often on 19 May. The oldest sense holds: a bow of yew wood.
When Iwona celebrates name day
Iwona appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 19 May.
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 Iwona
1 in 97 women in Poland is named Iwona. 231,749 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #51 among female names.
Iwona's popularity over time
5 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #929 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #51 name among living women, even as it slips to #929 among newborns.
Where Iwona is most popular
Iwona is most popular in Podlaskie, 111% above the national average (5 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Lesser Poland (+108%) and Warmian-Masurian (+93%). It is least common in Subcarpathian and Masovian, 54% and 53% below average respectively.
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Podlaskie5 girls born+111%
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Lesser Poland17 girls born+108%
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Warmian-Masurian5 girls born+93%
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Greater Poland15 girls born+93%
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Łódź8 girls born+75%
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Opole2 girls born+20%
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Silesian9 girls born+10%
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Pomeranian4 girls born−25%
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Lower Silesian3 girls born−47%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian2 girls born−49%
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Masovian6 girls born−53%
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Subcarpathian2 girls born−54%
Iwona as a middle name
Iwona is a first name for 231,749 women in Poland and a middle name for another 83,745, a 73/27 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 34th, between Julia (86,163) and Agata (81,382).
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#32 Halina86,369
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#33 Julia86,163
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#34 Iwona83,745
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#35 Agata81,382
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#36 Bożena80,221