Ireneusz
Around 58,000 Polish men carry it, yet it barely reaches the cradle now: 14 boys last year. From the Greek for peace, it reads as "one who brings peace", with Irek the everyday short form.
Ireneusz Pronunciation
Ireneusz is pronounced ee-re-NE-oosh (/irɛˈnɛuʂ/).
What Ireneusz means
Where Ireneusz comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ireneusz begins in Greek, in the word eirēnē, meaning peace. The Greeks gave that name to a goddess of peace, Eirene, counted among the three Horai. From the same root the name reads as peaceful, one who brings peace. Its best documented early bearer is Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, a bishop and theologian of the second century who wrote a long Greek work against heresies. His feast falls on 28 June.
In Poland the name grew its own family of forms. Irena is the woman's version. Irek is what friends reach for on an ordinary day. On a school register the full Ireneusz stands in the column, while in the corridor the boy answers to Irek.
The imieniny sit in late June, near the summer. The sense has stayed legible for a long time, from the Greek word for peace down to the Polish gloss, niosący pokój.
When Ireneusz celebrates name day
Ireneusz appears 7 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 25 March.
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 Ireneusz
1 in 366 men in Poland is named Ireneusz. 58,259 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #169 among male names.
Ireneusz's popularity over time
14 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #610 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #169 name among living men, even as it slips to #610 among newborns.
Where Ireneusz is most popular
Ireneusz is most popular in Lesser Poland, 87% above the national average (21 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lublin (+77%) and Silesian (+77%). It is least common in Lower Silesian and Greater Poland, 74% and 25% below average respectively.
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Lesser Poland21 boys born+87%
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Lublin9 boys born+77%
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Silesian20 boys born+77%
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Subcarpathian9 boys born+51%
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Pomeranian11 boys born+51%
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Masovian17 boys born−3%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian5 boys born−8%
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Opole2 boys born−12%
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Warmian-Masurian3 boys born−16%
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Greater Poland8 boys born−25%
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Lower Silesian2 boys born−74%
Ireneusz as a middle name
Ireneusz is a first name for 58,259 men in Poland and a middle name for another 27,731, a 68/32 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 78th, between Szczepan (27,759) and Bronisław (27,598).
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#76 Włodzimierz28,496
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#77 Szczepan27,759
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#78 Ireneusz27,731
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#79 Bronisław27,598
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#80 Leon25,610