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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/).

Related names
Ivona
Alive in 2025
231,749
Newborns 2025
5
National rank
#51
Next name day
27 October
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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.

Next name day
27 October
Tuesday in 2026
Next one in 2 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

Also celebrates

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.

People with the name Iwona 2019 → 2025
231,749 −4,022 since 2019
2020 235,499 −272
2021 234,817 −682
2022 234,048 −769
2023 233,227 −821
2024 232,538 −689
2025 231,749 −789

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.

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5 newborns with the name Iwona in 2025
national rank #929 that year

Where parents choose Iwona

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.

Chosen most
  • Podlaskie
    +111%
    1 in 13,157 babies
  • Lesser Poland
    +108%
    1 in 13,348 babies
  • Warmian-Masurian
    +93%
    1 in 14,359 babies
Chosen least
  • Subcarpathian
    −54%
    1 in 60,283 babies
  • Masovian
    −53%
    1 in 59,044 babies
  • Kuyavian-Pomeranian
    −49%
    1 in 54,690 babies

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).

As a first name
231,749
As a middle name
83,745
first name 73% middle name 27%
Middle-name ranking women

Look up another name

Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

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