Janusz
Around 177,000 Polish men carry it, but it barely reaches newborns now: just 8 baby boys last year. A Hebrew name at root, meaning "God is gracious".
Janusz Pronunciation
Janusz is pronounced YAH-noosh (/ˈjanuʂ/).
What Janusz means
Where Janusz comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Janusz begins in Hebrew, in the name Yohanan, which meant "God is gracious." That sense traveled into Latin as Iohannes and reached Poland as Jan. Janusz grew as a medieval Polish offshoot of Jan, close enough to share the meaning, bóg jest łaskawy, and old enough to stand on its own.
The name had rank early. Janusz I, Duke of Masovia, ruled Warsaw into the fifteenth century and signed his charters with it. From the same root came the household forms Janek and Jaś, the ones a boy hears before he can spell his own surname. The variant Yan turns up where the name crosses a border, and Janina answers for it as the girl's form.
Say it on any school class register today and the teacher reads it without a pause. Janusz is short. The Hebrew promise underneath, that God is gracious, still means what it meant in Yohanan.
When Janusz celebrates name day
Janusz appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 21 November.
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 Janusz
1 in 121 men in Poland is named Janusz. 176,779 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #80 among male names.
Janusz's popularity over time
8 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #771 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #80 name among living men, even as it slips to #771 among newborns.
Where parents choose Janusz
Janusz is most popular in Podlaskie, 182% above the national average (6 boys born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+156%) and Opole (+101%). It is least common in Łódź and Subcarpathian, 51% and 49% below average respectively.
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Podlaskie
+182%1 in 10,964 babies
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West Pomeranian
+156%1 in 12,061 babies
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Opole
+101%1 in 15,365 babies
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Łódź
−51%1 in 63,359 babies
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Subcarpathian
−49%1 in 60,283 babies
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Lower Silesian
−21%1 in 39,284 babies
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Podlaskie+182% 6 born1 in 10,964 babies+182%
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West Pomeranian+156% 7 born1 in 12,061 babies+156%
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Opole+101% 3 born1 in 15,365 babies+101%
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Pomeranian+89% 9 born1 in 16,369 babies+89%
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Greater Poland+15% 8 born1 in 26,905 babies+15%
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Silesian+9% 8 born1 in 28,448 babies+9%
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Masovian+5% 12 born1 in 29,522 babies+5%
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Lesser Poland−5% 7 born1 in 32,417 babies−5%
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Warmian-Masurian−14% 2 born1 in 35,897 babies−14%
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Lower Silesian−21% 4 born1 in 39,284 babies−21%
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Subcarpathian−49% 2 born1 in 60,283 babies−49%
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Łódź−51% 2 born1 in 63,359 babies−51%
Janusz as a middle name
Janusz is a first name for 176,779 men in Poland and a middle name for another 107,970, a 62/38 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 30th, between Maciej (109,293) and Karol (105,522).
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#28 Henryk118,587
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#29 Maciej109,293
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#30 Janusz107,970
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#31 Karol105,522
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#32 Władysław100,059