Magdalena
Around 434,000 Polish women carry it, a name you run into everywhere, yet far fewer girls get it now than a generation ago. From Greek, it means "woman from Magdala".
Magdalena Pronunciation
Magdalena is pronounced mahg-dah-LE-nah (/magdaˈlɛna/).
What Magdalena means
Where Magdalena comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Magdalena reaches Polish through Greek, where the form Magdalēnē marked a person as coming from Magdala, a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee. The plain sense stays close to that ground: a woman from Magdala. So the name started as a description of a place before it settled on any person.
In Poland it shortens fast. Family and friends reach for Magda. Marta stands nearby as a related form, with its own name-day and its own line in the calendar.
Magdalena's imieniny falls on 22 July, the feast of Maria Magdalena. That date is fixed. A girl signing an official form at the urząd writes the long version, then hears Magda everywhere else. The oldest layer holds under all of it: a woman from Magdala.
How many people are named Magdalena
1 in 52 women in Poland is named Magdalena. 434,401 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #16 among female names.
Magdalena's popularity over time
388 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #128 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #16 name among living women, even as it slips to #128 among newborns.
Where Magdalena is most popular
Magdalena is most popular in Lesser Poland, 66% above the national average (906 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Opole (+50%) and Silesian (+25%). It is least common in Lubusz and West Pomeranian, 36% and 28% below average respectively.
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Lesser Poland906 girls born+66%
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Opole167 girls born+50%
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Silesian686 girls born+25%
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Podlaskie166 girls born+5%
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Lublin251 girls born+2%
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Subcarpathian297 girls born+2%
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Świętokrzyskie131 girls born−2%
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Pomeranian318 girls born−10%
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Greater Poland452 girls born−13%
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Łódź257 girls born−16%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian216 girls born−18%
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Warmian-Masurian142 girls born−18%
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Masovian689 girls born−19%
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Lower Silesian302 girls born−20%
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West Pomeranian146 girls born−28%
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Lubusz77 girls born−36%
Magdalena as a middle name
Magdalena is a first name for 434,401 women in Poland and a middle name for another 301,969, a 59/41 split — almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 9th, between Elżbieta (312,408) and Agnieszka (275,512).
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7
332,804Małgorzata
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8
312,408Elżbieta
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9301,969Magdalena
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10
275,512Agnieszka
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11
265,565Zofia
When Magdalena celebrates name day
Magdalena appears 3 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 10 April.