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Magnus

Latin for "great", carried into Poland along a Scandinavian line. Only about 200 people here hold it, all of them men, so meeting a Magnus stays a rarity.

Magnus Pronunciation

Magnus is pronounced MAHG-noos (/ˈmagnus/).

Alive in 2025
218
Newborns 2025
7
National rank
#2111
Also celebrates
6 October
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What Magnus means

Where Magnus comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Magnus comes straight from the Latin adjective magnus, meaning great. The word was ordinary in Rome. It described large rivers and important men, nothing more.

Its life as a name began with a borrowing that stuck. Magnus I of Norway, born around 1024, was named for Charlemagne, whose Latin title was Carolus Magnus. The Norse heard that second word and kept it as a first name. From there it spread through kings named Magnus in Norway and Sweden, and it held on as a marker of rank.

The name has no Polish diminutive and no softer variant. It arrives whole.

Read a class register in a Kraków school and Magnus still reads as an import. Its sense stays clear. The Polish gloss is wielki, great.

When Magnus celebrates name day

Magnus appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 19 August.

Next name day
6 October
Tuesday in 2026
Next one in 26 days
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 Magnus

1 in 97918 men in Poland is named Magnus. 218 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2111 among male names.

People with the name Magnus 2019 → 2025
218 +86 since 2019
2020 135 +3
2021 144 +9
2022 165 +21
2023 181 +16
2024 204 +23
2025 218 +14

Magnus's popularity over time

7 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #821 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2012.

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7 newborns with the name Magnus in 2025
national rank #821 that year

Where Magnus is most popular

Magnus is most popular in Lubusz, 222% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+90%) and Silesian (+76%). It is least common in Lesser Poland and Greater Poland, 29% and 26% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Magnus as a middle name

Magnus is a first name for 218 men in Poland and a middle name for another 181, a 55/45 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 507th, between Karim (181) and Sean (181).

As a first name
218
As a middle name
181
first name 55% middle name 45%
Middle-name ranking men

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

Next in ranking → Mikheili #209