Marek
Around 373,000 Polish men carry it, but it barely reaches newborns now: just 157 boys got it last year. The name points back to Mars, the war god, and reads as "warlike".
Marek Pronunciation
Marek is pronounced MAH-rek (/ˈmarɛk/).
What Marek means
Where Marek comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Marek is the Slavic form of the Latin Marcus. Behind Marcus stands Mars, the Roman god of war, and from that god the name draws its oldest sense: belonging to Mars, warlike. Slavic speakers trimmed the Latin down to a short, blunt shape. Marek is what stayed.
The best known bearer is Saint Mark the Evangelist, Marek Ewangelista in Polish, whose gospel opens the New Testament and whose emblem is the winged lion. His feast falls on 25 April, and that date became the main Polish name day, the imieniny, for every Marek on a school class register.
The variant Markus keeps the root a little closer to the Latin. A boy called Marek holds a word that once pointed to a soldier's god, softened now to a plain and familiar first name. The old sense underneath has not moved: należący do Marsa, belonging to Mars.
When Marek celebrates name day
Marek appears 18 times in the Polish name day calendar, 6 of them as a main name, the first on 25 April.
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.
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in 122 days24 FebruaryWednesday in 2027
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in 131 days5 MarchFriday in 2027
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in 139 days13 MarchSaturday in 2027
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in 145 days19 MarchFriday in 2027
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in 150 days24 MarchWednesday in 2027
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in 155 days29 MarchMonday in 2027
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in 167 days10 AprilSaturday in 2027
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in 185 days28 AprilWednesday in 2027
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in 331 days21 SeptemberTuesday in 2027
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in 362 days22 OctoberFriday in 2027
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in 364 days24 OctoberSunday in 2027
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in 11 days5 NovemberThursday in 2026
How many people are named Marek
1 in 57 men in Poland is named Marek. 373,645 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #26 among male names.
Marek's popularity over time
157 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #210 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #26 name among living men, even as it slips to #210 among newborns.
Where parents choose Marek
Marek is most popular in Opole, 53% above the national average (50 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+25%) and Pomeranian (+23%). It is least common in Holy Cross and Subcarpathian, 44% and 39% below average respectively.
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Opole
+53%1 in 922 babies
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Silesian
+25%1 in 1,132 babies
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Pomeranian
+23%1 in 1,151 babies
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Holy Cross
−44%1 in 2,520 babies
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Subcarpathian
−39%1 in 2,319 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−17%1 in 1,709 babies
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Opole+53% 50 born1 in 922 babies+53%
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Silesian+25% 201 born1 in 1,132 babies+25%
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Pomeranian+23% 128 born1 in 1,151 babies+23%
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Lubusz+11% 39 born1 in 1,273 babies+11%
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West Pomeranian+11% 66 born1 in 1,279 babies+11%
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Lower Silesian+6% 118 born1 in 1,332 babies+6%
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Lesser Poland+6% 170 born1 in 1,335 babies+6%
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Masovian±0% 250 born1 in 1,417 babies±0%
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Lublin−5% 69 born1 in 1,488 babies−5%
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Podlaskie−5% 44 born1 in 1,495 babies−5%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−9% 70 born1 in 1,563 babies−9%
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Greater Poland−13% 133 born1 in 1,618 babies−13%
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Warmian-Masurian−17% 42 born1 in 1,709 babies−17%
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Łódź−17% 74 born1 in 1,712 babies−17%
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Subcarpathian−39% 52 born1 in 2,319 babies−39%
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Holy Cross−44% 22 born1 in 2,520 babies−44%
Marek as a middle name
Marek is a first name for 373,645 men in Poland and a middle name for another 248,808, a 60/40 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 10th, between Tomasz (253,972) and Michał (235,734).
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#8 Adam279,662
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#9 Tomasz253,972
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#10 Marek248,808
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#11 Michał235,734
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#12 Jerzy196,547