Mikalai
A Slavic name meaning "victory of the people". Only around 3,900 men in Poland carry it, and it's given so rarely now that most Poles have never met one.
Mikalai Pronunciation
Mikalai is pronounced mee-kah-LAH-ee (/mikaˈlai/).
What Mikalai means
Where Mikalai comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Mikalai is the East Slavic form of the name the Greeks assembled as Nikolaos, from nikē, victory, and laos, the people. The sense it carries is direct: victory of the people, or in Polish zwycięzca ludu.
It reached the Slavic world along Orthodox roads, and the name that Poland writes as Mikołaj sounds, in Belarusian, as Mikalai. Saint Nicholas of Myra, the fourth-century bishop later remembered for secret gifts, gave it a reach few names match.
The name settles quickly.
On an official form at the urząd, the spelling Mikalai marks a bearer from the Belarusian east, one vowel away from the Mikołaj whose name-day falls on the sixth of December. The letters shift; the root holds its claim. It still means victory of the people, zwycięzca ludu.
How many people are named Mikalai
1 in 5444 men in Poland is named Mikalai. 3,921 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #537 among male names.
Mikalai's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.