Nikodem
Nikodem is on the way back up: more boys carried it last year than in years past, and it goes to boys only. The name is Greek, meaning "victory of the people", and today it rings familiar to most Poles.
Nikodem Pronunciation
Nikodem is pronounced nyee-KO-dem (/ɲiˈkɔdɛm/).
What Nikodem means
Where Nikodem comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Nikodem comes from the Greek Nikodemos, made from nike, victory, and demos, the people. Put together they give the short meaning, victory of the people. That same demos stands behind the word democracy, so Nikodem keeps old civic company.
The name is old. Its most documented bearer is Nicodemus, the Pharisee who visited Jesus by night in the Gospel of John, and who later brought myrrh and aloes to help bury him. Through that story the Greek name passed into Christian use and came to Poland as Nikodem.
Read a Polish class register today and Nikodem sits easily among the shorter names, three clear syllables a teacher pronounces without pause. The meaning has not drifted. It still says victory of the people.
When Nikodem celebrates name day
Nikodem appears 4 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 3 August.
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 Nikodem
1 in 298 men in Poland is named Nikodem. 71,628 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #153 among male names.
Nikodem's popularity over time
5,772 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.
Where Nikodem is most popular
Nikodem is most popular in Warmian-Masurian, 29% above the national average (1,606 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lublin (+20%) and Świętokrzyskie (+20%). It is least common in Masovian and Greater Poland, both 12% below average.
-
Warmian-Masurian1,606 boys born+29%
-
Lublin2,149 boys born+20%
-
Świętokrzyskie1,153 boys born+20%
-
Subcarpathian2,464 boys born+18%
-
West Pomeranian1,670 boys born+14%
-
Kuyavian-Pomeranian2,125 boys born+12%
-
Lubusz893 boys born+4%
-
Łódź2,279 boys born+4%
-
Podlaskie1,147 boys born0%
-
Opole789 boys born−1%
-
Lesser Poland3,815 boys born−3%
-
Silesian3,780 boys born−4%
-
Pomeranian2,404 boys born−6%
-
Lower Silesian2,537 boys born−7%
-
Masovian5,423 boys born−12%
-
Greater Poland3,303 boys born−12%
Nikodem as a middle name
Nikodem is a first name for 71,628 men in Poland and a middle name for another 8,103, a 90/10 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 109th, between Eryk (8,159) and Romuald (7,947).
-
#107 Teodor8,218
-
#108 Eryk8,159
-
#109 Nikodem8,103
-
#110 Romuald7,947
-
#111 Benedykt7,878