Orest
From the Greek for "of the mountains", carried in Poland mostly through Ukrainian families. Most Poles have never met an Orest, but it's climbing: more boys got it last year than in years past, and it stays strictly a boy's name.
Orest Pronunciation
Orest is pronounced O-rest (/ˈɔrɛst/).
What Orest means
Where Orest comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Orest reaches Polish through Ukrainian, where it has long been at home. The root is Greek: Orestes, built on oros, the word for mountain. So the short meaning holds, one of the mountains, a dweller of high ground.
Greek myth gave the name its first famous bearer. Orestes, son of Agamemnon, avenged his father and was hounded by the Furies afterward, a figure Aeschylus set on stage in the Oresteia. That weight travelled east and stayed.
In Ukraine the name kept its footing while it grew rare in Poland. There are no soft diminutives on the official record here, no cross-gender pair. Read a class register in a border town and Orest stands alone, unhurried by nicknames.
A boy called Orest carries a mountain in five letters. The Greek oros is still there under the Polish spelling, and the meaning stays plain: mieszkaniec gór, one of the mountains.
How many people are named Orest
1 in 9237 men in Poland is named Orest. 2,311 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #663 among male names.
Orest's popularity over time
45 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #370 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2010.
Where parents choose Orest
Orest is most popular in Lower Silesian, 108% above the national average (32 boys born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+33%) and Masovian (+29%). It is least common in Lublin and Subcarpathian, 60% and 58% below average respectively.
-
Lower Silesian
+108%1 in 4,910 babies
-
West Pomeranian
+33%1 in 7,675 babies
-
Masovian
+29%1 in 7,873 babies
-
Lublin
−60%1 in 25,669 babies
-
Subcarpathian
−58%1 in 24,113 babies
-
Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−53%1 in 21,876 babies
-
Lower Silesian+108% 32 born1 in 4,910 babies+108%
-
West Pomeranian+33% 11 born1 in 7,675 babies+33%
-
Masovian+29% 45 born1 in 7,873 babies+29%
-
Warmian-Masurian+28% 9 born1 in 7,977 babies+28%
-
Greater Poland+23% 26 born1 in 8,279 babies+23%
-
Lesser Poland+17% 26 born1 in 8,728 babies+17%
-
Pomeranian+11% 16 born1 in 9,208 babies+11%
-
Silesian−15% 19 born1 in 11,978 babies−15%
-
Lubusz−38% 3 born1 in 16,552 babies−38%
-
Podlaskie−38% 4 born1 in 16,447 babies−38%
-
Łódź−44% 7 born1 in 18,103 babies−44%
-
Kuyavian-Pomeranian−53% 5 born1 in 21,876 babies−53%
-
Subcarpathian−58% 5 born1 in 24,113 babies−58%
-
Lublin−60% 4 born1 in 25,669 babies−60%
Orest as a middle name
Orest is a first name for 2,311 men in Poland and a middle name for another 206, a 92/8 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 481st, between Mauricio (206) and Abraham (205).
-
#479 Jason206
-
#480 Mauricio206
-
#481 Orest206
-
#482 Abraham205
-
#483 Rao202