Przemysław
Around 165,000 Polish men carry it, but hardly anyone gives it now: just 145 newborns last year. A Slavic name meaning "cunning glory".
Przemysław Pronunciation
Przemysław is pronounced pshe-MIHS-wahf (/pʂɛˈmɨswaf/).
What Przemysław means
Where Przemysław comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Przemysław grows from Slavic roots, built from an old element meaning thought or mind. The prze- part sharpens it toward something clever, a mind that outmaneuvers. This is where the short gloss, cunning glory, comes from. The sense of glory, sława, attached itself to the ending later, while the older core pointed at sharp intelligence. Poles still read the name as bystry, sprytny.
The name has real history behind it. Przemysł II was crowned king of Poland in 1295 at Gniezno, the first royal coronation there in over two centuries. A legendary Przemysł, the ploughman, appears even earlier in Polish chronicle as a founder figure of the Piast line. The name reaches back before records grow firm.
Today most people meet it in short form. A boy is Przemek to friends, Przemko to a grandmother, Przemysław only on the class register when the teacher reads roll. The full name stays formal, a little grand. Its meaning still points where it began, at a mind that is bystry, sprytny.
When Przemysław celebrates name day
Przemysław appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 30 October.
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 Przemysław
1 in 129 men in Poland is named Przemysław. 165,373 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #88 among male names.
Przemysław's popularity over time
145 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #217 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #88 name among living men, even as it slips to #217 among newborns.
Where parents choose Przemysław
Przemysław is most popular in Podlaskie, 44% above the national average (83 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Silesian (+37%) and Lesser Poland (+32%). It is least common in Greater Poland and West Pomeranian, 41% and 38% below average respectively.
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Podlaskie
+44%1 in 793 babies
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Silesian
+37%1 in 834 babies
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Lesser Poland
+32%1 in 869 babies
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Greater Poland
−41%1 in 1,939 babies
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West Pomeranian
−38%1 in 1,835 babies
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Holy Cross
−34%1 in 1,732 babies
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Podlaskie+44% 83 born1 in 793 babies+44%
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Silesian+37% 273 born1 in 834 babies+37%
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Lesser Poland+32% 261 born1 in 869 babies+32%
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Lublin+20% 108 born1 in 951 babies+20%
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Opole+19% 48 born1 in 960 babies+19%
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Lower Silesian+13% 155 born1 in 1,014 babies+13%
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Pomeranian+11% 143 born1 in 1,030 babies+11%
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Subcarpathian−1% 104 born1 in 1,159 babies−1%
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Warmian-Masurian−8% 58 born1 in 1,238 babies−8%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−14% 82 born1 in 1,334 babies−14%
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Łódź−16% 93 born1 in 1,363 babies−16%
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Masovian−17% 257 born1 in 1,378 babies−17%
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Lubusz−19% 35 born1 in 1,419 babies−19%
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Holy Cross−34% 32 born1 in 1,732 babies−34%
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West Pomeranian−38% 46 born1 in 1,835 babies−38%
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Greater Poland−41% 111 born1 in 1,939 babies−41%
Przemysław as a middle name
Przemysław is a first name for 165,373 men in Poland and a middle name for another 45,598, a 78/22 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 61st, between Wiktor (46,809) and Zygmunt (45,511).
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#59 Waldemar47,337
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#60 Wiktor46,809
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#61 Przemysław45,598
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#62 Zygmunt45,511
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#63 Konrad43,041