Roman
Around 175,000 Polish men carry it, still inside the top 100, though it gets given a little less each passing year. The name means "citizen of Rome".
Roman Pronunciation
Roman is pronounced RO-mahn (/ˈrɔman/).
What Roman means
Where Roman comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
The name Roman settled into Slavic soil long ago, and Poland kept it as a plain, durable staple. Behind it sits the Latin word Romanus, meaning a citizen of Rome. A boy given the name inherits a word that once marked belonging to a city and its people.
Slavic rulers took to it early. Roman Mstislavich, prince of Halych and Volhynia around the year 1200, turned it into a name of dynasty. From the same root come the feminine Romana and the shorter Roma, both still handed out today. The meaning stayed close to the surface. Rome, and one who belongs to it.
Open a Polish class register and a Roman often sits near the top, filed under R. His imieniny falls in late February. The name has never needed decoration to last: Roman, Romana, Roma, each a small door back to the word Romanus.
When Roman celebrates name day
Roman appears 8 times in the Polish name day calendar, 3 of them as a main name, the first on 28 February.
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 Roman
1 in 122 men in Poland is named Roman. 174,650 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #82 among male names.
Roman's popularity over time
130 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #226 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2007. Still the #82 name among living men, even as it slips to #226 among newborns.
Where parents choose Roman
Roman is most popular in Lower Silesian, 49% above the national average (93 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+30%) and West Pomeranian (+28%). It is least common in Holy Cross and Subcarpathian, 64% and 56% below average respectively.
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Lower Silesian
+49%1 in 1,690 babies
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Pomeranian
+30%1 in 1,938 babies
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West Pomeranian
+28%1 in 1,963 babies
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Holy Cross
−64%1 in 6,929 babies
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Subcarpathian
−56%1 in 5,741 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−40%1 in 4,223 babies
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Lower Silesian+49% 93 born1 in 1,690 babies+49%
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Pomeranian+30% 76 born1 in 1,938 babies+30%
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West Pomeranian+28% 43 born1 in 1,963 babies+28%
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Lubusz+27% 25 born1 in 1,986 babies+27%
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Greater Poland+24% 106 born1 in 2,031 babies+24%
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Masovian+17% 165 born1 in 2,147 babies+17%
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Lesser Poland+9% 98 born1 in 2,315 babies+9%
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Opole−18% 15 born1 in 3,073 babies−18%
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Silesian−19% 73 born1 in 3,118 babies−19%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−20% 35 born1 in 3,125 babies−20%
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Łódź−21% 40 born1 in 3,168 babies−21%
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Podlaskie−31% 18 born1 in 3,655 babies−31%
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Lublin−34% 27 born1 in 3,803 babies−34%
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Warmian-Masurian−40% 17 born1 in 4,223 babies−40%
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Subcarpathian−56% 21 born1 in 5,741 babies−56%
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Holy Cross−64% 8 born1 in 6,929 babies−64%
Roman as a middle name
Roman is a first name for 174,650 men in Poland and a middle name for another 87,248, a 67/33 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 37th, between Aleksander (88,645) and Sebastian (84,994).
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#35 Dariusz89,939
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#36 Aleksander88,645
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#37 Roman87,248
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#38 Sebastian84,994
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#39 Stefan70,831