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 Roman is most popular
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 Świętokrzyskie and Subcarpathian, 64% and 56% below average respectively.
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Lower Silesian93 boys born+49%
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Pomeranian76 boys born+30%
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West Pomeranian43 boys born+28%
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Lubusz25 boys born+27%
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Greater Poland106 boys born+24%
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Masovian165 boys born+17%
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Lesser Poland98 boys born+9%
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Opole15 boys born−18%
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Silesian73 boys born−19%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian35 boys born−20%
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Łódź40 boys born−21%
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Podlaskie18 boys born−31%
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Lublin27 boys born−34%
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Warmian-Masurian17 boys born−40%
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Subcarpathian21 boys born−56%
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Świętokrzyskie8 boys born−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