Rachel
A Hebrew name meaning "ewe", a female sheep. Fewer than 500 women in Poland carry it, so most Poles have never met one, though a few newborns each year are nudging the count back up.
Rachel Pronunciation
Rachel is pronounced RAH-khel (/ˈraxɛl/).
What Rachel means
Where Rachel comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Rachel comes from the Hebrew Rāchēl, and the word names a ewe, a female sheep. Polish renders that as owieczka. The name reaches us through the book of Genesis, where Rachel is the wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob meets her at a well, where she has come to water her father's flock, so the shepherding sense sits close to the surface of her story.
For a long time Rachel stayed chiefly a Jewish name, passed down from that matriarch along family lines. English speakers took it up more widely after the Reformation, when Old Testament names grew common. It has stayed in use ever since.
In a Polish class register the name looks slightly foreign, spelled as it is in English rather than adapted to Polish sound. That foreign look is part of what it offers. Behind it stands a very old word for a young ewe, owieczka, and a woman standing at a well with her sheep.
How many people are named Rachel
1 in 50209 women in Poland is named Rachel. 453 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1392 among female names.
Rachel's popularity over time
3 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1332 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2023.
Where Rachel is most popular
Rachel is most popular in Masovian, 510% above the national average (2 girls born 2019–2025).
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Masovian2 girls born+510%
Rachel as a middle name
Rachel is a first name for 453 women in Poland and a middle name for another 282, a 62/38 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 404th, between Wincentyna (284) and Lynn (281).
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#402 Roberta284
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#403 Wincentyna284
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#404 Rachel282
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#405 Lynn281
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#406 Ernestyna280