Świętosława
A Slavic name meaning "holy glory". Only about 60 women in Poland carry it, and no girl has been given it this century, so meeting one would stay with you.
Świętosława Pronunciation
Świętosława is pronounced shfyen-tos-WAH-vah (/ɕfjɛ̃tɔsˈwava/).
What Świętosława means
Where Świętosława comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Świętosława is built from two Slavic roots. Święty means holy, sława means glory, and together they give the sense of holy glory. Its male twin is Świętosław.
The -sław ending runs through old Polish naming, in Bolesław, Mścisław, and Stanisław. There sława marks fame and the memory a person leaves behind. Świętosława joins that element to święty, the holy.
Chronicles hand down [one early Świętosława](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awi%C4%99tos%C5%82awa), though historians still argue over her. [Thietmar of Merseburg](https://polishhistory.pl/was-sigrid-storrada-the-daughter-of-mieszko-i/) names a daughter of Mieszko I who married into Scandinavia and became mother of Cnut the Great. Later tradition calls her Świętosława, while the sources disagree. The identification stays disputed. What holds is plainer: the name pairs święty with sława, holy with glory.
How many people are named Świętosława
1 in 369571 women in Poland is named Świętosława. 61 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4738 among female names.
Świętosława as a middle name
Świętosława is a first name for 61 women in Poland and a middle name for another 116, a 34/66 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 611th, between Ania (116) and Arkadia (115).
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#609 Kryspina117
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#610 Ania116
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#611 Świętosława116
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#612 Arkadia115
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#613 Chiara115