Szczęsny
Fewer than 60 Polish men carry it now, and no boys have been given it so far this century. The Slavic root means "happy, fortunate, lucky."
Szczęsny Pronunciation
Szczęsny is pronounced SHCHENS-nih (/ˈʂt͡ʂɛ̃snɨ/).
What Szczęsny means
Where Szczęsny comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Szczęsny is a Slavic name built on the same root as szczęście, the Polish word for fortune and happiness. Its meaning stays close to the surface: happy, fortunate, lucky. For centuries Polish clergy treated it as the native twin of the Latin Felix, and the two names swapped freely in parish books.
The name is short. It says what it means.
History gives it a clear bearer. Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki, a magnate born in 1753, went by Szczęsny as his second given name, the Polish stand-in for the Felix he was christened with. In him the word served twice, once as a name and once as a claim about a man's luck.
The cross-gender form is szczęsna, spoken of a girl and holding the same sense of good fortune. On an imieniny, whoever holds the name is toasted for exactly that. What the name promises sits right there in the word: fortunate.
How many people are named Szczęsny
1 in 361800 men in Poland is named Szczęsny. 59 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4834 among male names.
Szczęsny as a middle name
Szczęsny is a first name for 59 men in Poland and a middle name for another 604, a 9/91 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 290th, between Jozef (606) and Ambroży (595).
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#288 Francis606
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#289 Jozef606
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#290 Szczęsny604
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#291 Ambroży595
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#292 Herman591