Sławomir

The name Sławomir comes from two old Slavic roots. The first, sława, means glory or fame; the second, mir, means peace. Put together they give the short meaning that Polish families still recite, glory and peace, sława i pokój in Polish.

The name shortens easily. A boy on the class register is Sławek by the second week, once the teacher tires of the full four syllables. Sława works too, and it doubles as a girl's name in its own right. The feminine form Sławomira keeps both roots whole, glory and peace passed across the gender line without losing a letter.

Poland's best known bearer is Sławomir Mrożek, the playwright and cartoonist whose absurd comedies filled theatres after the war and whose drawings ran in the press for decades. The name never needed a saint or a king to stay in use, since its meaning reads plainly to anyone who speaks the language. That plainness is the point. When a Sławomir signs a form at the urząd, the clerk reads two ordinary Slavic words fused into one: glory, and peace.