Wanda
An old Slavic name in the middle of a comeback: more girls got it last year than in any year since the 2000s, and it now sits inside Poland's top 150. The root points to the Wends, an early Slavic people.
Wanda Pronunciation
Wanda is pronounced VAHN-dah (/ˈvanda/).
What Wanda means
Where Wanda comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Wanda grows from Slavic ground. One old reading ties it to the Wends, the name that Germanic speakers used for the Slavic tribes along their eastern edge. Read that way, the short meaning points to a whole people rather than to a single virtue. The Polish gloss stays honest about its limits: węda, pochodzenie niejasne, origin unclear.
The name has a twin abroad. Vanda is the variant that crosses borders and turns up in registers well beyond Poland.
Then there is the legend. In the chronicle of Wincenty Kadłubek, written around 1200, Wanda is a princess of Kraków, daughter of King Krak. Rather than marry a German prince, she drowned herself in the Vistula. Kadłubek probably invented her and linked the name to the Vandals, whom medieval writers confused with the Wends. The patriotic reading of her death came much later.
Wanda keeps her name day on 23 June. On that same date in 1949, work began on Nowa Huta, where the ancient Kopiec Wandy still stands. A girl signing a form at the urząd on 23 June writes one first name: Wanda.
How many people are named Wanda
1 in 249 women in Poland is named Wanda. 90,501 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #131 among female names.
Wanda's popularity over time
654 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #89 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2001.
Where Wanda is most popular
Wanda is most popular in Masovian, 45% above the national average (837 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+37%) and Greater Poland (+23%). It is least common in Świętokrzyskie and Subcarpathian, 66% and 52% below average respectively.
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Masovian837 girls born+45%
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Pomeranian329 girls born+37%
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Greater Poland430 girls born+23%
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Lesser Poland406 girls born+10%
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Lower Silesian265 girls born+4%
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Silesian373 girls born+1%
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Łódź191 girls born−7%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian163 girls born−8%
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Opole50 girls born−33%
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Warmian-Masurian71 girls born−39%
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Lublin98 girls born−41%
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Lubusz46 girls born−43%
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West Pomeranian77 girls born−44%
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Podlaskie54 girls born−50%
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Subcarpathian95 girls born−52%
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Świętokrzyskie31 girls born−66%
Wanda as a middle name
Wanda is a first name for 90,501 women in Poland and a middle name for another 56,675, a 61/39 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 48th, between Renata (58,366) and Łucja (53,469).
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46
59,349Kinga
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47
58,366Renata
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4856,675Wanda
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49
53,469Łucja
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50
49,020Emilia
When Wanda celebrates name day
Wanda appears 1 time in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 23 June.