Wasyl
A Ukrainian counterpart to Bazyli, going back to the Greek for "royal, kingly". In Poland it stays rare: only a few hundred men carry it, and it's given to almost no newborns now.
Wasyl Pronunciation
Wasyl is pronounced VAH-sihl (/ˈvasɨl/).
What Wasyl means
Where Wasyl comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Wasyl reaches back to the Greek Basileios, a word tied to kings and royal rule. The short meaning stays close to that source: royal, kingly. In Polish the same root gives Bazyli, while Wasyl keeps the shape it took among Ukrainian speakers, where it has been common for generations.
Basil the Great, the fourth-century bishop of Caesarea, fixed the name in Christian memory, and his feast still anchors the name-day calendars that Wasyl shares with Bazyli. A Greek word for royalty travelled east and settled into Slavic parishes.
Read a name like this on a school register in Przemyśl, near the border, and you meet a community's history in one line. The kingliness was never literal. The royal sense clung to the sound itself, not to any boy's rank. Call the child Wasyl, and the older Bazyli stands just behind him. Both trace to the same royal Greek root.
How many people are named Wasyl
1 in 62053 men in Poland is named Wasyl. 344 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1616 among male names.
Wasyl's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.
Wasyl as a middle name
Wasyl is a first name for 344 men in Poland and a middle name for another 72, an 83/17 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 853rd, between Gerardo (72) and Wilhelmus (72).
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#851 Eli72
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#852 Gerardo72
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#853 Wasyl72
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#854 Wilhelmus72
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#855 Eustachiusz71