Władysław
Built from two Slavic roots, władać, to rule, and sława, glory: one who holds sway over glory. Once given to barely thirty boys a year, it has climbed back into steady use, and stays exclusively a man's name.
Władysław Pronunciation
Władysław is pronounced vwah-DIHS-wahf (/vwaˈdɨswaf/).
What Władysław means
Where Władysław comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Władysław is built from two old Slavic parts: władać, to rule, and sława, glory. Together they give the reading a Polish speaker still hears, ten, który włada sławą, one who holds sway over glory. In English the name shortens to glorious ruler.
Kings wore it. Władysław II Jagiełło led the Polish and Lithuanian forces to victory at Grunwald in 1410. A century after, the name ran through Władysław III, killed at the battle of Varna in 1444, which earned him the byname Warneńczyk. Closer to now, Władysław Reymont took the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1924 for his novel Chłopi.
On a school register in Poland the name still turns up, usually shortened by friends to Władek. Its name-day falls in late June. Vladislava, the feminine variant, holds the same two roots: rule, and glory.
How many people are named Władysław
1 in 316 men in Poland is named Władysław. 67,495 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #155 among male names.
Władysław's popularity over time
144 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #220 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2003. Still the #155 name among living men, even as it slips to #220 among newborns.
Where Władysław is most popular
Władysław is most popular in Masovian, 70% above the national average (270 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Pomeranian (+45%) and Greater Poland (+8%). It is least common in Świętokrzyskie and Opole, 72% and 47% below average respectively.
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Masovian270 boys born+70%
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Pomeranian96 boys born+45%
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Greater Poland104 boys born+8%
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Lesser Poland104 boys born+2%
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Lower Silesian70 boys born−1%
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Lubusz21 boys born−6%
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West Pomeranian34 boys born−10%
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Lublin36 boys born−22%
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Łódź42 boys born−26%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian36 boys born−27%
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Subcarpathian39 boys born−28%
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Podlaskie19 boys born−36%
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Silesian61 boys born−40%
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Warmian-Masurian18 boys born−44%
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Opole11 boys born−47%
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Świętokrzyskie7 boys born−72%
Władysław as a middle name
Władysław is a first name for 67,495 men in Poland and a middle name for another 100,059, a 40/60 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 32nd, between Karol (105,522) and Mariusz (98,841).
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#30 Janusz107,970
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#31 Karol105,522
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#32 Władysław100,059
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#33 Mariusz98,841
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#34 Rafał97,261