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Yaroslav

Almost unheard of through the 2000s, it took off in the 2020s: from a handful a year to dozens. A Slavic name, the Ukrainian and Russian form of Jarosław, built on roots meaning fierce and glorious.

Yaroslav Pronunciation

Alive in 2025
20,040
Newborns 2025
58
National rank
#275

What Yaroslav means

Where Yaroslav comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Yaroslav grows from two old Slavic roots. The first, "yar," means fierce, ardent, hot-blooded. The second, "slav," means glory. Together they give the short meaning the name still carries: fierce and glorious.

The best-known bearer is Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kyiv, who ruled until 1054 and gave the early Rus its first written law code. Through him the name settled into Ukrainian and Russian ground, and it kept its edge. The root stayed sharp.

Polish reshaped Yaroslav into Jarosław, and daily speech clipped that down to Jarek. A boy read out as Jarek on a school register may never once picture war and glory behind it. The feminine Jarosława belongs to the same root, worn by fewer women, sharing the same claim to be fierce and glorious.

How many people are named Yaroslav

1 in 1066 men in Poland is named Yaroslav. 20,040 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #275 among male names.

People with the name Yaroslav 2019 → 2025
20,040 +16,035 since 2019
2020 5,224 +1,219
2021 6,863 +1,639
2022 9,441 +2,578
2023 17,237 +7,796
2024 18,746 +1,509
2025 20,040 +1,294

Yaroslav's popularity over time

58 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #332 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2017. Still the #275 name among living men, even as it slips to #332 among newborns.

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58 newborns with the name Yaroslav in 2025
national rank #332 that year

Where Yaroslav is most popular

Yaroslav is most popular in Lower Silesian, 180% above the national average (46 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lubusz (+131%) and Masovian (+40%). It is least common in Lublin and Subcarpathian, 81% and 76% below average respectively.

More common than average Less common than average

Yaroslav as a middle name

Yaroslav is a first name for 20,040 men in Poland and a middle name for another 15, a 100/0 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 2464th, between Winfried (15) and Yousuf (15).

As a first name
20,040
As a middle name
15
first name 100% middle name 0%
Middle-name ranking men

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