Żywila
Fewer than a dozen women in Poland carry this name, so most Poles will never meet one. It grows from the Slavic root żyw-, behind żywy, alive, and życie, life: the meaning is life-giving.
Żywila Pronunciation
Żywila is pronounced zhih-VEE-lah (/ʐɨˈvila/).
What Żywila means
Where Żywila comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Żywila grows from the Slavic root żyw-, the same root behind żywy, alive, and życie, life. The short meaning follows plainly: life-giving, dająca życie. A single variant walks beside it, żywilla, with a doubled l.
In 1819 Adam Mickiewicz gave the name a story. His early prose piece "Żywila" made her a princess of old Lithuania, and it counts among his first works of fiction. The name reached readers on that page before it reached many cradles.
There is also Żywia, a Slavic goddess of life named in old chronicles. Żywila sits close to her by sound and sense, though the link is one of resemblance rather than proven descent.
Say it in a class register and it stands out. Few Polish girls carry it now. What holds firm is the root, żyw-, and the meaning it hands over: living, life-giving.
How many people are named Żywila
1 in 2817979 women in Poland is named Żywila. 8 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #19869 among female names.
Żywila as a middle name
Żywila is a first name for 8 women in Poland and a middle name for another 3, a 73/27 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 5396th, between Żermena (3) and Aarushi (2).
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#5394 Żeneta3
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#5395 Żermena3
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#5396 Żywila3
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#5397 Aarushi2
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#5398 Aarya2