Walery
From the Latin Valerius, "strong, healthy". Around 485 men carry it in Poland and most people here have never met one, though a few newborns lately are edging it back up.
Walery Pronunciation
Walery is pronounced vah-LE-rih (/vaˈlɛrɨ/).
What Walery means
Where Walery comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Walery is the Polish form of the Latin Valerius, an old Roman family name grown from the verb valere, to be strong and in good health. That verb is the source of the meaning carried in Polish records as silny, zdrowy, strong and healthy. It also lies behind English valid and value, so a sense of worth sits near the name.
The name found sturdy owners in Poland. Walery Wróblewski, a nineteenth-century insurgent, rose to command troops during the Paris Commune, and the photographer Walery Rzewuski kept a busy studio in Kraków.
Its relatives stay close. Valerian is the variant, and Waleria is the feminine that answers alongside it. On 28 January a boy named Walery hears his imieniny read out.
The meaning holds steady: strong, healthy.
When Walery celebrates name day
Walery appears 5 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 14 June.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Walery
1 in 44013 men in Poland is named Walery. 485 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1336 among male names.
Walery's popularity over time
3 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1389 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2024. Still the #1336 name among living men, even as it slips to #1389 among newborns.
Where Walery is most popular
Walery is most popular in Greater Poland, 904% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025).
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Greater Poland2 boys born+904%
Walery as a middle name
Walery is a first name for 485 men in Poland and a middle name for another 338, a 59/41 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 379th, between Pascal (343) and Dobromir (337).
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#377 Serafin346
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#378 Pascal343
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#379 Walery338
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#380 Dobromir337
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#381 Ibrahim337