Wladislaw
Only about 35 men in Poland carry this spelling, and not one newborn has taken it this century. Slavic at root, it reads as "glorious rule": fame won by ruling well.
Wladislaw Pronunciation
Wladislaw is pronounced vlah-DEES-lahf (/vlaˈdislaf/).
What Wladislaw means
Where Wladislaw comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Wladislaw grows from two Slavic elements. One is sława, glory or fame. The other is władać, to rule. Together they give the short meaning that Polish name pages still print: glorious rule, or in Polish sławny z władania.
The name sat on thrones. Władysław Jagiełło ruled Poland from 1386 and led the joined Polish and Lithuanian army against the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410. The form travels past the Polish border, appearing as Vladislav in Czech and as the Latin Ladislaus.
Daily life shortens it. A boy named Wladislaw becomes Władek on the class register and out in the schoolyard. The feminine form is Władysława. Poland keeps a name-day for it, and one falls on 27 June. So the old sense of ruling with fame answers to a plain diminutive: Władek.
How many people are named Wladislaw
1 in 609891 men in Poland is named Wladislaw. 35 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #6798 among male names.
Wladislaw as a middle name
Wladislaw is a first name for 35 men in Poland and a middle name for another 8, an 81/19 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 3719th, between Winfryd (8) and Worku (8).
-
#3717 Wielisław8
-
#3718 Winfryd8
-
#3719 Wladislaw8
-
#3720 Worku8
-
#3721 Yehezkel8