Am I the only one with a slight (okay, huge?) obsession with Polish names? I’m not Polish in the slightest bit, and am about 95% sure I should never burden my child with a Polish name (it’s all those "Z"s and "J"s and "Y"s! It’s why I love them, but also why I don’t know how usable they are…). But I still love them to death. Anyone here know Polish names?
These are some I’ve developed crushes on over the years–any you’d add to this list?
[name_f]Adela[/name_f]
[name_f]Agata[/name_f] (meh, maybe. I think I prefer the more English [name_f]Agnes[/name_f] and [name_f]Agatha[/name_f], personally)
[name_f]Ariadna[/name_f]
[name_f]Emilia[/name_f]
[name_f]Ewa[/name_f] (with names like [name_f]Ewa[/name_f], [name_f]Klara[/name_f], Wioletta, [name_f]Waleria[/name_f], and [name_f]Silwia[/name_f]/Sylwia, I think it’s just better to stick to the more international [name_f]Sylvia[/name_f], [name_f]Clara[/name_f], [name_f]Violetta[/name_f], [name_f]Valeria[/name_f], and [name_f]Eva[/name_f]. Still, I find [name_f]Ewa[/name_f] so charming!)
Gracja (GRAHS-ya)
[name_f]Grazyna[/name_f] (grah-ZHEE-nah)
Jozefina (yo-seh-fee-nah)
[name_f]Kaja[/name_f] (KIE-ah)
[name_f]Klara[/name_f]
Lilija/[name_f]Liljana[/name_f] ([name_f]Lilia[/name_f]; [name_f]Liliana[/name_f])
Lucja
[name_f]Sabina[/name_f]
[name_f]Serafina[/name_f]
[name_f]Silwia[/name_f]/Sylwia
[name_f]Sybilla[/name_f]
[name_f]Waleria[/name_f]
Wioletta
[name_f]Zenobia[/name_f]
[name_f]Zofia[/name_f]
Zoja (ZOY-ah)
[name_f]Zosia[/name_f]
[name_f]Zuzanna[/name_f]
The names are lovely, but the spellings will be confusing for Americans. I came across the Polish name Cymburgis (possibly only used by the mother of a Holy [name_m]Roman[/name_m] Emporer). Not sure what it means, but It’s intriguing.
[name_f]One[/name_f] of my best friends is Polish. Her name is Urszula. Her two daughters are [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] and [name_f]Julia[/name_f]. My cousin married a woman of Polish descent and her name is [name_f]Krystyna[/name_f] ([name_f]Christina[/name_f]). Here are some other Polish names I’ve come across in my years of investigation.
I’m polish, and my name is [name_f]Aleksandra[/name_f] “[name_f]Ola[/name_f]”. Not sure how or why every polish [name_f]Aleksandra[/name_f] is nicknamed [name_f]Ola[/name_f], but its definitely interesting! Being raised around many polish family friends and relatives, some of my favorite polish names include:
Ewelina (Eh-veh-lina)
[name_f]Katarzyna[/name_f] “[name_f]Kasia[/name_f]” (Kan-taz-yna, Kasha)
Aniela ([name_m]Ah[/name_m]-nee-ella)
[name_f]Karolina[/name_f]
[name_f]Paulina[/name_f]
[name_f]Zuzanna[/name_f] “Zuzia” (The first Z in Zuzia is pronounced like an American Z, but the second is pronounced quite differently, because it is paired with the letter i. Together, the two letters make a sound that is slightly harsher than the “sh” sound in English)
[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] “[name_f]Magda[/name_f]”
[name_f]Justyna[/name_f]
[name_f]Apolonia[/name_f] “[name_f]Pola[/name_f]” (Ap-ol-oh-nee-ah)
[name_f]Kamila[/name_f]
I’m not a big fan of polish names but out of your list I like [name_f]Emilia[/name_f] & [name_f]Adela[/name_f] - I’d use [name_f]Adelaide[/name_f] and NN her [name_f]Adela[/name_f] but that’s just me.
I love Polish names as well! I have a serious thing for Slavic languages. [name_f]One[/name_f] of my friends is Polish and her name is [name_f]Violetta[/name_f] [name_f]Justyna[/name_f], which is so lovely.
Some of my favourite girls names:
Agnieszka
[name_f]Anastazja[/name_f]
[name_f]Aneta[/name_f]
[name_m]Bo[/name_m]żena
[name_f]Dorota[/name_f]
[name_f]Karolina[/name_f]
[name_f]Ksenia[/name_f]
[name_f]Magdalena[/name_f]
Małgorzata (I like this form so much more than my own, [name_f]Margaret[/name_f])
[name_f]Martyna[/name_f]
[name_f]Renata[/name_f] (I know a woman by this name and I believe she’s Polish; I love her accent so much)
I think names like [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] and [name_f]Renata[/name_f] are usable. I live in a very international city, so for me even the accents and the “sz” aren’t too much of an issue, though as I’m not Polish at all and my husband is Chinese, I’ll probably avoid any names that scream “Polish”.
My husband [name_m]Jakub[/name_m] was born in Poland and we named our 1 year old daughter [name_f]Lydia[/name_f] (born in the US) because [name_f]Lidia[/name_f] is also used in Poland and is pretty much pronounced the same way. We used the English spelling because I like it more and it’s more common here. Other Polish female family/friends names are [name_f]Halina[/name_f], [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] (Wiktoria in Polish but she was born here so they used the English spelling); [name_f]Kamila[/name_f], [name_f]Julia[/name_f], [name_f]Iwona[/name_f], [name_f]Aleksandra[/name_f] ([name_f]Ola[/name_f]), a bunch of Anias and Kasias, Sylwia, [name_f]Ewa[/name_f], Agnieszka ([name_f]Agnes[/name_f]); [name_f]Dominika[/name_f]; [name_f]Monika[/name_f]; [name_f]Kinga[/name_f]; Oliwia; [name_f]Isabella[/name_f]; [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f]; and Weronika
Thanks, ladies! I think I’ve come across a lot of these. [name_m]How[/name_m] is [name_f]Ola[/name_f] said, for [name_f]Aleksandra[/name_f]? OH-lah? or more like [name_m]AH[/name_m]-lah? I do like [name_f]Magdalena[/name_f] (although I’m not sure about enough to use it), and Malgorzata intrigues me a lot! [name_m]How[/name_m] do you say it? Is it the Polish version of [name_f]Margaret[/name_f], then? Agnieszka, [name_f]Karolina[/name_f], and Ewelina intrigue me, although I’m not sure I like them as much as the names I listed in the OP. [name_f]Zofia[/name_f], [name_f]Zosia[/name_f], [name_f]Ariadna[/name_f], Lilija, Gracja (GRACJA!) have been my steady favorites, but I’m loving [name_f]Serafina[/name_f] and [name_f]Sybilla[/name_f] atm, too. I’ve loved them for a long time now, but I had no clue they were even Polish. I think [name_f]Zofia[/name_f]/[name_f]Zosia[/name_f], [name_f]Ariadna[/name_f], [name_f]Serafina[/name_f], and [name_f]Sybilla[/name_f] are pretty usable. I think I could probably even get away with Gracja, since my grandmother has the MN [name_f]Grace[/name_f]. If people caught on to [name_f]Sonja[/name_f], couldn’t they catch on to Gracja, too? I’ve been thinking about trying to fit it in as a middle. [name_f]Emmeline[/name_f] Gracja ([name_f]Emmeline[/name_f] Gracja [name_f]Poppy[/name_f]?) or something.
In polish, [name_f]Ola[/name_f] is pronounced Oh-lah. A soft O sound followed by a soft -la sound. I forgot to mention an all time favorite polish name of mine! Its a variation of the very popular [name_f]Isabella[/name_f]. The name is [name_f]Izabella[/name_f], and just about every Polish girl named [name_f]Izabella[/name_f] goes by [name_f]Iza[/name_f], pronounced Ee-zah.
yes, as mentioned above, [name_f]Ola[/name_f] is pronounced just like Hola in Spanish (for hello). In regards to your question about [name_f]Serafina[/name_f], while I’m certainly no expert on Polish names, I don’t think [name_f]Serafina[/name_f] is very widely used (I’ve been to Poland and have not heard of anyone named that).
I know a Malgorzata who went by [name_f]Margaret[/name_f] when she was living in the US and I used to work with a [name_f]Marzena[/name_f] (I think I spelled it right, it is pronounced mar-zhay-nuh). A friend of mine married a woman named Goesha (not sure of the spelling but it is pronounced goh-shuh).
