Jadwiga
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Meaning
battle refuge (historic Polish queen's name)
Jadwiga's name day in Poland is June 8, the feast of Saint Jadwiga of Poland. By tradition, Polish calendars also keep October 15 for Jadwiga.
The story
Jadwiga is the Polish form of Hedwig, an old Germanic compound of battle and refuge, and Poland gave it a story no other name has: in 1384 a girl of about ten was crowned at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków not as queen consort but as king of Poland, rex, a title chosen to make her sovereignty unmistakable. King Jadwiga endowed the restoration of Kraków's university, and her marriage to the grand duke of Lithuania opened the Jagiellonian age. Six centuries later, in 1997, John Paul II canonized her. In American records Jadwiga has stayed below the top 1000 in every decade, a name that crossed in church registries and stayed home in daily life, often anglicized to Hedwig or Hedy. For families reaching back toward Kraków it is about as regal as a rare name gets: a girl who was not permitted to be merely a queen.
How popular is Jadwiga around the world?
In the United States, Jadwiga is not on the Social Security record for 2020 to 2025: names under 5 in a year are withheld at source. In Poland, 268 girls named Jadwiga were born in 2025, the 79th most common name among girls that year.
Jadwiga is on the official records of Poland, Austria, Spain and Brazil.
United States
under 5 a year
In the United States, Jadwiga is not on the Social Security record for 2020 to 2025: names under 5 in a year are withheld at source.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Jadwiga has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Poland
1 in 920
In Poland, 268 girls named Jadwiga were born in 2025, the 79th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Austria
1 in 76,000
In Austria, 1 girl named Jadwiga was born in 2025, ranked 1,875th among girls that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Spain
1 in 710,000
In Spain, 63 residents are named Jadwiga, ranked 11,353rd among women, with a mean age of 61.5 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 24 people in Brazil were named Jadwiga, ranked 109,849th, with a median age of 79.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
England and Wales
last on record 2010
Jadwiga is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
France
last on record 1953
Jadwiga is not on the 2025 record for France, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
South Australia
last on record 1959
Jadwiga is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Jadwiga deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Jadwiga truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Jadwiga fits with your family’s names and surname.
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