Home › Baby Names Directory › Bronislaw
Bronislaw
How to Pronounce Bronislaw
Pronounced broh-NEE-slahf /broʊˈniːslɑf/Medium
Meaning: Bronislaw is the anglicized spelling of Polish Bronislaw (Bronislaw), built from the Slavic root bron, 'to defend' or 'protect', joined to slav, 'glory'. Together they read as 'glorious defender' or 'one whose defense brings glory', a classic two-part Slavic princely name of the kind long used across Poland.Medium
Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data
U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.
SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.
History & Origin
Bronislaw is a traditional Polish compound name of the dithematic Slavic type, where two meaningful roots are joined, here 'defend' and 'glory'. It came to the United States with the great wave of Polish immigration around the turn of the twentieth century, clustering in the industrial cities and parish communities of the Northeast and Great Lakes.
In American records Bronislaw stayed firmly an immigrant name, drawing only a couple dozen boys a year even at its high around 1918 and fading as Polish families shifted to shorter or anglicized forms like Bruno or simply Bernard. A boy given it then belongs to a great-grandfather's generation now.
Variations
Nicknames
Famous Bearers
- Famous bearers coming soon.
If you like Bronislaw…
Explore names like Bronislaw
Frequently Asked
What does the name Bronislaw mean?
It is a Polish name meaning 'glorious defender', from Slavic bron 'to defend' and slav 'glory'.
How do you pronounce Bronislaw?
It's said broh-NEE-slahf /broʊˈniːslɑf/, three syllables, stress on the second.
Is Bronislaw a boy or girl name?
Bronislaw is used as a boy's name.
Is Bronislaw a popular name?
No, it was always rare in America, an immigrant name that saw only faint use in the early twentieth century, around the nineteen-teens.