I was talking recently with a fellow student in my language class about the impending birth of his twin sons. Like several of my other classmates, he has a Polish wife and he was describing the discussions that have been going on about naming the children.
Names here have been a little confusing to me from the beginning but I hadn't been aware of other factors that play into the naming itself, complicated when the parents are from different cultural backgrounds. In this case, the husband has specific names in mind, but he mentioned that his wife's family was involved in the conversations and they seem to have some influence in the decision. While it doesn't seem as tradition-bound as in Armenia (where I was told the new mother's mother-in-law chooses the name) this was more communal than I have seen in the US.
One problem that he was having related to (I think) one of the names ending with an "A" since in Poland that would signify a women's name. I am not aware of a single female name that does not end in A, meaning the whole joke of "It's Pat!" would fall flat here. On the other hand, I have noticed several men's names in Polish that sound like women's names in English. Marian, Kamil and Karol come to mind, although the latter is the local equivalent of Charles.
For many of the names here, it is easy to identify the English equivalent. For example, Mateusz, Marek, Łukasz and Jan are pretty easy to figure out, Małgorzata = Margaret, and many of the female names are exactly the same although the spelling may be different (Katarzyna, Ewa, Karolina). But there are names that don't really have an English equivalent, such as Przemysław, Radysław, Wojciech, Malvina and Jagoda (the latter, by the way, means "berry").
Unlike in English, some of the diminutives of names do not have apparent connections to the formal name. Some are easy (Katarzyna => Kasia, Magdalena => Magda, Przemyslaw => Przemek) while others are a bit more difficult (Jakub => Kuba, Joanna => Joasia => Asia) and some just confuse me (Aleksandra => Ola and Aleksander is Olek).
Since the people working in my office are from different countries, some of the diminutives differ. A Polish Ola is a Russian Sasha. It can be difficult to remember the name to use, and which person you are talking about when it is a popular name. I work with at least four Kasias and two Katias and usually have to specify which department the one I am referring to works in. This can also cause some potential awkwardness as I learned that the word "tania" in Polish is the feminine form of the adjective "cheap". I guess maybe one should stick with Tatiana....
Names pose one of the (many) complications in learning Polish as they have declensions like other nouns. The Polish equivalent of Mark is Marek (nominative case), but depending on the sentence it can be Marka (genetive and accusative cases), Markiem (instrumental case), Markowi (dative case) or Marku (locative case). Depending on your surname, it can have a declension like a noun or like an adjective. Making it more complicated, "noun" surnames may be treated differently for men and women depending on whether it is a masculine or feminine noun. Therefore, Robert Nowak's surname would change based on the grammar case (it is a masculine noun), although Kim Nowak's would not. But if the surname is a feminine noun, both sexes are treated the same. With names that are treated as adjectives, the women in a family will have a different surname than the men - Krakowska versus Krakowski - and both have multiple versions depending on the sentence.
Name days (imieniny) are important here and may be celebrated instead of birthdays (although some people celebrate both, which is good because it means more cake). Each day on the calendar is a name day for at least two names. Some common names (such as Jan) have multiple name days and you celebrate the first one following your birthday. Most of the office calendars I have seen here show the daily names and, while I have not seen it in Warsaw, I have read that some cities display them on buses.
Some of the names here can sound comical to English speakers, including the newly elected president - Andrzej Duda.
Personally, I can't hear his name without thinking of this song. But that issue cuts both ways. I was recently informed that one of the candidates in next year's presidential election has a name that Poles find amusing.
Apparently, "jeb" is the imperative form of a vulgar verb in Polish (and the exclamation point only reinforces that). In case you are wondering which word, think of what the director of a porn movie might instruct his (or her) actors to do....When I was told this, my colleague was even more amused when I informed him of the off-color alternative usage of said candidate's surname.
What's in a name, indeed. I wonder if his advisors warned him about this before his recent trip to Poland.....
