Jadwiga

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 13 languages in the etymology graph.

How Jadwiga is read●(measured from records)

Jadwiga is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• Polish85%

  a female given name, equivalent to English Hedwig

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• English9.5%

  Polish: "the contentious one"; "fighter"

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Other names spelled this way◐(inferred from the name graph)

Jadwiga is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Russian given name37 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek

  Also written Ядвига, Ядвіга, Yadviga, Jadviga, Iadviga

• Croatian given name15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovenian

  Also written Ядвига, Jadviga, Јадвига, Яdviga

40 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●(measured from records)

Jadwiga is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Polish form of Hedwig, Germanic 'battle' + 'fight'.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In Swedish, Jadwiga är en polsk form av → Hedvig. En känd namnbärare är drottning Jadwiga av Polen (1373/74–99) under vars styre Polen och Litauen blev ett rike. Hon helgonförklarades 1997.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, gegen Ende des 19. Jh.s entlehnter weibl. Vom., polnische Form von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Seguridad en tiempo de guerra

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Jadwiga I of Polandb. 1374HUQueen of Poland (1384–1399)
• Hedwig of Cieszynb. 1469SKnot in their usual namePolish princess, mother of King John I of Hungary
• Countess Palatine Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuburgb. 1673DEnot in their usual nameCountess Palatine of Neuburg by birth and by marriage Princess of Poland (1673-1722)
• Jadwiga Smosarskab. 1898PLPolish actress (1898–1971)
• Jadwiga Wajsb. 1912PLPolish discus thrower (1912–1990)
• Jadwiga Jędrzejowskab. 1912PLPolish tennis player (1912–1980)
• Jadwiga Piłsudskab. 1920PLPolish pilot (1920-2014)
• Jadwiga Barańskab. 1935PLPolish actor and screenwriter (1935–2024)
• Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślakb. 1951PLPolish actress (1951–2025)
• Magdalena Boczarskab. 1978PLnot in their usual namePolish actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them○(machine-generated)

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the name Jadwiga come from?

Polish form of Hedwig, Germanic 'battle' + 'fight'. Recorded by Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms.

How do you pronounce Jadwiga?

A machine transcription gives /jadvʲiɡa/ (IPA) for Polish.

What does the name Jadwiga mean?

In Polish, a female given name, equivalent to English Hedwig

Is Jadwiga a male or female name?

Jadwiga is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What are other forms of the name Jadwiga?

In the etymology graph, Edwige, Hedwig and Hedy are forms of the same name in other languages; Jadzia is a recorded short or pet form.

In which country does Jadwiga have the most bearers?

In Poland, the national register counted about 218 thousand people named Jadwiga, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled jadwiga.

Where is Jadwiga most common?

Jadwiga is densest in Poland, where the national register counts about 1 in 175 people carrying it.

How common is the name Jadwiga?

In Poland, the national register counted 218,462 people named Jadwiga in 2026, about 1 in 175 residents.

How common is Jadwiga compared with other names?

In Poland, Jadwiga is the 46th most common given name of 25,969 given names recorded there.