{"id":660,"date":"2009-12-21T23:11:20","date_gmt":"2009-12-22T03:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=660"},"modified":"2009-12-21T23:11:20","modified_gmt":"2009-12-22T03:11:20","slug":"on-annas-and-agnieszkas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/on-annas-and-agnieszkas\/","title":{"rendered":"On Annas and Agnieszkas"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know there are some foreigners out there who are convinced that 50% of Polish women are named Anna<\/strong> and the other 49% – Agnieszka<\/strong>. The remaining percent is claimed by Katarzyna<\/strong>, Ma\u0142gorzata<\/strong> and Edyta<\/strong>, with a few Gra\u017cynas<\/strong> stuck in there for variety\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n

I always shook my head with disbelief when I heard such a thing and went on my merry way murmuring something under my nose about clueless foreigners.<\/p>\n

But lately, I see that, golly gee whiz, they actually might have been right. I did a first name tally of my Polish female friends and acquaintances and to my utter shock and horror saw the naked truth about Anna<\/strong>s and Agnieszka<\/strong>s.<\/p>\n

Exactly 50% of the women I know are named Anna<\/strong> (and I didn\u2019t even include myself in this head count). About 30% are named Agnieszka<\/strong>. And the rest are indeed Katarzyna<\/strong>s, Ma\u0142gorzata<\/strong>s, Edyta<\/strong>s and Gra\u017cyna<\/strong>s. There\u2019s also a Wioletta<\/strong> and a Paulina<\/strong> and a Dominika <\/strong>and two Monika<\/strong>s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And that got me thinking. How do people choose those names for their children?
\nMy parents wanted something universal in every language, without any funny Polish letters, impossible pronunciations, and short enough so every dummy (including myself) could remember it very easily.<\/p>\n

And while Anna<\/strong> is pronounced differently in different parts of the world, it\u2019s still easy to guess that it\u2019s me they\u2019re talking about. In Poland, it\u2019s \u201cahn \u2013 na\u201d, by the way. The middle \u201cn\u201d is doubled not only in writing, but also in sound.<\/p>\n

But not all Polish names are so accommodating. If you\u2019re ever heard a foreigner butchering \u201cKatarzyna<\/strong>\u201d, you know what I\u2019m talking about.<\/p>\n

Still, that doesn\u2019t explain the immense popularity of Anna<\/strong>s and Agnieszka<\/strong>s in Poland.<\/p>\n

And why am I writing about it today? I met a new person yesterday, a foreigner. I told him I was Polish, but didn\u2019t introduce myself.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201clet me guess \u2013 Agnieszka<\/strong>?\u201d<\/em>
\nI said, \u201cno.\u201d<\/em> And his answer was, \u201cthen it must be Anna<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em> And bingo.<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s another person out there convinced that every Polish woman is named either Anna<\/strong> or Agnieszka.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know there are some foreigners out there who are convinced that 50% of Polish women are named Anna and the other 49% – Agnieszka. The remaining percent is claimed by Katarzyna, Ma\u0142gorzata and Edyta, with a few Gra\u017cynas stuck in there for variety\u2019s sake. I always shook my head with disbelief when I heard…<\/p>\n

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