Waclaw
Polish masculine name derived from the Slavic name Vaclav, meaning "more glorious".
Name Census estimates that about 1 living Americans carry the first name Waclaw. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Waclaw today is around 111 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Waclaw births was 1916 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Waclaw. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Waclaw is about 111 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Waclaws were born before 1925.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Waclaw. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
1
~ 1 in 342,754,338 Americans
Peak year
1916
11 babies that year
Average age
111
years old
1919 SSA rank
#2,866
Tracked since 1912
Census
Waclaw in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 319 people with the first name Waclaw, which placed it at #28,252 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#28,252
National first-name rank
People counted
319
319 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
100.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Waclaw
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Waclaw is White at 100.0%. These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Waclaw described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Waclaw at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White100.0% · 319
Popularity
Waclaw: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Waclaw by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Waclaw during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 51 | 0 | 51 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Waclaw
The given name Waclaw has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Polish. It is a variant of the name Wenceslaus, which is derived from the Old Czech words "velen" meaning "great" and "slav" meaning "glory." The name was popular among the Slavic people during the Middle Ages.
Waclaw is the Polish equivalent of the Czech name Václav. The name gained prominence in the 10th century when Saint Wenceslaus, also known as Waclaw or Vaclav, became the Duke of Bohemia. He was martyred in 935 AD and later canonized as the patron saint of Bohemia.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Waclaw can be found in the "Gesta principum Polonorum" (The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles), a 12th-century chronicle written by an anonymous author, often referred to as Gallus Anonymus. This chronicle mentions Waclaw I, the Duke of Poland, who ruled from 1306 to 1333.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Waclaw. These include Waclaw II (1271-1305), King of Bohemia and Poland, who played a significant role in the development of the Czech lands and the city of Prague. Waclaw IV (1361-1419) was another King of Bohemia, known for his support of the Hussite movement and his patronage of art and architecture.
Waclaw Kozielewski (1848-1935) was a Polish painter and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, renowned for his portraits and genre scenes. Waclaw Sierpinski (1882-1969) was a renowned Polish mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of set theory and fractals.
Waclaw Sieroszewski (1858-1945) was a Polish writer, ethnographer, and explorer who spent many years among the indigenous peoples of Siberia and wrote extensively about their cultures and way of life.
While the name Waclaw has its roots in the Slavic languages, it has been adopted and used by various cultures throughout history, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe. The name continues to be popular in Poland and other Slavic countries, carrying with it a rich cultural heritage and historical significance.
People
Waclaw + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Waclaw as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Waclaw: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Waclaw?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Waclaw going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 342,754,338 US residents.
Is Waclaw a common name?
We classify Waclaw as "Very Rare". It ranks above 3.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Waclaw most popular?
The single biggest year for Waclaw was 1916, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Waclaw is about 111 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Waclaw in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 319 people with the name Waclaw, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,252 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Waclaw in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Waclaw?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Waclaw appears almost entirely male. Of the 321 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Waclaw?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Waclaw is White at 100.0%. These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Waclaw most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Waclaw in the 2020 Census, accounting for 100.0% (319 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Waclaw in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Waclaw a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Waclaw in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Waclaw still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Waclaw in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Waclaw can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Waclaw?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Waclaw at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.