Polish name for a boy

[GreenLemonade]

We're looking for a boy name that would work well in English and Polish. Ideally, I would like it to be pronounced and spelled in a similar way in both languages. Minor differences are ok.

I don't mind if the name is popular. I would like it to sound quite modern and not too unusual/old fashioned in either language.

We like Leon and Artur but we can't use them.

Names on our list:
Albert
Antoni
Filip
Henryk
Kacper
Oskar
Tomasz

I would appreciate your thoughts on my list and any additional suggestions. Thanks!

It’s nice but it will get shortened to Bart…

@GreenLemonade , It's a name I hear often (it's the same individual), but when I asked a Polish acquaintance, I was told it was short for Tadeusz, and that Tadeusz was a bit 'old man'.

Often though, names can sneak back into fashion and unless you have very young children, you'll still think them dated.

I like Bartosz too. Bart is cool. I also like Leszek, but I think it might be a bit of a 75-yr old's name.

My nephew is Otto. His brother Jakub (Kuba for short).

Oskar, Tomasz or Kacper are my favourites. Unlike others, I don't think the spelling of Kacper will be a problem, but then I do live in an area where there are a lot of Polish families so I'm very familiar with this spelling. Maybe it depends where you live?

My son has a few university friends called Jan and no one calls them Ian or pronounces the J.

It’s a really nice classic name

Oskar or Tomasz work well
what about Lucasz?

I'm a teacher and have worked in schools with lots of Polish families, so most of these names are familiar to me, so I don't see any problems with pronounciation, but I guess it depends what your area's like.

Do you like Kamil or Patryk? I haven't seen them mentioned on here, but I've seen them on primary aged children in the last 5 years or so.

The Leon I know has a brother called Marcel. I also like Kacper (I've come across lots of Polish Kacpers so this just seems like the most normal spelling to me now!), Oskar, Kuba and Bartosz (I've known three or four and none of them shortened at all). I love the sound of Mikolaj but I do think that might cause pronounciation issues.

I like Oskar and Henryk best

I work with a Polish Darek which is nice (everyone can say and spell his name), Eliasz is nice too

The spellings will be an issue, but I don't think that's a problem, but it can be annoying.
You'll probably get the anglicized pronunciation, if that will bother you.

From your list I like Filip most.
From other posters' suggestions I like Marek and Maksym
If you go for Bartosz he is likely to be called Bart (Simpson)
I also love Mariusz.
What about Mateusz?

All the names on your list sound fine to me, except that in England I think I would expect a Philip to be at least 45 years old, and that name hasn't come back into fashion yet (bit like the English equivalent of Tadeusz, maybe)

Otherwise, another vote for Stefan - one of the quite limited number of names that's exactly the same in both languages. Or how about Zachary? Sebastian? Roman/Romek?

Thank you all! It seems that of the names on my list Oskar and Tomasz are getting the most positive reactions, with mixed feedback on Kacper.

Interestingly, many of the new suggestions are names of my family members: Aleksander, Kamil, Maks, Bartosz, Roman. I haven't fully decided if that's an issue or not. On one hand we don't see them very often. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to make it look like I'm honouring some random uncle or cousin that I don't even like much😄

I really want to keep it simple in terms of pronunciation and spelling. In my head, there is a big difference between anglicised prononcuation and mispronounciation. Anglicised prononcuation is not a problem. My son's name Leon is routinely pronounced in the English way instead of the Polish Leh-on. I see it as just one of his nicknames. However, mispronounciation is different and would be an issue to me. I think some Polish names would sadly be prone to it, for example Mateusz or Mikolaj.

I'm adding Patryk and Lukasz to the list!

@89redballoons Very interesting about Filip, thank you! I had no idea it had a middle aged guy vibe. A Polish Filip would most likely be under 20 😂

Jacob is nice

I know 2 Tomasz, one goes by Tomek so that's another option.

Just had a thought, my neighbour is Polish and his name is Neil, pronounced with the emphasis on the ei “ Nee uhl”

I love Oskar and Henryk, Stefani/Stefan and Antoni/Anton,

Also really like Jakub, Lucasz and Jan/Janek

In English from your list they all are relatively easy, obviously pronunciation will be different and Filip looks like is misspelt
The Tomasz will be confusing for some but not hard to rectify and Tomek will be easy.
In terms of names to avoid. Lucasz (my phone can't even do the l!) will forever be Lukas) and Bartek sounds clunky. Bolek sounds like bollocks, Janek will often be with a jay rather than y sound. I know a 6 foot bloke who answers to Jan (as in short for Janet!) Pszymek and, Zbigniew definitely blow English speakers heads!

Albert - same spelling, old man chic but has come back to be quite popular (not overly so).
Antoni - looks a bit strange with an i not a y. Could look like one of those people who change spelling randomly for the 'style' of it.
Henryk - I like this but would get called Henry all the time, if you don't mind that
Kacper - I would struggle to say this until I heard it said!
Oskar - straightforward and fairly common spelled like this as many countries spell that way

If you use Kacper I would, as a PP said, change the 'c' to an 's' otherwise you might get kack-per or worse kack.

I came across a baby Sylvester but with what I think is Polish spelling which I thought was cute.

Lukasz is lovely, I really like the Polish pronunciation as well as the typical English one.

I think all of your initial list except Kacper are easy to read and pronounce from a British perspective. The misread of "kack" in Kacper would put me off (especially as kack is slang for 💩 ).

Other names given to kids I know with at least one Polish parent include Alexander, Tymon, Maxim, all of which are lovely to my ear.

Generally I think people who know your child will learn the pronunciation very quickly. Spelling is more hit-and-miss, but people who matter will learn.

Iirc Darek is short for Dariusz. I love the full name, but not the shortened version. When he's at school I doubt the spelling of his name will be an issue as we've all been in classes where there are various spellings of names to learn - e.g. Matthew/Mathew and Clare/Claire and the kids will pronounce it correctly as they'll hear it first. It's in later life where it might be misspelled or pronounced, by which time hopefully Polish names will be more widely recognised. What about Dominik OP?

Sorry it’s Jakub in polish

I don't think F in Filip is an issue. If it was Ph- like in England, they would still need to explain every single time one or two Ls int he middle of the name!