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Girl · Old Slavic
Božena
Say it: BOH-zheh-nah
Meaning
From Slavic bog 'god', with the sense 'divine' or 'blessed by God'.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Known from the 11th-century peasant wife of Duke Oldřich and revived in the Czech National Revival; very common in Poland as Bożena after 1945 but now rare for babies.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 45 babies given this name since 1926
- At its height in 1968, about 1 in 205,000 girls
- Fewer than 5 babies a year in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
| Polish | Bożena |
|---|---|
| Croatian | Božena |
| Slovak | Božena |
Famous bearers
- Božena Němcová, Czech writer
- Božena, wife of Duke Oldřich of Bohemia
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Medieval Slavic chronicles and charters
- Well-known works of literature
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.