Place names are a huge topic. A few years ago, I published an application that allowed users to filter places by name. This allows them to identify certain linguistic phenomena and influences that have left their mark on the naming of towns and villages.
In this mapping project, I will narrow down the scope of place names. I want to present cities in Poland whose names reference other cities or regions.
To prepare the analysis, I used publicly available data from the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography: link to resource. The maps and data analyses were done in QGis. Only cities were considered for analysis. As of July 26, 2025, 1,020 places in Poland have a city status. Below is the main result of the analysis: the map. I have included a discussion of the details later in the post.
Results
Of the 82 cities included in the analysis, most of them have a reference to the region.
| Reference type | count |
|---|---|
| Region | 69 |
| City | 13 |
Cities referencing to other city
Here is a list of cities whose names are referred to by other cities:
| Referenced city | city/cities | count |
|---|---|---|
| Gdańsk | Nowy Dwór Gdański, Starogard Gdański, Pruszcz Gdański | 3 |
| Białystok | Czarna Białostocka, Dąbrowa Białostocka | 2 |
| Łódź | Aleksandrów Łódzki, Konstantynów Łódzki | 2 |
| Brzeg | Lewin Brzeski | 1 |
| Iława | Górowo Iławeckie | 1 |
| Mińsk | Mińsk Mazowiecki | 1 |
| Racibórz | Kuźnia Raciborska | 1 |
| Wrocław | Kąty Wrocławskie | 1 |
| Łuków | Stoczek Łukowski | 1 |
Cities referencing to region
Here is a list of the regions to which the cities refer:
| Region | Region [EN] | count |
|---|---|---|
| Śląsk | Silesia | 13 |
| Wielkopolskie | Greater Poland | 9 |
| Mazowsze | Masovia | 8 |
| Kujawy | Kuyavia | 6 |
| Podlaskie | Podlachia | 5 |
| Pomorze | Pomerania | 5 |
| Krajna | Krajna | 4 |
| Lubelskie | Lublin Land | 4 |
| Małopolska | Lesser Poland | 3 |
| Lubuskie | Lubusz | 1 |
| Opolskie | Opole Land | 1 |
| Podhale | Podhale | 1 |
| Polska | Poland | 1 |
| Warmia | Warmia | 1 |
| Województwo Tarnowskie | Tarnów Voivodeship | 1 |
| Ziemia Chełmińska | Chełmno Land | 1 |
| Ziemia Kłodzka | Kłodzko Land | 1 |
| Ziemia Lubawska | Lubawa Land | 1 |
| Ziemia Rawska | Rawa Land | 1 |
| Ziemia Sandomierska | Sandomierz Land | 1 |
| Świętokrzyskie | Holy Cross | 1 |
I found the most such cases in the regions of Silesia, Greater Poland, and Mazovia. This location is not surprising. These are among the historic and oldest regions in Poland in terms of settlement. They are also the most populated regions in Poland, with a denser settlement structure compared to other areas.
Random facts
There are cities whose names include the region in which they are not located:
- Gorzów Wielkopolski - not located in Greater Poland
- Strzelce Krajeńskie - not located in the Krajna region
Mińsk Mazowiecki does not refer to the capital of Belarus - Minsk. The name Minsk comes from the Mienia River, whose name is in turn associated with the word “mienić” (meaning - to glitter, to shine). The adjective “Mazowiecki” is to distinguish the city from Minsk in Belarus.
Górowo Iławeckie - Although there are two towns in Poland with the full name “Iława” (Iława and Górowo Iławeckie), these names do not refer to each other in the sense of directly incorporating one name into the other, as in the examples of “Krosno Odrzańskie” (where “Krosno” is a different town). What they have in common is a historical heritage and a reference to the former Prussian Iława (German: Preußisch Eylau), which is now in Russia and is called Bagrationovsk.