How are names in Polish " nicknamed "?

My boyfriend is from Russia and just explained to me how names would be "nicknamed", like for example, his name is Ivan but we call him Vanya, and if we had a son, we would name him Victor, but call him Vitya.

How are names in Polish nicknamed? I sort of understand how it works, my friend Katarzyna is Kasia, and her mother Dorota would be Dosia (right? or wrong?) Her brothers "Americanized" their names, so I don't know how male names are nicknamed.

Could names in other languages be nicknamed in a Polish way and still make sense? We can use my boyfriend's name, Ivan, and my name, Caitlin, as examples, if that'll make it easier.

Completely different to the Russian


Ivan would be "Ivek" and Caitlin sounds like foreign "Katarzyna" so it would be "Kasia" I suppose.

Caitlin is an Irish variant of name Catherine (Polish Katarzyna), so if you want to make diminutive in Polish, it will be Kasia.

Ivan, on the other hand, is East Slavic variant of name John (Polish Jan). In Polish it would be Janek. Vanya is diminutive in East Slavic languages.

Personally, I don't think that translating names is good enough. If he is Ivan, he is Ivan, and his shorter kind of name would be Vanya.

Is Caitlinthe Irish spelling of Kathleen?

Yes. They are both Irish variants of Katherine, with Kathleen being an anglicised phonetic spelling.Untill the Caitlin spelling started to become fashionalble again a few decades ago (Australia has a bit to do with that) both were pronounced Kathleen.

Polish Katarzyna also has the same (French, I think), roots.

Why is Przemek a nickname but not a proper name? Leszek is a proper name and a nickname so why not Przemek too?

I think that "ek" ending is reserved mostly for nick names, but some exemptions exist - just like Leszek, Jacek and Marek.

A Polish friend once told me that in Poland, nearly EVERYBODY is called by their nickname in casual or private address, e.g. "Cześć, Romku!", "No, gdzie jest Romek?" etc.. and almost never "Roman", for instance. Not to do so, would seem snobby or standoffish, therefore making one extremely unpopular with their peers. Social solidarity is apparently very strong among Poles.

Is this so?

If we like somebody or know very well, it's almost impossible to call such person with his regular name. Even if that person is our boss (and not much older from us) we say eg. "panie Romku" instead of "panie Romanie" - calling to him with just bare "Roman" name is unacceptable - it's either pan Roman, or pan Romek (or Romek only if possible)

Yep, that's what I figured:-)