Guidelines for the spelling of names of Polish rulers

This is a table made for untangling of the names of Polish rulers. It is incomplete and still not source of reference.

Ladislaus the Exile

Polish name of the ruler	English alternatives of the name (comma separated)		The accepted Wikipedia spelling
Kazimierz III Wielki	Casimir the Great,Casimir III the Great
Wladyslaw I Herman	Wladislaw I Herman,
Boleslaw I Chrobry	Boleslav I,Boleslav I Chobry,Boleslaus I the Mighty,Boleslaw I the Brave
Kazimierz I Odnowiciel	Casimir I,Casimir I the Restorer
Boleslaw II Smialy	Boleslaw II,Boleslaus the Brave,Boleslav II the Bold
Wladyslaw
Zbigniew	Zbigniev
Boleslaw III Krzywousty	Boleslaw Wrymouth
Wladyslaw Wygnaniec
Boleslaw IV Kedzierzawy	Boleslaw IV,Boleslav IV
Mieszko III Stary	Mieszko III the Old
Kazimierz II Sprawiedliwy	Casimir II,Casimir II the Just
Leszek Bialy	Leszek II
Wladyslaw Laskonogi
Mieszko Platonogi
Henryk I Brodaty	Henry The Bearded
Henryk II Pobozny
Boleslaw V Wstydliwy
Leszek Czarny	Leszek the Black
Henryk IV Probus
Przemyslaw II
Waclaw II and III	Wenceslas II
Wladyslaw I Lokietek	Vladislav Lokietek
Ludwik Wegierski	Louis I of Anjou,Louis of Hungary
Jadwiga	Hedwig
Wladyslaw II Jagiello	Wladislaw II,
Wladyslaw III Warnenczyk	Wladislaw III,
Kazimierz IV Jagiellonczyk	Casimir IV,
Jan Olbracht	Johann I Albrecht,John Albert
Aleksander	Alexander,Alexander Jagiellonian
Zygmunt I Stary	Sigismund I,Sigismund I the Old
Zygmunt II August	Sigismund II August
Henryk Walezy	Henri of Valois,Henry de Valois
Stefan Batory	Stephan Bathory
Zygmunt III Waza	Sigismund III Vasa
Wladyslaw IV Waza	Wladislaw IV Vasa,Ladislas IV
Jan Kazimierz	Johann II Casimir,John II Casimir
Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki	Michael Wisniowiecki,Michael I Wisniowiecki
Jan III Sobieski	John III Sobieski
August II Mocny	Augustus II the Strong
Stanislaw Leszczynski	Stanislas Leszczynski
August III	Augustus III
Stanislaw August Poniatowski	Stanislas II August Poniatowski

Using 'Hedwig' for Jadwiga sounds really bad for me. I'm for translating attributes (the Great, of Adjou etc.) and Western names (John, Alexander, Louis, August etc.) and leaving Slavic names in Polish spelling (Boleslaw, Wladyslaw etc.). --Taw

I agree about Jadwiga, since Hedwig sounds very German and could be confusing. I know that Jan is often used in English (like Jan Hus) -- but is Wladyslaw normal for English or is it something like Vladislav/-slas? or Ladislas? I will try to remember to check in my books on the 30 Years' War, etc... JHK

This discussion is very similar to that on Confucius vs Kong-Fu-Zi or Taoism vs Daoism. This is also about how the English tradition of dropping much original information which bothers the native speakers of the foreign language. This is also about how some words or names have already become part of the English language and hence the original and accuracy no longer matters. Moving to the more accurate versions will invalidate many existing literature and references from older sources. However, I believe the solution is the same. Since wikipedia allows you to use redirects and links, both versions of spelling should be in wikipedia with cross references specified in the article itself. e.g.

Kazimierz III Wielki (aka Casimir the Great,Casimir III the Great in English)

or

Casimir the Great,Casimir III the Great (aka Kazimierz III Wielki to the natives)

should do the trick. By using redirects, both can be used as titles to the same article.

Anyway it would be good to strike a consensus anyway for the sake of clarity.

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Unfortunately, The Library of the Congress adds to the confusion.

• Mieszko I == Mieszko
• Boleslaw I Chrobry == Boleslaw I (the Brave)

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So far I have been going with the English names followed by, in brackets, a list of all names in other languages -- as many as seems appropriate:

King Fred the Refulgent (German Friedrich XIII, French Frederique le Bleu, Tkung Nd!ugu)

--Paul Drye

This is an English Encyclopedia. It would be unnecessary to list the name in Mongolian or German. However, if the name is a Polish name, then we need the Polish original for researchers to trace for more info in the native sources, and the English name for English speaking readers. Likewise for other languages, e.g. Chinese + English, or Japanese + English, or French + English etc.

Well, that's why I said "as seems appropriate". I'll stick in the names where he's important in the history of a country that speaks that language so that, as you say, it's likely to cover all the sources. -- Paul Drye

I choose to disagree. For example, Jesus is known around the world. Should we enter His name in all languages known to mankind? I don't think so. His name should be in English because wikipedia is in English. His name should also be in Hebrew (and transliteration of the pronunciation) because that was His language. That's it. Two languages and exactly two languages are appropriate for the entry.

As seems appropriate, like I say.

Shouldn't the alternative language spellings just be a redirect to the 'proper' original Polish spelling? That way everybody's happy...fojxl 22:24 Apr 4, 2003 (UTC)