Izabela? - Advice with Polish name for a girl

I'm pretty sure JK doesn't have a "mistress" on the side....

Yes, I can proudly announce I read the whole Lalka while in high school - my main reason was probably to learn more about Napoleonic Wars the motif of which is present in the novel. . I can also proudly announce I didn `t read Noce i Dnie coz it was too boring.


What about the cat?

As for Bela in Lalka it was probably a borrowing just like pani Żancia (Joanna in fact) in Granica.

I give up now coz Granica was the second novel I refused to read. The third and last was Nad Niemnem but I dutifully read all the other.

Zancia is what I remember about Granica. Our Polish teacher asked what we thought her original name was. She was pointing out how many borrowings from foreign languages they used including Mam ból głowy.

I read the book but I can't remember it much.
I didn't read Ferdydurke and Potop (the only book of the Trilogy that I haven't read or seen) and probably some more.
But I read Nad Niemnem even though we didn't discuss it at school ;)
Anyway, Iza is the most common short version of Izabela in Poland as I believe.

It is. But I think 'Bela' was preferred in the 19th or early 20th century When you divide the name, you will have "Iza-bela", and they now prefer the first part as a shortned form, while more than a hundred years ago they chose the final part. Another thing is that the name wasn't popular among the so-called common people at that time.

Such preferences change over time. For example, I've watched a very interesting lecture of the archeologist Przemysław Urbańczyk on the times of Bolesław Chrobry recently, and the lecturer noticed, comparing the iconography on banknotes and coins, that the king was portrayed en face in the times of the PRL, whereas before the WW II and today he is portrayed in profile.