Namier was born Ludwik Niemirowski in Wola Okrzejska in the Russian-controlled Congress Poland, now part of the Lublin Voivodeship of southeastern Poland.
Namier emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1907,[REF] studied at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1908,[REF] and became a British subject in 1913, whereupon he anglicised his name [REF].