Polish Variations of Nick, Please help!

So my name is Nick, and I am 2nd generation Polish in America.

And I am changing my name! When my grandfather arrived here, our last name was Wisniewski, and he changed it to something else because he didn't want my dad to get called a Polok in school. Which has me pissed because if I leave it that way, it erases all our family history and culture which I am newly very proud of. (I've even started rooting for the Poland soccer team, POL-SKA!)

At any rate, I intend to return the family name to Wisniewski, but I would also like to change my name from something less american sounding to something more Polish sounding. Here's the annoying part, I don't see myself as a Mikolaj, not at all. Neither do I like Mikus' as I've actually taken a liking to Kolya/Kolja because I have a few Ukrainian friends that have adopted that as a nick name for me.

The problem is, for my own aesthetics if I use Kolya, will I incur racism like I were Russian? Wisniewski does have some roots as Vishnevskiy in Russia so I don't believe it would be totally "out there" to use Kolya, but I would actually like to move to Poland to have a change from the USA and because I've always had a thing for Ukranian/Polish girls. Rant at me for my reasons but they are my reasons and I'm just seeking help.

So at the end of this long story comes my question. If I would incur hate for Kolya/Kolja, is there a version of Mikolaj that resembles Kolya more? Like Kolaj or something lol

Thank you!

Erm... last time I checked Poles and Russians were the same race, so I have
no idea what "racism" you are talking about.


Why do you think you'd incure hate? That's ridiculous - you can change
your name to Adolf for all I care (and I bet other people in Poland won't
care either).

I can totally see why you want to change your family name back. However, what's wrong with Nick? I know a few people called Nick and they are all stand up blokes. If I were you I would change the family name but keep the name that your folks chose for you.

But up to you mate.

I think there was always a certain animosity between Russians and Poles.. hence, I wouldn't do that if I were you, many polish people would get confused about wheater you are a Russian or a Pole.

Well I've felt there was Polish/Russian bad memories since WW2, even my grandpa hates russians because he was forced to learn russian in school at times. So a little more than who makes better Vodka had me worried.

I think what I was most curious about though was if there were any variations of the Kolya/Klaus/Klaas/Klas type of names, where you're getting the latter half of the name such as in Niklaus becoming Klaus for the name Mikolaj, or if thats completely unheard of or bizarre.

Growing up in Germany, then moving to the USA, I've been known as Klaus for many years, Nick when I moved here to the USA, and Kolya by Ukranian friends, so a legal name change to a more fitting variation doesn't bother me and wouldn't confuse my family, it'd probably actually make them happy I was proud of my family history since they tried hiding it when being Polish was unpopular.