Genealogy / Cupiał - a Polish surname? [19]

Cupiał imay be related to the now obsolete word cupień meaning a strip of land jutting out into water (a point or promontory). In modern Polish it is cypel. But it could also derive from the verb cupać meaning either to scoot down or tap the flloor/ground with one's hoof (said of of animals). Re horses it cna mean a trot.

There are more than 1,700 Cupiałs in Poland with the largest concentrations found in the south around Katowice, Częstochowa and Kraków. For more information please contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Female names ending in 'A'.... why? [23]

Only Polish surnames of adjectival form officially end in -a. because an adjective must agree with the noun it modifies (describes). Kowalski is an adjectvie meaning of, descended from, related to or associated with the kowal (blacksmith). Kowalski would be someone related or connected tio the blacksmuith like his son, helper, etc. Kowalska would be the blacksmith's woman/wife. Enlgish examples include the wrod Englishman and similar natioanltiy words. A Miss Winters is never called an Englishman but an Englishwoman. More more information on specific surnames contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / rybarczyk [4]

More than 6,000 share the Rybarczyk surname in Poland, the lagest concentration being in the Wielkopolska regioon of western Poland. For more information contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Walter Twardowski, Ruezczyk [8]

There are around 8,500 Twardowskis in Poland with a prominent cluster in and around Kraków. An interesting legend goes with that name. However Ruezczyk must be misspellt because not a single person in Poland bears such a surname. Please re-checkl yoru ancestor's Old World documents. For more information contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Any information on the surname Chyrowski? [10]

Only 59 people in Poland sign themselves Chyrowski. Most likely this is a surname of toponymic origin. For more information contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Śliwiński surname [2]

For more information on the Śliwińskis of Poland, where they live, their coats of arms and contact data for at least nine people researching the Śliwinskli history and/or genealogy please contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Last name Driezic [6]

Please re-check the spelling. That spelling does not exist in Poland.

Genealogy / Last name Driezic [6]

Many Americans have a hard time deciphring the fancy, cirlicue-rich Old World script found in baptismal/birth certificates and other documents of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (before typewriting became widespread). Hence some take a lower case z to be an r, a low-lopped low o may look like an a, the barred ł gets confused with a t, etc., etc.

Genealogy / the name jowita...does it mean anying...? [95]

Just over 4,000 girls and ladies in Poland are naemd Jowita. Not many considering that those named Joanna number more than 381,000.

Genealogy / Surname: GRODSKI : Need help [7]

Did you know there were nobles amongst the members of the Grodzki (correct spelling) clan, entiteld to use one of four different coats of arms? For more information please conatct research60@gmail

Genealogy / Looking for Swiec Family [8]

There are 213 people in Poland signing themselves Świec. The largest single cluster is found in and around Nowy Sącz (34), Polish mountain country.

Genealogy / The name 'Janowsky'?? [5]

Janowsky could be most anything. The typical Polish spelling is Janowski, Czechs, Slovaks and Jews would spell it Janovsky, Germans would more likely than not use the Janowsky spelling. Ukrainians, Belarussians and Great Russians might also use the Czecho-Slovak-style Janovsky spelling in English-speaking counrties, unless they more correctly transcirbed the Cyrillic Яновский into Yanovsky. This originated as a toponymic nickname to indicate an inhabitant of Janów, Janowo, Янов, Яновo or some such locality in the Slavonic world. An indigineously Gemran locality would be called something like Johanneswald, Hansdorf or something along those lines. The Jan- root is definiteły West Slavonic (POlish, CZehxc, Slovak) in origin.

Genealogy / last name rozplochowski [7]

There are at least 237 Rozpłochowskis currently living in Poland. For more information contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Looking for Jozwiak family history [4]

There are nearly 20,000 people in Poland named Jóźwiak. It is the ź with the acute accent over it, not the dotted one: ż.

Since there are 20,000 Jóźwiaks in Poland, scattered acorss the country, you would have to have at least a rough idea what part of the country or (if prior to 1918) which partiton zone they came from. Otherwise even the best genealogist will have nothing to go on. Any old, yellowed envelopes with Old Country return addresses, vital documents, etc. lying about?

Genealogy / Looking for Swiec Family [8]

Tarkawica is a village of less than 500 in eastern Poland's Lublin voivodeship (province), district of Lubartów. It is quite a way from Nowy Sącz which is in the mountainous south of the country. For ways to track down long-lost relations in Poland contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Walter Twardowski, Ruezczyk [8]

The Twardowski legend goes as follows: Pan (Sir, Lord, Master) Twardowski was a Polish nobleman who had sold his soul to the devil in exchnage for the secret to eternal youth or some such. For his misdeed he was condemned to hell, but while travelling there astride a giant cock, he repented and threw himself at the mercy of the BVM. He was thus allowed to spend eternity on the Moon instead. Pan Twardowski was therefore the original Man in the Moon.

Genealogy / The name 'Janowsky'?? [5]

I failed to mention that localities such as Janów, Janowo, Янов or Яновo would in accordance with Anglo-Saxon place-naming custom be roughly translatabłe as Johnstown, Johnville, Johnnywood, Johnshire, etc.

Genealogy / Czaponis surname [10]

Czaponis appears to be the Polish spelling of the Lithuanian surname Čaponis. Chaponis is an English phonetic respelling that ensures proper pronunciation. If written Čaponis, your average Yank woudl ignore the accent mark and say Kaponis. If the Polish spelling were used, he would Anglo-mangle it into Zaponis.

Genealogy / Klimka [6]

Klimki is the plural of Klimek, which is the diminutive form of the first name Klemens or (in the eastern borderlands) Kliment. It would be the equivalent of English Clem, the diminutive of Clement.

Those localities might be translated into English as Clems, Clemville or Clemton.

Law / US citizen whose Grandparents came from Poland - citizenship question [14]

If your grandparetns were citizens of free Poladn after 1918, then you can claim Polsih ancestry. Normally 5-yr residence in Poland is requried to apply for citizenship but marrying a Polish national can shorten that period. Having Polsih grandparents is also an asset. Each case is decided individually.

Genealogy / Polish surname meanings and origins [25]

Kupka is shared by over 2,600 people in Poland and perhaps anotehr 600 or so in N.America and world-wide. For more information contact research60@gmail

What's the surname that sounds like a verb?

Genealogy / Looking for the Klarnett Family [13]

No-one in today's Poland is named Klarnett and there is no record of anyone having it. There is also no-one named Klarnet (one t) at present, but the name has been registered. Either they have all died off or emigrated or data is incomplete.

Klarnet is the Polłish translation for the reed instrument clarinet. The double t looks a bit German but in German the instrument is called eine Klarinette. However, in the field of onamastics (name sturdy) so many different things have occurred -- misspellings, respellings, abbreviations, translations (eg Górski to Berg when the Germans marched in and took over) that most anything is possible.

Genealogy / Border shifts - I am part Belorussian ancestry now? [3]

Border shifts are political moves that do not affect one's nationality. Of course, when they are accompaneid by ethnic cleansing and/or other violence, as was the case with Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, then some people may be intimiated into denying or changing ther declared inationality for the sake of survival. Also, the term natioanality or ethnicity should be mroe closely defined. It can mean blood ties (DNA) or a sense of awareness of both.

Genealogy / Czaponis surname [10]

To touch base with professional English-speaking trans-border genealogists able to sift through archives, track down long-lost relations and photorgaph and/or videotape their houses, graves and any livng relatives, please contact research60@gmail

Genealogy / Looking for the Klarnett Family [13]

your metnion of a Jewish conenction makes sense, because roving Jewish musicians had long been a standard fixture throughout the sprawling Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (in Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów -- once Europe's largest land empire!) and beyond. Music-related surnames such as Skrzypek or Grajek (Fiedler in Yiddish), Cymbalista (Zimbalist), Śpiewak (Singer), etc. were quite common and some form of Klarnet would certainly fit in.

Genealogy / Bula surname [4]

It might be Buła (with a barred £) which in Polish would mean a large bun, loaf or by extension any large bulge. It can alłso mean an uncouth clod or bumpkin (redneck in Americanese). Entirely by coincidence the term is also used as a translation of bull (papal bull), meaning an authoritative document issued by the Supreme Pontiff. That latter seems the least likely soruce of your name.

Genealogy / Kaninski [12]

There are only 5 peopel named Kaniński in Poland and all must be loners, widows, widowers, old maids or bachelors, because they live in 5 different cities acorss Poland.

By comparison there are nearly 88,000 Kamińskis.

Genealogy / RELEWICZ surname. Can you help me? [6]

Indeed, 88 of Poland's 122 Relewiczes hail from the Poznań area, apparently the name's ancestral stronghold.

Genealogy / Kochan and Mokowo, Poland [14]

Try Kochany (as a place-name) and Kochan as a surnmame. Kohan is a phonetic respelling designed to retain the proper procnunciaton. Otherwise English speakers would Anglo-mangle it into something like Cutchen.

Genealogy / Looking for Kozakiewicz (and various spellings), Lugowski/ska and Dunajko [3]

There are nearly 5,500 Kozakiewiczes in today's Poland, many living in the so-called recovered territories, assigned to Poland by the WW2 Big Three and populated largely by repatriates from the Soviet-annexed east and their descendants. The name is a patronymic meaning "son of the Cossack".

£ugowski started out as a toponymic nickname to mean "the bloke from Lyeville" and is shared by 3,900. Dunajko is on the rare side (only 204 users) and probably was originally used to identify someone hailing from the River Danube area.

For more information contact research60@gmail