WHY POLISH PEOPLE DON'T USE THEIR NATIVE FIRST NAME WHEN ABROAD?

see patty, i am not the only one. hehehe should give you a clue, no? lol

Try to pronounce 'Krzysztof'... Then you will understand mate :)

You prefere people calling you with a different name, than your original one pronounced with a english accent, or whatever accent. That is really confusing :S. I never heard for exemple a brazilian saying "Oh, call me Paul, but my original name is Paolo".

You just can't assume your real identity and your polish roots and I think that you should be proud of the name that your parents gave you instead of trying to be someone else... Before lying to people, you're lying to yourself.

In Austria they all Germanicised my name. I didn't ask them to, they just did it. Look at it as trying to blend in.

We're not playing Countdown after all. :)

OK, I am Przemysława Wilczykowska or Franciszka Szczebrzeszyńska (not really, for a scientific purposes only) ...please, please xcrital pronounce it to me with an english accent! I beg ya :)

I'd rather be Przemyslawa Wilczykowska any day :)

I agree that a lot of names are hard to pronounce but I think it's only common courtesy to learn those names and pronounce them, after all, my Polish friends can pronounce my full name well. I struggle with a lot of Polish names (surnames specifically) but I do make an effort to learn them.

For the English speaker:

Przemysława - difficult
Wilczykowska - easy

Franciszka - easy (if I said Francisca whilst drunk, it might sound like this)
Szczebrzeszyńska - difficult (if I was really drunk and ordering a taxi home after the pub...)

Eurola: how many names do you have for scientific purposes?

but for the English speaker who knows or understands or even makes an effort with Polish - not so difficult.

I use many aliases. Trying to keep my imaginary enemies confused.(ok, just kidding)

I'm just about leaving to meet my american friend for dinner. She addresses me with my assumed name, not having a clue about spelling my real name.... And, we are friends for about 8 years or so... :)

ok, I get this. However, when someone Polish introduces themselves to me with an English sounding name now, I usually ask them what their proper name is.

Michal is not difficult to pronounce and everybody manages it in my house and when the phone rings from Poland they too seem to have no problem with it.

it seems everyone in poland has at least 5 names - their real name, the english version, their nickname and various diminutives of the above

what a load of c**p ! It is nothing to do with being ashamed of ones Polish name - in most cases it is to make life easier for English people who have a problem with grasping foreign languages, and not being able to pronounce the Polish names properly .... after all there are so many sz's, rz's, cz's and certain letters which are pronounced differently in Polish than in English , and some which do not even exist in the English alphabet.

I was born in UK and have lived there all my life - my parents and grandparents were born in Poland so I see myself as a Polish guy who just happened to be born in UK - my blood is Polish !

When my son was born my wife and I gave him a name which is typically Polish (Tomasz) but can be shortened to Tom for when he went to school;

Even though we have pointed out on numerous occasions that the correct spelling of his name is T..O..M..A..S..Z, the teachers more often than not refer to him as Thomas !

I have a Polish surname with 'sz' in it and yes .. it does end in 'ski' .... and after all these years English people who have known me for over 20 years still can't get the name spelt correctly !!

Our son in called Tomasz too, in fact his full title is Tomasz Marek Mieczyslaw after his Grand Father.

I used to introduce myself as 'Bart' (just to make it more conveniet for native English speakers, who are 'at home' after all), but after some guy took it totally wrong, I introduce myself as 'Bartosz'. No more helpfulness from me.

Hi yes i was aware that they are not the same:0) i think polish female names are really lovely:0) much nicer than english names.

my first name is Russian/Spanish/Hebrew. My Polish friends have changed it to sound more polish. :P i actually like it better.

As you've said it's easier to use a simpler version of your name, not only because of pronunciation, but it's easier to remember for those whom you meet. They may succeed in pronouncing your name after you but then... don't call you by it very often.

I know some people who don't want other Poles to know they're Polish and use their English names at work ( to wear them on their badge, etc.)

Some find being a Polish quite embarrassing ( I can understand it - don't be judgemental)

Others treat names as part of their identity, it's easier to start a new life abroad with a brand new name

So, many reasons I guess.

When I was at school, learning French, we were all given French names.
I was Claude. A mate of mine had to be Michel, which everyone found very funny.
I start learning Polish and then I realise the only new name I have earnt is the word for Donkey.
But if I went to a new land where they speak a strange language, and people couldn't pronounce my name, I'd be tempted to change it.

Guy at work, first day we had any sort of communication, was standing a little down the belt we were working on and wrote his name up to me.

He wrote his name : Marek

I smiled at him, but he seemed to think better of it and wrote upon the belt 'no - just Mark' or something like that.

I always call him Marek :P It's nicer and obviously what he is used to hearing.

Similarly with another Eastern European not from Poland - he is Pawel (sp?) but introduced himself as Paul. I realised his name and we asked if he preferred Pawel or Paul (I figured we knew the answer already - but I wanted to hear which he wanted us to call him since he introduced himself as Paul) and he smiled and admitted his actual pronunciation was preferrence - and thereafter this is what he has been called.

Some names are difficult to pronounce (neither which I have mentioned of course - they are relatively easy) but I prefer to say the original if I can and think it's nice if others try do that too.

I'm forever using a dim. of my own name (not Polish, just strange pronunciation for a known name) myself just to make it easier. But then - I actually don't like my original, so it's a pleasure to be called something else.

OK, TRY BOGUSLAWA.

what - you want me just to re-type what you've said ?(j/k)

slightly pointless exercise as:

a) you won't know if I've managed
b)I won't know if I've managed
c) Hearing the word is what I am normally used to - so I could repeat it. I don't need to if it's only written!

I know a Bogusza :)

i'm really curious what name is it. :)

This has been a trend for decades, and even centuried if I was to guess.

When my father came to this country after the war, as an infant, his Mother changed his name from Mieczslaw to Michael at an early age. The only reason for this, was so the English people would be able to cope with the pronunciation and spelling on his name, as he grew up. Although he was in a Displaced Persons Camp.

I also know of boys that kept their Polish names as they grew up in DP Camps, as the majority of people there were Polish anyway. However, once they went to secondary school they too changed their name to some more "English" to avoid being taunted or bullied. Now that is a terrible shame.

the majority of Polish people I've met have always introduced themselves with their real names and no ones ever had a problem, though out of all I've met there were only about 6 names between them with 3 or 4 people working in the same place with the same name, usually Tomek, Radek or Marek. (ok they didn't use the long version, that may have been a bit difficult for us paddys they were working with!)

love the Polish names so hope more stick to their real name and not with the 'English' version.

One reason would probably be the fact that other people have a hard time pronouncing the native names especially with letters/symbols not present in another country's alphabet. For example, Bronislaw (the l should have a slash) maybe pronounced as Bro-nee-slow instead of Bro-nee-swav.

Another would probably be that native names sound funny abroad when pronounced properly. For example, I had a guy in one of my college classes whose name was Phuc Pham, a Vietnamese name. He would stress out that Phuc is pronounced Fook and not F*ck.

This happened to me!! My Polish boyfriend is a twin-he's Piotrek and his brother Pawel (original, eh?). Before we started dating I always knew him as Peter, and I noticed the Polish spelling "Piotr" after we started to get to know each other a little better. I had always called him Piotr, and it wasn't until we had dated for almost a month that he told me that Piotr is the more formal version of his name, and could I please call him Piotrek, which is what friends and family call him?? Of course I wanted to call him by whatever name he felt most comfortable, but it definitely threw me when I heard him say, "Well, "Piotr" isn't exactly my name." ! His brother always introduces himself as Paul in the U.S. I completely understand why they do this, it's easier with a lot of these names and you don't have to hear people butcher your name constantly. It's too bad that Americans (myself included) have trouble with the pronunciation of some foreign names, I think they're much better than the boring stuff we come up with :)

my ex was called Piotrek too and it always annoyed me when he told people his name was Peter because Piotrek isn't difficult to pronounce! The one name people always had problems with where I worked was Przemek, it took ages for people to get it right! As for surnames, well thats another story altogether!

I don't think Poles are ashamed of their given names, and we don't consider that some names are more or less civilized. We do know, however, that most English, or French or other not smart enough to pronounce those names properly. Therefore, changing the name to sound more, is a gesture Poles make towards language lazy people.

You're welcome.