Bernatowicz surname - Could anybody identify where my grandfather could be from? Is he Polish?

This is his only pic, he died in 2003. People told me that he looks Irish, but I doubt; need some personal opinions.

He looks a bit Belgian to me. Walloon, of course.

Thanks for your input, he does seem kind of 'Western' European for an Easterner. Doesn't he? Nobody actually knows where he is from

No he doesn't! In Poland they wouldn't bat an eye seeing him on the street.

Could be from anywhere really, from Scotland down to Israel. Doesn't look unusual for Poland and the East.

Neither would they in Madrid, Stockholm, Moscow or Istanbul.

Anywhere in particular where he could be from?

Planet Earth is as far as I can narrow it down.

Oh man, I for sure thought that he was from Mars :(

OK, he's a Polish-Swedish-Spanish-Turkish-Russian-Scottish-Belgian Jew from Israel; did I miss anything out?

The thing is, Bart, most Europeans could be taken for people from all over. I have been asked directions on the streets of Moscow, Madrid, even Diyabakkir.

Not really, he looks quite Polish

Armenia.

How did I miss Armenia? He doesn't look Armenian?

Not everyone looks like all their roots, especially when they're of mixed heritage...

But he isn't Armenian

How many of us (except perhaps for HM The Q and myself) know exactly where our great great great great great great great grandmother lived and who she diddled with?

What is with you and Armenia, Jon? I'm not sure but have heard that my family originates either from Germany or Austria.

The surname. By the way, it's probably something to be proud of.

What surname?

I think you are right. The first thing I thought when I looked at his face was that he is Polish but with somethng distinctively "foreign" in his looks. The next thought was that he must have some German blood.


The 'Western European' link may be that he is indeed of Walloon origin rather than of German one.

By the way, I once met a black guy in London selling or giving away religious books. When I stopped to look through one of them without uttering a word, he suddenly said to me: "You are Polish". It was back then when there were very, very few Polish people in London or in the UK. - How did you know!? - I exclaimed. - By your eyes - he said.

His. Remember people post in more than one thread.

Ultimately very few of us can be absolutely sure where our families' roots were 500 or 600 years ago.

Bartkowiak is an Armenian surname, but Bartkowiak isn't an Armenian surname as well. If you read through some well-elaborated genealogical sites in Polish, you will quickly discover this.

He mentioned that his actual surname is something else.

My surname isn't Bartkowiak, lol. It was a nickname that my other grandfather gave me, my surname is Bernatowicz

Sounds to me like a solid Polish name. what is your issue?

I have no issue, it's just that my grandfather looks foreign and nobody in my family knows where he is from!

What do you mean in what way he looks foreign? You have been told already that he would look local in Poland and few other European countries.

May you actually read the posts? Also, I heard that a large group of Walloon and French people settled in Silesia. This could be probable as my grandfather was from Wroclaw.

If /I would have read those posts I probably would have came to the conclusion that your are either trolling or you don't know what you want or you want something you will not get here.

If you want to trace your ancestry you need to hire a professional agency which will do that for a hefty fee.

Nobody can tell you what ethnicity and to what degree your grandfather was with only his name and his picture as a clue.


Don't let it confuse you!
Was he born in Wroclaw, when he emigrated?

Likewise, Bernatowicz is a typical Armenian surname, but it also isn't an Armenian surname. If you read in Polish, I can give you a link to the site discussing the issue.


Large groups of Walloon and Flemish people settled in Silesia (gold-diggers of Złotoryja, for example), but it was as far back as in the Middle Ages. They had adopted German as their mother tongue pretty quickly. What year was your grandpa born in Wrocław (Breslau)?