Krzesniak: Another Person Trying to find out about their Ancestry

Hi, my Polish/American father passed away when my mother was pregnant with me. Due to some family issues my father's side of my family wasn't a part of my life growing up. I reconnected with my paternal grandfather right before he died so I never got to find out much about my Polish ancestry.

Now I have a son and since I'm a single parent I've passed the Polish name on to him and would like to discover more about the history of my family. I'm also planning a trip to Poland in August with my son and this will be my first time traveling outside the US.

Is Krzesniak a common Polish name? Will it be hard to trace the history? Any suggestions of where to start? Also, any suggestions of what I should see/do while visiting? Obviously I've read of the different attractions/touristy sites to see but anything else that comes to mind would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

KRZEŚNIAK: misspelling of chrześniak (godson). However Chrześniak does not exist as a surname in today's Poland, only Krześniak. The substuitution of k fior ch is typcial of certian Polish peasant dialects where horseradish is called krzan, rather than chrzan.

About 1,800 users. Biggest concetrations are in Mazowsze's neighbouring Warsaw and Radom areas.

My grandmother's surename was Krzesniak.Do you know from which part of Poland your father was or what was his first name and his date of birth?

I forgot to mention the Świętkokrzyskie region south of Radom. Quite a few Krześniaks live in and around Ostrów Świętokrzyski.