Hello community, I'm researching the surname: "Kutek." Does it sound like a Polish name, or it's more Czech? My family immigrated to the USA about 50 years ago and we know there are a few people in Chicago, Illinois, who carry the name Kutek, but still we cannot tell where the name comes from. Is the construction/building of the word 'Kutek' Polish?
Also, I'm trying to build my working vocabulary so it would help if I know the meaning of the name, I tried to look it up but don't get any specific answer. I hope it's not a bad word :).
Finally, is the name 'Marek' Polish too? I think it means 'Mark' in English but not sure.
KUTEK: used by some 700 people in Poland but may also function in other Slavonic lands. May be derived from the Polish word kut or kót (talus -- an ankle bone). The archaic terms kutka and kótka (both spellings were known) originally meant playing dice. It might have also originated as a topo nick for someone from such localtieise as Kuty, Kutowo, Kutno or Kutyły.
Yes, Marek is the Polish version of Mark, Marcus, Marc, Marco, etc. (one of the 4 evangelists).
It's a long shot, but the word 'Kutek' is kind of similar to 'Kotek' which means 'a cat'. But that's not a well-researched theory ;). It looks more Czech to me; at least Americans shouldn't have problems with pronunciation.
Mark=Marek indeed.
PS. I found some information about Mark Kutek's home builder and construction company in Chicago. He may be a scammer.
The Kotek hypothesis is as good a guess as any, consdering all the things that have happened to surnames over the generations. Over the centuries, Poland has been invaded and partitioned, foreign names often got polonized, and Polish ones – de-Polonized (Germanised, Russified, Bohemianised, Ukrainianised, etc.), later sometimes re-Polonized, misspelt, respelt or otherwise modified by semi-literate priests and village scribes. The accent mark in Kótek could have easily dropped out, and if it were spelt Kutek, some copyist may have brought the two prongs of the letter 'u' so close togetehr that the next recopier down the line perceived it as Kotek.
Your ancestor's Old World documents might contain the answer to your quest. Good luck!
My friend lives in the Chicago area and his name is Marek Kutek. He was born and raised in the Czech Republic....and goes by the name Mark since moving to the States. So it's a name of a builder located in Chicagoland.
