Name "Mieczyslaw" / "Mietek" - Help on background!

Hi guys! I am new to the forum & am wondering if you can help me. My father's name is Mieczyslaw Zak. He emigrated to the U.S. from Germany w/ his family at age 5. He maintains that Mieczyslaw is a German name & that it means Micheal. But my mother (who is 1/2 Italian, 1/4th French & 1/4th British. No Polish blood on her side, sorry. lol.) assures me that Mieczyslaw is a Polish name. Is it? My dad would never admit it if it was. My grandma also used to call my dad something that sounded like Mek-tek, which again he said was Mike, the name that he uses in the US. So what do you think? Is he right or is my mother right? Sadly, my grandmother has since passed, so I can't ask her. I asked my aunt (his sis) & she said we go back to Bohemians??

Any insight is appreciated!

Trust your mother.

Mieczyslaw is indeed a Polish name, however slightly artificial as it appeared in Polish in the Middle Ages as an erroneous interpretation of Slavic Miecislaw.

Mietek is a diminutive form of Mieczyslaw.

Merged: A few name questions - Mietek, Mieciu, Mieczysław

My dziadek went by the name of Mike most of the time. We also called him Mietek. Apparently that is a diminuative of Mieczysław. I guess it all makes sense.

When I was little, my babcia used to call me Mieciu (sorry if I butchered the spelling). My name is Matthew. I just learned that the Polish equivalent is Maciej. Is Mieciu a diminuative of Maciej? Or is it something else altogether?

Are you sure she didn't say Maciek or Maciuś?

Almost positive it was Mieciu.

Sometimes she would jokingly say Mieciu Sreciu (it rhymes).

She died in 1993, so I can't ask her, unfortunately.

Matthew=Mateusz

Possible diminutive is Mateuszek.


No.

Mieciu is a diminutive of Mieczysław.

Maciuś, Maciek are diminutives of Maciej.

Maciej is a an earlier equivalent of Matthew - Mateusz was adopted much later

Thanks for everyone's help.

Here's another wrinkle to the story. My great aunt would always call my dziadek "Matthew". I am confused because we all called him Mietek and I learned later that his original name was Mieczysław. Why would my great aunt call him Matthew? This was especially confusing since my father and I are both named Matthew. Luckily, we all had our own nicknames.

Maciej strcitly speaking is the Polish equivalent of Matthias. Both Matthias and Matthew (Maciej and Mateusz) come from a Hebrew root meaning 'gift of God' but got modified while travelling via Greek and Latin into other European languages.

Mieciu would defintiely be from Mieczysław (English: Miecislaus), but in family circles all kind of different things have happened to names, pet names and nicknames.

Yes. My Great-Grandmother, from Krakow, used the same diminutive for me.

Related:

What is Mietek a nick name for??


ya, it's mieczysław ;-)

Kto nie z Mieciem to go zmieciem! *(was a joke-slogan gong round about tough communist secret-police boss Mieczysław Moczar who launched an anti-Semtiic puurge in 1968).

* Who ain't with Miecio gets swept away!