Opszentkowski means what in Polish.

my moms last name was Opszentkowski. I know the owski means basically, "from". what does "Ops" or "Zent" mean? I think the Zent may be German?

I'm afraid the original Polish surname was misspelled by an immigration clerk. Not sure what it could be ...
Obrzędowski perhaps?

First of all, in standard Polish, it would be spelled "Oprzętkowski".

It comes from a place name like Oprzętów or Oprzętkowo. It means some from that place.

The place name is derived from the word "oprzęt", which means "the daily routine chores associated with taking care of the animals on a farm", like milking, feeding, watering, letting out to pasture, locking in at night, mucking, etc.


No. It is an illiterate spelling by a native Pole. The pronunciation of both the correct and the incorrect versions are identical. So it was spelled "by ear".

I get absolutely no results for either the surname or the names of the places you suggest. :S

Perhaps I can't get them on my mobile but none ...
Can you provide a link?

If the Pole had ben illilerate, he wouldn't have spelled it in any way. And if he had known the basics, he would have known how to spell his name.

On further thought, I have concluded that the name contains not two illiterate "by ear" spelling mistakes, but three, and that it would be properly spelled "Oprzędkowski", from a place name like Oprz

@USApole
Do you know if your family were ethnic Poles?

On further thought, I have concluded that the name contains not two illiterate "by ear" spelling mistakes, but three, and that it would be properly spelled "Oprzędkowski", from a place name like Oprzędków, Oprządków, Oprzędkowo or Oprządkowo. The place name is derived from the word "oprządek", which means "yarn wrapped around something, like a spool or stick".

Stankiewicz does not list that name, but he does list names derived from the same root like Oprządek, Opzędek, Oprzędków and Oprzędkiewicz

My mothers side was ethnic Pole

If you google the surname, the results you get are from the USA. It must have been spelled differently back in Poland.
I asked about your family's ethnicity as sometimes mistakes were made when surnames were transcribed from cyrillic or Hebrew - just a thought. Anyway, I guess the original Polish spelling was different. Actually if they were born during the partitions of Poland and lived under the Russian occupation, the name might have been spelled in cyrillic too even if they were ethnic Poles.

Perhaps you could search your ancestors vital records - they may contain information about their birthplace or an alternate spelling of the name.

The name is a totally normal ethnic Polish name and could have been (mis)spelled only by a semi-literate native ethnic Pole from Poland. No other language or alphabet but Polish was ever involved, whether Russian, Yiddish, German, English or anything else. The proper spelling would be Oprzędkowski, but Opszentkowski is pronounced exactly the same when read aloud in Polish. There is a smaller chance that it could be Obrzędkowski, but that would involve four spelling mistakes in the same name,three of which do not change the pronunciation, but the fourth of which (p instead of b) would. The existence of the surname Oprzędków on Stankiewicz's list pretty much makes Oprzędkowski the only realistic option.

In any case, the name is either exceedingly rare or extict in present-day Poland.

I might be totally wrong but Oprzedkowski just doesn't sound right to my native ear. The same applies to my guess Obrzedowski. They wouldn't have disappeared just like that either.

It must have been a different name like Opszałkowski, Oprzałkowski, Obrzanowski or something like that.
As for the spelling, there seem to be too many mistakes to assume it was spelled by a native Pole - even a semi-literate one.

Just my opinion, though

Look at Stankiewicz's list for names with the same (totally Polish) root like Oprządek, Oprzędek, Opzędków and Oprzędkiewicz. There is nothing non-Polish about it:

stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=547

I have seen it.I'm not questioning these. But there's no Oprzedkowski there, is there? Even the one listed seem rare ( I'd have to check though) but Oprzedkowski sounds like a really far-fetched guess, I'm afraid.

No, but Oprzędków is. Oprzędkowski is not at all far-fetched at all. It's pretty much the only possibility, and the degree of certainty is pretty close to 100%. Like I said, the name is either exceedingly rare, or now extinct in Poland. Probably born by a single small family, possibly all of whom either emigrated or died without issue. If Oprzędków doesn't sound odd to you, there is no reason why Oprzędkowski should.

I'm struggling to see what you find odd about it. It's unusual, that's true, but there isn't anything "non-Polish" about it.

Oprzedkow sounds like the name of a place to me tbh. I see no results for it either.

I'm sorry we disagree on this. You might be right. But there's no real evidence we know of, is there?

Thanks.This is all very interesting? Any and all information is appreciated

Just checked. Oprzędków is there on the list, right after Oprzędkiewicz. And I agree that it sounds more like a place name, rather than a surname. But Stankiewicz includes it on his list in that form.

How about apart from Stankiewicze?

Rodzina Oprzedkow would sound ok, but Oprzedkow as a surname sounds odd.

I agree, but there are other Polish surnames that end with -ów, so it's not totally impossible. And Oprzędek is indeed on that list, if I recall. Oprzędkowski sounds much more normal than Oprzędków, I have to agree.

Still apart from stankiewicze, there seem to be no traces of Oprzedkow. Oprzedkowski doesn't even appear there.

yes there are such surnames - the -ów suffix denotes progeny or possesion - exmamples of surnames like this: Kubów (literally Kuba's/Jakub's), Pawłów (Paul's), Grzegorzów (Gregory's)

@kaprys

I don't know what point you are trying to make here, or what you are objecting to, if you are objecting to anything.

Oprzędkowski is a totally normally formed typical ethnic Polish name, and the fact that it did indeed exist is attested to with practical certainty by the fact that there is a Polish-American family that uses the name Opszentkowski, which is a totally normal Polish "by ear" misspelling that follows all of the rules of Polish phonetics. And by the fact that names based on the same root exist on Stankiewicz's list, like Oprzędek and Oprzędków, which are still used by Poles in Poland today, as a quick google search will reveal.

Whether the name survived in Poland or went extinct is beside the point, as we are talking about whether the name existed about 100 years ago, and not now. As is the fact that you can find no record of the name on the internet. You wouldn't expect to find rare names that are long extinct on the internet. The only mention of people of that name could well be in church or civil records, if they survived the war and the ravages of time.

My point is exactly what you wrote. There are no results for Oprzedkowski online. Nothing I know of. The same applies to other documents.
The name is a mere guess.
I still think it could have been something else. Is that clear or am I supposed to agree with you no matter what?

Oh, no, it isn't. It's an extremely good educated deduction based on lots of good evidence and sound reasoning, far stronger that "a mere guess".

And the fact that you can't find it on the internet is totally irrelevant, as I explained.

If you have a better guess, then shoot. My second guess would be Obrzędkowski, but I find that far less plausible, as I explained. What are you suggesting it could be?

Did I hurt your feelings by not agreeing with you?
Geez ...
Do I need to defend myself now?
It could be anything that sounds similar like Oprzalkowski, mentioned above.

Not at all likely. In fact, pretty darn far-fetched. No, I'm not going to make you defend that choice. I've said everything I could say.

Sorry, but it looks as if we are going to have to agree to disagree.

Agreed ;)