Genealogy / Does anyone, especially descendants, have information about Antonina Suplicka Kubach/Jakubowska? [3]

KUBACH: derived from Kuba (pet form of Jakub=James/Jacob)

SUPLICKI: from suplikacja, historically a humble written request for aid, extension, forgiving a loan, etc. Also a prayer requesting divine mercy such as "Wielki Boże..."

JAKUBOWSKI: possibly a patronymic tag equivalent to Jamesson, but more likely a toponymic indicator for an inhabitant of Jakubów or Jakubowo (Jamestown, Jacobville).

Genealogy / Slominski coat of arms [3]

The gentry line of hte Słomińskis belonged to the Noble Clan (or House) of Nowina. But at some stage a group of well-born Nowina-linked Słomińskis broke off and set up an own-name clan of their own. They called it Słomiński and slightly modified the Nowina coat of arms. For a full explanation of the meanders of the Polish clan system and heraldry in general as well as a view of the two different coats of arms, please contact me.

Genealogy / Family of Michelowna [4]

MICHELÓWNA: This is an obsolete form identifying an unmarreid dauaghter of a fmaily whose surname is Michel. Nowadays marital status is no longer differntiated that way anymore. Maybe you should seek someone surnamed Michel.

Genealogy / Village Kulaszne - information and background [6]

No, the main Chomczyk stronghold is the Białystok area with a bit of spill-over to the north onto the Suwałki area.

Genealogy / Surname Hordij - searching for a family [3]

HORDYJ: the Ukrainian adjective meaning proud.

Place-name cannot be found.

Genealogy / looking for someone: Kurowicki [3]

KUROWICKI: toponymic tag from Kurowice.

BEDNARCZYK. patronymic nick bednarz (cooper).

Genealogy / Pultenewicz - tracing ancestors with limited information [4]

PULTENEWICZ, PULTYNOWICZ: from pultyn (chubby child); the -wicz ending shows this to be a patronymic nick meaning the chubby kid's (bloke's) son.

S£UCKI: toponymic from the town of Słuck, now under Belarusian administration.

Genealogy / LOOKING for Kogoska or Kogoski origin around Biezun - came to America @1890 [7]

KOGOWSKI: root-word koga (boat, ship); possibly a nick for a boat-builder or skipper.
For more info please contact me.

Genealogy / Locating a place name found on immigrant ship passenger list (Ellis Island). Sochowski / Międzygórze? [4]

Certain quirks of American-style cursive like the funny way they make their lower-case "r" and the triple-humped "m" had caused numerous misspellings by Ellis Island immigration officials confronted with fancy European-stye script. This was back when documents were handwritten rather than typed or printed.

Genealogy / Polish Surnames Anglicized? [48]

Amen!

Genealogy / Toczynski name? [18]

TOCZYŃSKI: basic root is toczyć (to roll, to turn on lathe); most likely a topo nick from Toczeń (roughly: Rollville, Turnerton) meaning "the bloke from Toczeń".

A coat of arms accompanies this surname.

NOTE: For detailed info please contact: me.

Genealogy / Polish Surnames Anglicized? [48]

Defintiely a possibility. The point is that many Polish surnames are traceable to mutliple sources. In one family it's from this source, in another from a different one. Tracking down a source going back many generations can be quitre a daunting task.

Genealogy / The Kulers of Miechów and Glinica [7]

I could well be. That's why I addded 'probably'. So many things have happened to surnames over the generations, esepcially when trans-lingual processes were involved, that often it's anybody's guess.

Genealogy / Domkoski or Dabkowski - In search of my Grandfather's history [21]

Sorry about the typo: 'Dumping the "o" was an easy way to get rid of the "cow"' should have read: 'Dumping the "w"....'

One hint: dumping the 'w' was an American thing so we find such versions as Makoski, Stankoski, Rutkoski, etc. Such spellings are rare in Poland where Makowski, Stankowski and Rutkowski prevail.

Genealogy / The Kulers of Miechów and Glinica [7]

KULER: Probably a Polonised version of German Kühler which now can mean a cooler, car radiator, water jacket, etc. When the name first emerged centuries ago none of those things were known. But other processes in a forge, foundry, maybe brewery needed cooling so someone in charge of the task could have been dubbed der Kühler. By the time it had morphed into Kuler the meaning was lost and it became just another name.

For more information please contact: resrearch60@gmail

Genealogy / Polish Surnames Anglicized? [48]

Polish name-changing in America
It is no secret to anyone that many Polish immigrants changed their surnames after coming to America. Most often they were shortened, phoneticized or anglicized. But this author's maternal grandfather, who worked in the Pennsylvania coalfields before becoming a barber in Michigan, may have been one of the very few Polish immigrants who actually lengthened his original surname. He arrived in America as Jan Kupczak and later legally changed his surname to Kupczyński. The story goes that there had been two unrelated Jan Kupczaks living at the same boarding house and their mail kept getting mixed up.

Some PolAms are dead set against name-changing, others defend the practice for business reasons and for the sake of convenience. Could anyone hold is against an immigrant who changed a name such as Chrzęszczykiewicz, Przybyszewski Szczęśliwicki to something more pronounceable? In some cases, as we shall see below, the changes have actually made surnames more Polish than they had been before by improving their pronunciation. Here are some of the ways Polish surnames have been altered in America.

1. NON-OBSCURING ABBREVIATION: The name is shortened, for instance from Pietrzykowski to Pietrzyk, but its Polish ethnic origin remains obvious. Other examples could include Kowalewicz, Kowalewski, Kowalczyk > Kowal; Kołodziejczak > Kołodziej; Kucharzewski > Kucharz; Sikorzewski > Sikora and Bartoszewski > Bartosz.

2. OBSCURING ABBREVIATION: If a Lewandowski changes his name to Lew or a Kalinowski becomes a Kalin, the new name's ethnic origin is no longer readily apparent. The same is true of Adamczyk > Adam; Grabowski > Grab; Laskowski > Lasko; Sikorski > Siko and Tomaszewski > Tomas.

2. RESPELLING: Some Polish Americans have respelled their names to have them pronounced as close to Polish as possible. This could mean dropping the 'w' (and removing the 'cow') from Makowski > Makoski or removing the hardly audible initial 'p' from Przybylski and respelling it Shibilski. Others include Grohoski (Grochowski), Galsavage (Gałasiewicz), Yablonski (Jabłoński), Voytovich (Wojtowicz), Shanoski (Sianowski) and Kuharski (Kucharski).

3. SAME OR SIMILAR MEANING: Some have changed their Polish names to English ones of similar meaning. So Nowak > Newman, Kowal (Kowalski) > Smith, Bielecki > White, Pietrzak > Peterson, Bednarz (Bednarczyk) > Cooper, Woźniak > Carter, Piekarski > Baker, Zimowicz > Winters, Piątek > Friday, Skorupski > Shell, Zieliński > Green, Jabłoński > Appleton, Szymczak > Simons or Simmons, Kwiatek > Flowers, Młynarski > Miller, Wilk > Wolf, etc.

4. SIMILAR SOUND: Here the meaning is unimportant, since a name is chosen that is close in sound to the Polish original. Examples: Kupczak > Cooper, Bartkowiak > Barton, Kowalik > Covley, Duda > Dudley, Malinowski > Malley, Głowacki > Gloveson, Krawczyk > Kraft, Borowski > Barrow, Wałasiewicz > Wallace, Wesołowoski > Wesley, etc.

5. ARBITRARY CHANGE: Such changes occur when someone chooses a name that appeals to him or her although it has no connection or association with his or her original surname. Here anything goes, so Czarnecki could become a Black, Harrison or McAllister, Wiśniewski might change over to Anderson, Kennedy, Summers or Rutledge with no rhyme or reason.

Many of the problems with Polish surnames in America stem from Polish orthography (spelling). A Czech, Slovak, Russian. The Czechs and Slovaks spell the name Novak, and the remaining three nations which use the Cyrillic alphabet transcribe it into English the same way. But if a PolAm retains the original Nowak spelling, it will invariably get Anglo-mangled into 'no whack'. Cyrillic-writing Eastern Slavs transcribe all names phonetically enabling Americans pronounce them the right way. Compare: Bogutsky (Polish spelling: Bogucki), Charnetsky (Czarnecki), Kravchuk (Krawczuk).

GRZYCH: dialectal East Poland peasant pronunciation of Grzech (sin). One can only speculate as to why someone might have acquired such a nickname-turned-surname. Perhaps the nick was imposed on someone known in the village for frequently exclaiming "a to grzych!" (that's a sin). It coułd have originated as a toponymic nick from Grzychów, Grzechowo or similar, but I couldn't find any such place in today's small, truncated Poland. But there are localities called Grikhnovo (Polish spelling Grzychnowo) in parts of Russia that once belonged to Poland.

Genealogy / Oczkowicz - Anyone here from Zagorzany or the area? / Kandefer [8]

KANDEFER: a modified version of the German name Kaymedfel, the name of one of the German colonists who settled Iwonicz in SE Polamd in the 15th century. Today Iwonicz Zdrój (springs) is a health spa.

Genealogy / Is Aleska a Polish baby name ? [42]

WALEWSKI: this is a surname of toponymic origin originally identifying someone as an inhabitant of such villages as Walew and Walewice. Walewska is the feminine form used by women. Valeska is a foreign respelled version, since the letter "v" does not appear in inidgenous Polish names. It is not uncommon for the "w" in Polish surnames ending in -ewski and -owski to be dropped abroad to facilitate pronunciation.

Your surname has absolutely nothing in common with that of Poland's famous Solidarity leader, Lech Wałęsa. Like Spanish with its ñ, é, ó, á, ü, etc. Polish too uses diacritical marks, so Wałęsa is pronounced va-WEN-sa.

It comes from the verb wałęsać się meaning to roam, wander, be a drifter, etc
Espero que esto ayuda Usted.

Genealogy / Sobaniak family [3]

SOBANIAK: patronymic from first name Sobiesław or toponymic from Sobanice in Mazowsze or Coбaнцeeвo in Russia. Not directly relatet to Sobański but derived from the same or similar root. Five gentry lines amongst the Sobańskis.

Genealogy / Daniel Stone, family from Warsaw - I'm looking for my great great grandfathers anything [10]

STANIEWICZ sounds the most plausible in Polish. If this is it, it would have originated as a patronymic nickname meaning the son of Stanisław (English equivalent: Stanson).

Life / Important Poland etiquette question: bite of the herring first, then a shot, or shot first, then a herring? [22]

The language is self-explanatory. The Polish bite-down is called a zakąska or (more crudely) zagrycha. It comprises the prefix za (after, beyond, behind) and derivatives of the verbs kąsać and gryźć (to bite). So the nip comes first and is followed by the bite-down. Na zdrowie or Chluśniem bo uśniem!!

Genealogy / Surname information for Kufel [6]

Almost any object or living creature has been used over the generations as a Polish nickname-turned-surname.
Why would anyone be called Kufel? Well, why would anybody be called £YŻKA, MISA, GARNEK, DZBANEK,SZKLANKA, NOGA, RĘKA, NOS, OKO, ŻYTO, BYK, KOZA, £OPATA, MOTYKA, KASZA, ZUPA, POTRAWA, POLEWKA, SA£ATA, BURAK, KAPUSTA, KIE£BASA and the list goes on and on....

Genealogy / Surname information for Kufel [6]

Normally no-one TOOK a nickname. He simply got called that by fellow-villagers and it caught on and stuck. Apparently some association with that vessel (either he produced or sold them them or was constantly seen at the village inn with one in hand!) inspired fellow-villagers to coin such a nick.

Genealogy / Oczkowicz - Anyone here from Zagorzany or the area? / Kandefer [8]

OCZKOWICZ: This is a patronymic tag derived from the nickname Oczko (little eye). Someone might have been locally called Oczko because he had a large, bulging, strangely shaped or otherwise unusual looking eye; or maybe it was a spying-pying eye that never missed a thing. When he fathered a son, fellow-villagers would have dubbed the offspring Oczkowicz.

Genealogy / Surname information for Kufel [6]

KUFEL: beer mug; several thousands users in Poland but less than 50 in Germany. During the partitions Polish immirgants had travel documents indicating the foreign occupation zone -- Russian, Prussian or Austrian -- they were living in.

Genealogy / Where are birth records from Przewałka ( Bialystok Department ) held? [10]

GASILEWSKI: possibly a patronymic to indicate the son of Gabriel, Gaweł or Gadomir.

PRZEWA£KA: probably derived from verb przewalić (to knock someone over, trip, cause to fall).

SZAWELSKI: patronymic meaning "son of Saul".

Genealogy / Domkoski or Dabkowski - In search of my Grandfather's history [21]

DĄBKOWSKI: toponmyic nickname for in inhabitant of Dąbków or Dąbkowo (Oakville, Oakton, Oakwood). Since accent vanished in America, Dąbkowski would have lost its ogonek (˛), ended up as Dabkowski and got Anglo-mangled into something like Dab-(rhyming with stab)-Cow-ski.

Dumping the "o" was an easy way to get rid of the "cow" in the many -owski ending surnames for which Polish is known.

Genealogy / Looking for any information for my Dziadek (grandfather):Jan (John) Dalecki [3]

DALECKI: toponymic nick from one of several localities called Dalekie (Fartown, Distantville). One noble line.

Genealogy / Paternal grandparents Feldman/Prochnak born 1879, married Waipahu, Hawaii 1899 [10]

FELDMAN: popular German/Yiddish surname well-known in Poland; literally fieldman meaning a field-dweller, tiller of the soil or farmer.

OSTROWSKI: root-word ostrów (archaic for island); probably toponymic from numerous localities called Ostrów, Ostrówek, Ostrowo, Ostrowiec and similar; very popular -- some 38,000 users..

PROCHNAK: root-word proch (dust) as in "From dust thou art and to does thou shalt return." Possibly a topo nick for someone from the village of Prochy or Prochowice.

Genealogy / (SOUNDS like N O A S O D) - Help with a Polish surname please [4]

NASADA: this surname exists but is very rare and used by only a handful of people n Poland. Its meanings in older Polish included basis, settlement, or even an axe handle or rifle butt. Maybe some immigrant chopped off the final syllable to get Nasad???