kaniecki2009
8 Jun 2010
Genealogy / Polish Surnames Anglicized? [48]
My Grandmother's family name was Kaniecki, or atleast that is how we knew it. Sometime in the 1920s they changed it to Crane, all except the women (who married and got rid of it) or those who died young. I've seen it spelled Kanieski, Kaniewski, Canecki, Carnecki, Kornetzky and those are all American sources. We have accepted the spelling as Kaniecki as everyone in our family who still uses the name has adopted that spelling.
My G-Grandmother's maiden name was Romanski. Her nephew married her step-daughter, he changed his name to Roman as well, as SSpringer mentioned about Romanowski.
As far as changing letters, I have seen Danielewski spelled Danielebski, then eventually shortened to Daniels. I think the replacement of letters (or lack there of) are actually dictation mistakes on the behalf of Americans. I would venture to say that a Polish immigrant who could read and write would still use accent marks or £ in their name, just the sounds would lead many to write them down wrong.
On a humorous error, I have heard Wielgosz pronounced "Wild-goose."
My Grandmother's family name was Kaniecki, or atleast that is how we knew it. Sometime in the 1920s they changed it to Crane, all except the women (who married and got rid of it) or those who died young. I've seen it spelled Kanieski, Kaniewski, Canecki, Carnecki, Kornetzky and those are all American sources. We have accepted the spelling as Kaniecki as everyone in our family who still uses the name has adopted that spelling.
My G-Grandmother's maiden name was Romanski. Her nephew married her step-daughter, he changed his name to Roman as well, as SSpringer mentioned about Romanowski.
As far as changing letters, I have seen Danielewski spelled Danielebski, then eventually shortened to Daniels. I think the replacement of letters (or lack there of) are actually dictation mistakes on the behalf of Americans. I would venture to say that a Polish immigrant who could read and write would still use accent marks or £ in their name, just the sounds would lead many to write them down wrong.
On a humorous error, I have heard Wielgosz pronounced "Wild-goose."