zaleski
8 Feb 2008
Genealogy / Polish Surnames Anglicized? [48]
The letter 'v' in Kwiatkovski is an obvious mistake. The Polish alphabet doesn't use the letter 'v', it uses the letter 'w' to produce that sound. The only time a 'v' is use when writing in Polish is to transcribe a surname other then Polish or a foreign word containing the letter 'v'. The root of your surname Kwiat, as you may already know, means 'flower'.
my family's name was changed to Kaye from Kwiatkovski
The letter 'v' in Kwiatkovski is an obvious mistake. The Polish alphabet doesn't use the letter 'v', it uses the letter 'w' to produce that sound. The only time a 'v' is use when writing in Polish is to transcribe a surname other then Polish or a foreign word containing the letter 'v'. The root of your surname Kwiat, as you may already know, means 'flower'.