A "herb" only has meaning in the context of a particular ancestor. They have no meaning today, and haven't had any for a long, long time. If you are able to trace your family tree back to the 1700s, then you would be able to find out what, if any, herb a particular ancestor had. How far have you been able to trace back your family tree?
Thank you for the reply. Yes, I realize the herbs don't really mean anything anymore. So far I've researched back to the late 18th century - but the research is ongoing!
So far I've researched back to the late 18th century
If you have indeed identified ancestors from the late 1700s, then the only way to connect them with any herb is to find documents that explicitly connect them to a herb. Without documented evidence, there is no way to determine whether a person belonged to a particular herb or not.
There probably isn't one. Do you have any evidence that any of your ancestors of that surname were nobles? Or even Polish in the 18th century?
The name is apparently ultimately Ruthenian (Ukrainian) in origin, and is derived from the Turkish word "karak", which means a type of "minor leader or official". The name is used by a very small number (27) of modern Poles, both in that spelling and in the more Polonified spelling of Karakoszko. However, they are almost certainly the descendants of Ruthenians who had become Polonified at some point in time. The current day Poles with that surname live near Jarosław in southeastern Poland, not far from the Ukrainian border. My guess is that there are also people with that surname in what is now the Ukraine.
I been trying to find information out about my family. Zakrowski. I have no clue if they changed it when they came to the country. I have nothing to really to go on just my grandparents were polish.
Probably Zakrzowski. A very rare surname, with only 27 people with that name in the country. that belongs to a single family that originated and still lives predominantly in or near Katowice in southern Poland.
Can anybody tell me if Punsky is a polish surname and if it has a coat of arms/herb? Immigration records show our family came from Poland to the States in the 1800s but that's all I know.
Polish Wikipedia mentions the Punski family (Punscy) as a noble Lipka Tatar family but the last of the family died in the 17th century. There's also a place called Punsk and the name might have derived from it - either Polish or Jewish family. Or perhaps that's a misspelling of a Polish surname.
The Polish spelling in this case should be Dziubieński. If it is Dziubiński (which is also likely), this family had a crest (Dołęga) dating back to 1109-1120.