Lambor surname

Lambor is rare (only a dozen Poles use) and of obscure, probably foreign origin. No localities in Poland and environs are traceable to it. The only words that even come close are lamber, a decorative stitch in sewing; its plural lamry or labry means the floral embellishemtns decorating coats of arsm. There once was a verb łąbrować (the ą~am alternation is not uncommon in Polish) which meant to shell walnuts. Could Ląbor~Lambor have been a walnut-sheller???? Anyway, all this is highly speculative, so the name continues to be a stumper.

Thanks for your reply!

My father told me Lambor was an "old Polish word" for a "warrior". (Well, he would, wouldn't he!) But, I read somewhere that words ending in "bor" are to do with warriors. I also read that words ending in "bor" are to do with woods and forests. Someone else said the name meant "shining one", from "lampa".

My first Lambor was born about 1812 in Kanovice, Moravia but that later generations were living in Sambor, Ukraine. Then my lot settled near Krakow (where some still are), geographically quite close to Moravia, while one of the brothers stayed in Sambor.

I've often wondered whether, somewhere on the records, Lambor was somehow derived from Sambor. In old writing, the letters might look similar, but the pronunciation would be very different. The same with Jambor, a name which abounds in that region of Moravia.

But, with the aid of the internet, I've discovered Lambors in America who originated in Greece. In one case, his name was spellt Lambros, but he signed his name as Lambor. In Greece, Lambros is "shining one".

In Old Polish the 'bor' root inded meant war, whilst nowadays it usuzally has to do wtih a coniferrous forest. But what about the "lam," syllable. You may be right about the foreign derivation -- soemthing I suspected from the start. And the confusion between fancily curlicued letters is also something to consider. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Thank you, but you have been helpful. You have more or less confirmed that Lambor isn't a Polish name. Sob! (Don't worry. I have plenty of others: Bogucki h Krzywda, for example!) I suspect it is Greek, from Lambros. There are various different "looks" in Greece, and my father looked very like some of those "looks". I suspect that the Greek Diaspora which settled in Ukraine in the 18th century might have seen a Lambros or two settle there and that my own original Lambor may have been a Napoleonic soldier who moved around, though where Kanovice comes into it, I can't say, unless his papa was a soldier, too.

Hi, I'm Lambor from Kanovice in Morava (Czech republic) and I looked to cronicals and Josef Lambor really lived in Kanovice, he was born in July 1811 and in 1862 moved to Poland. He was son of Martin Lambor and Veronika Plášek.

LAMBOR: probably derived from the German first name Lambert; possibly a toponymic nick for someone from Lambertowice or similar.

PIASEK: sand; could have originated as a toponymic tag for someone from Piaski or an occupational nick for a sand-digger (piaskarz).

It would be helpful if you have mentioned that you were referring to a topic already raised in this thread, and particularly to this message:


So you are in fact providing part of the answer to the Renia's quest. Thank you.
I'd like to add that, according to Moi Krewni database, there are only 11 people of this name in contemporary Poland, and five of them live in city of Kraków - which supports Renia's claim.


You were already involved in this topic way back,


That's Czech name Plášek, not Piasek. The poster is probably very much aware of where his name comes from since "pláš" translates to Polish: pochwa, osłona, płaszcz, otoczka and to English: sheath, jacket, coat, casing. It seems like Polish "płaszcz" comes from "pláš".

@vev
Thank you for your reply and for the information that Jozef Lambor was the son of Martin Lambor and Veronika Plášek. You wrote a long time ago, but I have only just found this, so I'm sorry I didn't thank you sooner. We are probably cousins?! Can you tell how long Lambor has been in Kanovice, from the chronicles and archives? Renia Lambor.