My Polish last name is Bober

i'm curious about my surname, if anyone could shed some light on it.

my last name is Bober, from my dziadek's side, and my babcia's last name is Stasiak. i'm more sure of the Stasiak name, but Bober is very difficult to find, except for the same, "Eastern German and Jewish (from Ukraine and Poland): from Polish bóbr ‘beaver’, Yiddish bober, applied as an ornamental name or as a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way.", repeated on every site i search.

i am not sure if Bober, in my case, is really yiddish (hope not), because i am a bit unsure of what my babcia's reaction will be, if i ask her. i have, however, asked if it was originally spelled "Bobr", to which she replied, "no, it's Bober, otherwise you'd be called 'Boober', and you wouldn't want that, now would you?".

i'd like to know, because my dziadek died when i was very young, and i learned very little about him. thanks

my dziadzia died when i was very young, and i didn't learn much about him. my babcia's surname is "Stasiak", and my dziadzia's name is Bober. any help?

i've seen, "Eastern German and Jewish (from Ukraine and Poland): from Polish bóbr ‘beaver’, Yiddish bober, applied as an ornamental name or as a nickname for someone thought to resemble the animal in some way.", but so far, that doesn't help. as far as i know, i'm not jewish.

The name Bober is quite popular in Poland. There are about 9000 people with these name in Poland.

Bober is an old fasioned (or regonal?) way of saying bóbr (beaver) so the name can be Polish but it can be yiddish as well.

Regards

£ukasz

Merged:

Looking for some Information - my Polish Father

Hi Folks
I am trying to find some details of my father and any history.
His name was Jan Victor Bober. He is now deceased and the last years of his life was in the UK
I know he had a brother who lived in Poland. There was never any mention of names at all.
I have no family history at all on my fathers side and trying to find any information.
Cheers
Parys

@Parys

Bober is a common Polish surname, with about 9000 people with that name in Poland, but it might also be a shortened form of a similar name. The first step would be to request his immigration and naturalization records and see if they contain his real Polish surname, and, hopefully, his place of origin. Without that, it will be next to impossible to go any further. Depending on whether they are still alive, you might also contact his friends and see if they know anything.

Frankly, with a common surname and no place of origin, things are looking pretty bleak.

As Dominic has said, you would need to know if that name is spelt correctly. His surname might well indeed be Bober, but the surname originally comes from Polish Bóbr ( Beaver ) as mentioned above. It could also have been shortened from Boberski for example. Jan would be Janusz, and Victor, Wiktor.

Without further information it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack I'm afraid.

Parys, is this your father?

familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVF6-9SNV

The marriage registration record should list his place and date of birth.

Another helpful link: search.findmypast.com/results/united-kingdom-records?firstname=jan%20v.&lastname=bober&keywordsplace=st.%20helens

Once you know his date and place of birth, it should be fairly easy to contact the Polish state archive or the Civil Registration Office that is in charge and obtain further details.

Hi Good Folks

Thank you for replying to my post :) much appreciated and all the information. It opens another door for me to check things out.

It got me thinking that maybe is name was slightly changed over the years for some reason. I have a copy of his death certificate and it states he was born in Suchowola, Lubelskie. Poland in 1920. Hopefully I can get a birth certificate from where he was born which might show his parents names.

A polish man told me that the name Bober would have definitely been shortened and Ski would have been removed for some reason. Janusz Wiktor names for him makes sense i feel, and i like the sound of them :)

Cheers
and good wishes
Parys