Polish last name of Kochanik

Searching my family roots has proved to be diffcult.
My great grandfather immigrated from Poland around 1890's. Its been difficult to trace anything prior to the United States records. Is this likely due to a name change? What would that name change have been? I am trying to find the Birth records in Poland for my grandfather.

his name is Walter Kochanik
Any leads/ideas?

No, he didn't. Poland didn't exist at that time.

There are several Walter Kochanik listed at the LDS. Which one is it?

Forgot to say: you can try to find his naturalization record via the social security death index. That gives you the place and date of birth and the name of his parents.

Walter was most probably Władysław. The name Kochanik is not very popular in Poland. I think you should consider also Kochaniak which is more popular and sounds very similar. Do you know where exactly did he come from? Or maybe his date of birth?

Greetings,
Barbara

Not necessarily. If his great grandfather was the one who was born in Austria-Hungary in 1887, then he could as well have a German given name. Especially since he married someone from Germany.

Hello, my grandfather had the same surname and he came from the north-eastern part of Slovakia, actually near the Polish border. I suppose the origin of the surname (which could have been Kochaniak) could be from the Poland and was adjusted according to the specifics of the language used on the current territory of Slovakia, therefore you cannot find any trace in the Poland. But it is only my opinion.