THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME?

More likely German or Prussian than Polish as this area was part of Germany before 1945. But you can't deduce someone's nationality from their name alone or from the name of locality they came from.

If you are talking about DNA there are not discliy Polish or German DNA. If you are talking about they identity that probably changed in time and if they have been your ancestor you should know better then anyone here were they Polish or German.

nationality is such a complicated idea

Almost certainly. Until approx. the late 16th century it was widespread that people were named after the location they were born in or came from.


There's a very good chance because the area had been Prussian/German for many centuries before it came to Poland in 1945.

Hmm interesting. They were probably German by identity anyways, I'm not sure but it's likely since it was a part of Germany for so long. I don't mean if they were German by identity though, I wonder if the surname has Polish origins but overtime evolved to become more associated with Germany.

Also, I'm not 100% sure if the name is even Daberkow, my Great Grandmother wrote down the name a few times and wrote it as 'Daberko' but I found records on ancestry.com relating to my family claiming it to be 'Daberkow' so that is how I got the 'Daberkow' idea.

By Polish origins I mean it may have originally been Polish but may have became more associated with Prussia and Prussians over time due to conquests and territorial changes.

The LDS database has 1,944 hits for the name Daberkow alone

and another 95 for Daberko:

My bet for the correct spelling would be 'Daberkow', as most individuals in the database seem to come from Brandenburg, Pommern and other nearby areas. Most of the people have very German sounding given names by the way.

My last name is Wilganowski, but it was changed from either Wilkinowski or Wilkanowski when my family moved from Poland. Would anybody know what my last name means?

Wilkanowski: since 1640, toponimic from Wilkanowo, a village in Płock County, Masovian Voivodeship. Wilkanowo = wilk "wolf" + nowo "new." Currently, 135 Wilkanowskis and 152 Wilkanowskas live in Poland. No info on Wilganowski or Wilkinowski.

Merged: Meaning of the surname Koss?

I swear to God no one say its german

Numerous possibilities. An abbreviation of a name based on kosa (scythe), koza (goat), kosz (basket), or on the name Kosmos (Cosmos, from Greek for "beauty"), or of a toponym like Kossowski, based on a place name like Kossów or Kossowa (several instances of both in Poland). Or it might well be derived from a German name. Lots of Polish names are.

Sorry, got the spelling of the name wrong: it's Kosma in Polish, Cosmas in English. It's a Saint's name.

Merged: Correct spelling and meaning of the Polish surname Szachczynski

I am trying to find the 'correct' spelling (if there is one) for the family name Szachczyński. And the meaning also.

I started with an individual name Maximilian Szachczyński. I wanted to post a link to the grave stone on findagrave.com but I was informed that it was spam.?

Max's obituary in the local newspaper in 1911 had his last name spelled as 'Chachinski'.. His wife is listed as Cecelia Yaroch. They immigrated to the US in 1865.

I found their marriage record on the Poznan Project site:
Catholic parish in Jaktorowo, entry 3 / 1864
Maximilianus Rachczyński (27 1/2 years old)
Caecilia Jaroch (20 years old)

Jaktorowo is located about 40km west of Bydgoszcz and 80km north of Poznan:

Interesting that his last name is transcribed as starting with an 'R'. Perhaps it was 'Rz'? I have not seen the original record yet so I do not know how difficult it would have been to read. His brother Michael's marriage record is in the same town but his last name is transcribed as 'Szachczyński'. His sister Martianna marriage record has her last name transcribed as 'Szachczyńsa' Again, does not seem right. should end with -ska not -sa.

Researching this last name in the US Census records from 1870 through 1940 has been rather interesting. His mother and a number of siblings also came to to the US at the same time. The census takers had no Idea how to spell the name and the name for the same individual would be different every decade and the the same census takers would even spell it differently for two brothers in the same census year living less that a mile from each other. Here is a partial list of some of the spelling variations that I have found in sources such as census records, newspaper stories and county vital records in Dodge County, Wisconsin, USA.

Rachczyński
Sachcenski
Sachcenskie
Sachiniski
Sachinski
Sachinskie
Sachinskie
Sackinski
Sahchczinski
Sahczinski
Sahczynski
Sasxmskie
Schackschinski
Schahczinski
Schnckshinski
Schosinskie
Seachomgski
Shachozinski
Shackesinskie
Sharsmski
Shoctinskie
Shoetinskie
Shoschinski
Shosinskie
Szachcinski
Szachczinski
Szachczyńsa
Szachczyński
Szachezinski
Szakczynski
Szochcinski
Szuchcinski

Some of them are really head scratchers.

Jaroch: since 1444, from names such as Jarogniew, also from jary "springlike, young, strong." Currently, 1147 Jarochs live in Poland - most in Bydgoszcz.

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/jaroch.html

Other names are not in use in today's Poland. Most are orthographically impossible in Polish. Names beginning with Szach- are common. Szach comes from Persian Shah and the game of chess.

OK, I missed that. 'Chess' in Polish is 'szachy'.

Is the name Powelczyk originally from Poland or was it modified from another form of the name?

Is there an area of Poland that this family predominantly come from?

The ending -czyk is typical in Polish names. But Powelczyk is incorrect.
Pawełczyk: first recorded in 1605, from Paweł "Paul," "son of Paul" or "Paulson;" Paweł from Latin Paulus "small" since the 12th century. Currently, 3611 Pawełczyks live in Poland, most in Będzin:

Can someone help me with Szczekot. Waltonrescue75@hotmail. Facebook - Michael Szczekot I think I'm the only one!

Szczekot: from szczekać "to bark" (like a dog or fox). Currently, 69 Szczekots live in Poland, most in Leżajsk.

Thank you

From a ancestral point of view. If it means to bark would that relate back to a herald or something?

It's not implausible, but I have no knowledge how heralds were nicknamed 500 or 700 years ago. Equally possible is that your ancestor was an owner of a bunch of noisy dogs in the 12th century and his neighbours called him szczekot. It's also possible your ancestor was from the city of Szczekociny "Barktown." One thing we know for sure - that the root-word szczekać was popular in Poland for generating nicknames and later names, as currently there are two dozen names with the same etymology: Szczek, Szczeka, Szczekala, Szczekalik, Szczekalski, Szczekała, Szczekało, Szczekan, Szczekarewicz, Szczekla, Szczeklik, Szczekna (since 1402), Szczekocin (since 1215), Szczekociński, Szczekocki (since 1362), etc.

Does anybody know anything about the last name Zierwen? It is in my line and I looked it up and only one website contained 'Zierwen' and it was a Polish site. It is why I am here.

Could it be somehow derived from Dzierwinski? It sounds similar whilst very few names sound as similar as Zierwen. Could it have been written down as Zierwen when in reality it was Dzierwinski?

I found a site that said 'Zier' derived from beautiful in German. And could also be a habitational name from a place so named near Düren. Could it be German?

I was told my ancestors on my Great Grandfather's side came from Eastern Europe so I am doubtful that any of his ancestors could have been from a place so Western in Europe as 'Düren.'

But What do you guys think?

Not that far at all and plenty of movement between the two places over the centuries. But nevertheless, spellings change and there's certainly a surname Zirwen. Not Polish though.

There's also a Polish word


, to break off, split, renounce etc and it could have come from that.

Zierwen/Dzierwinski: Currently, no one in Poland uses these names. 10 people in Poland and 690 people in Germany use the name Zier. Closest to Dzierwiński are Dzierwicki and Dzierwanowski - both from Proto-Slavic drviti "to run fast."

My great grandfather, Jan Mieścier, immigrated to the U.S. from

Maciesze in 1905.

What is the meaning of this last name, in particular the ending -er? Any ideas about the origin of this name?

Thank you.

A shame I don't know more about this last name. Appears to be extremely rare. I found a website containing 'Dzierwenski' which is interesting. Though only one website contained such a name. Could my ancestors have taken the 'D' and 'ski' off for some reason?

Off course the website may have just been misspelling Dzierwinski, which appears to be a much more common last name. At least in terms of websites containing it and etc.

I did find a few websites containing 'Zierwinski'. So, apparently it is also fairly popular without the 'D'.

What do you guys think they were in terms of ethnicity and what town in Germany/Poland or whatever country this last name may have came from did they inhabit? I suppose it is very hard to tell especially with how rare the surname appears to be.

Mieścier: also Mieścior, from nestor "the oldest in the family," also from personal name of Greek origin Nestor. Currently, 13 Mieściers live in Poland.

Thank you. I had also heard once that the translation could be "man about town." Does that make sense?

In contemporary colloquial Polish a "man about town" can be called Mieścior but not Mieścier. But this is not the etymology of both names, according to academic sources I use.

Thanks. Which sources do you find useful for this type of research?

My fathers last name was Radzilowski. Could yo help with this please