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

GAZDECKI: root-word gazda (highland farmer); Gazedcki (patronymic) would be his son.

PIERZYNOWSKI: root-word pierzyna (featherbed, down-filled comforter; someone making or dealing in featherbed of hailing from the locality of Pierzyny could have earned such a nickname.

BUDZIŃSKI: root-word budzić (to wake); colloquially "the waker"; or toponymically from localities east of the border such as Budin or Budino.

NOTE: Coats of arms accompany all three above surnames. For more info please contact me.

Thank you so much

Merged: Surname: Czaban

My great grandfather's niese's family was Czaban. What is the background of this name?

CZABAN/CABAN has one of several meanings: 1) a large ox or ram; 2) clumsy oaf: 3) market hawker.

Could it also be a reference to Shabbat, which begins on Friday?

Not really, though it could have been one of the more creative surnames given to Jewish people in Warsaw by ETA Hoffmann. As names can change over time, and just as the word Friday has an etymology, so does Piątek. That name could also have referred to five something (brothers, houses, hectares, whatever) and ended up as Piątek with time. It may also have been a variant of Piatka (a Czech and Slovak surname).

I knew a very nice lady in Poland called that (who ran a well-known childrens' charity), now sadly recently dead. She wasn't Jewish, however I've no idea if any of her forebears were.

Although with surname origin most everything is possible, more likely is the toponymic angle -- a great many Polish surnames are derived from place-names (toponyms). Here we have localities such as Piątek, Piątak, Piątki, Piątkowa, Piątkowo, Piątków, Piątkowiec, Piątkowice, Piątkowizna, Piątkowisko and probably a few more.

Holy cow; that's a lot of place names from the same word.

Hello, my father was born in Krakov/w Poland in 1935, he is not aware of any ancestors from England, is it possible that the Morton surname goes back to 1800's or earlier in Poland? Morton just doesn't sound very Polish to me. Does anyone know any Morton's still living in Poland?

MORTON/MORTOŃ: Some 100 people use the first version and a quarter as many the second. Onamastician Dr Ewa Szczodruch feels it was derived from names such as Marcin or Marta.

[Moved from]: Helena Bineiwicz (Biniewicz) from Pomarzanki and family; Kulpinska

Hi I am searching for Helena Bineiwicz and any family she may have. She was daughter of Tan Bineiwicz (he was a farmer) and Aleksandra Kulpinska.

She was born in a place called Pomarzanki?? Possibly In 1923.

Helena had a sister one year older than her named Maria Bineiwicz, who then married Kazimeirez Gorczynski.

I am having real trouble with trying to find this information. Any assistance would be fantastic.

Almost certainly Jan Biniewicz


Spelt Kazimierz


A tiny village. The records would be in the nearest larger town. Which Pomarzanki is it? There are several
Note to Mods: maybe pop this in a separate thread?

Merged: Grudniewski - Surname meaning and/ research

I am trying to find the origin of my father's surname, Grudniewski. I have read here that it might be a name given by the Catholic Church to Jewish converts who became Catholics in December. I think it is a relatively rare name and also I have found a couple of 19th century vital records with this name and Jewish first names from an area then called Radom. Any information would be appreciated.

Background of Barszczewski surname?

Counting on You, Polonius ;)

BARSZCZEWSKI: root-word barszcz, the name of an invasive weed once used by poor peasants in the Commonwealth and Muscovy to make soup to which the plant gave its name. Since -owski and -ewski ending surnames are nearly always of toponymic origin, this one most likely is traceable to Barszcze (1) or Barszczewo (2 such localities), all three in NE Poland's Podlasie region, or similarly named localities in Belarus and Russia.

GRUDNIEWSKI: Most likely a toponymic nick to identify an inhabitant of Grudna or Grudno.
The Jewish connection, of course, cannot be ruled out, but if December were the root I think it would have been Grudziński. Etymologically it was probably derived from the old adjective grudny describing frozen clumps of earth when the ground freezes over.

Polonius3, Tell me about Kukielka surname if you would please.

Does anybody know about Tenski it is my last name and was told it came from Poland any help appreciated

Couldn't find Tenski, Teński or Tęski. Maybe it was originally Tęskny and got misspelt between the Old Country and the New. The adj. tęskny means wistful, longing, yearning. It is quite a rare surname and on the verge of extinction as only half a dozen people in Poland sign themselves that way.

KUKIE£KA: from kukła (puppet, doll, effigy); kukiełka is the diminutive version (a grammatical form that makes something some sound smaller, cuter, daintier, etc.)

BTW, in the eary days of American TV (late '40s early '50s) there was a kids puppet show called "Kukla, Fran and Ollie".(Fran was the human member of the trio, the other two were puppets.)

Merged: Origins of the surname: Jakubiec

1. I would like to know the English equivalent of the surname: JAKUBIEC. Is it JACOBS?

2. Is its origin Jewish which was at some point 'Polonised' ie Jakub - iec ?

Could anyone assist, please?
Thanks

1. Surname with suffix -ec is suggesting that the surname comes from "father's name". Something like "Petersen" in Scandinavian surnames. I don't know how English surnames are created, so I can't tell if it is a good equivalent, but Jakub is Jacob/James. So if suffix "-s" is an equivalent of suffix "-ec" it may make sense.

2. Not necessarily Jewish, what makes you think so? As far as I know, surnames with this suffix may be of Ukrainian origin.

What's the meaning of "Czokało" and its variants (including "Chokola", as in the Wilkes-Barre brewer family)?

It comes from cant "ciokać" which means "to caress".

JAKUBIEC: derived from Jakub (James, Jacob), popular both amongst Jews and Goyim including Poles. This would most certainly have originated as a patronymic nickname-turned-surname, the equivalent of English Jacobson or Jacobs.

Other patronymic endings have produced Jakubiak, Jakubik, Jakubczak, Jakubowicz and Jakubowski.

Any information for Jeremenko or Danielowa?

JEREMIENKO: Ukrainian patronymic-derived surname from Jeremiasz (Jeremiah), one of the Old Testament prophets.

DANIELOWA: feminine name meaning Daniel's wife.

Thank you.

Many thanks for your response. Appreciated.

Thank you for this enlightening reply.

Re point 2 and your question.

My mother's maiden name is Jakubiec. She was born in the early 1930's in a village just outside Brody, which was then part of Poland (as you may know) and is today within the territory of the Ukraine. Brody had an exceedingly high Jewish population prior to WWII and there was a significant Jewish population in the outlying villages. So I am speculating whether my family origins may have had Jewish roots. So far my lines of enquiry are inconclusive on this point.

Considering that Brody was 80% Jewish in the 19th century, there's a good chance your ancestors were amongst the local Jews. However, a name such as Jakubiec alone is no indication, since Jews have been known to use various Polish and other Slavic names. If they had had a typically Jewish name like Baruch, Szapiro, Margolis, Lewita, Segal, Rubinsztajn, Birnbaum, etc., that would have been a different story.

Thank you for your further helpful comment.

Hey I would like to know the meaning of my last name "Sobucki" please :)