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

CZAJA: from dialectal czaja meaning lapwing or pewit (wading bird species); alternative from the verb czaić się (to lurk in wait), hence the lurker.

The Csajak spelling is either a mistake or not Polish. The diagrpah cs existis in Hunagrian. Polish would have to be:

CZAJAK: The -ak usually indicates a patronymic nickname, so Czajak would be "the son of Czaja".

I am curious about the surname Galajda. Some people with this name were Ruthenians from what is now northeastern Slovakia, along the Polish border. Thank you.

GA£AJDA: possibly from Old Polish verb galić (to serve, indulge, toady, humour sb); over 100 users mainly clustered in SE Poland near where the borders of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia meet.

Many thanks for the helpful information about the name Galajda. I wonder, could it have anything to do with the region called Galicia? Is there any general meaning to the ending 'ajda'? Does the name seem likely to be of Polish language origin, or could it be of others? Thank you again.

I had a Russian teacher named Kalaida, in Polish that would be Kałajda. That ending probably appears in other Slavonic tongues.
In Polish -ajda is usually pejorative -- e.g. ciamajda (silly oaf), niedorajda (clumsy ne're do well).
I doubt if it had to do wtih Galicja. People from there were called Galicyjak and Galon

My boyfriend's last name is Kuczajda. He's always wondered what it means. He knows that the family came to Detroit around 1900. He used my Ancestry.com account a couple of weeks ago to look up the name of the one that came over and found their arrival papers from NY. It states they were from Galicia, which he had never heard of. He was always just told it was Polish. In my various searches, and also how I came to be here, I'm figuring it's a combo word: Kucz+ajda. It's got to be an uncommon name, because it doesn't really come up in a google search.

KUCZAJDA: probably from Old Polish kuczeć (to squat, sit on one's hanches the way many chairless Orientals do). The -ajda ending is usualyl pejorative as in niedorajda (klutzy clodhopper, loser) or ciamajda (clueless oaf). Kuczajda could have been coiend to indicate a squatter with a tinge of disapproval of the practice.

Rare it is indeed! Not a single person in Poaldn uses it at present.

Hello dear Polish people,

I am looking for the origin or meaning of my Jewish surname Slitinsky.

Although they lived in the Ukraine I think it might have originated in Poland. There are almost no Slitinsky in the Ukraine.

Unfortunately, no surnames currently used in Poland begin wtih Slit-, Ślit- Słyt- or anything similar.

That's too bad... I am still trying to find out if it might be related to Zlotn/Slotn for gold or even a town or Village named Slatin or Slitin but I guess it must be foreign to Poland.

Thank you for your fast reply!

Gold in Polish is złoto, in Ukrainian -- zołoto -- both far removed form Slitinsky.

Great site I'm glad I found this. I have a few surnames I was hoping to find out more about.

Kloska - from Poźnan
Skrzywicka
Mussa - from Gdansk

Thanks in advance!

KLOSKA: either from Polish kluska (dumpling - originally derived from German Kloß) or German pet form of Nikolaus - Klos.

MUSSA: possibly from German Musch, derived from Moses.

For more info on these please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl

What about Bernatowicz and Bimmer? I was told Bimmer is Silesian together with Bernatowicz?

BERNATOWICZ: patronymic meaning "son of Bernat". (Bernat is a Polish version of Bernhard or Bernard.) Concentrated not in Silesia but in NE Poland's Suwałki region along the Lithuanian border.

BIMMER: not currently used in Poland; several dozen people sign themselves Bimer and their bastion is the Katowice and Opole areas of Silesia (Śląsk); probably an adaptation of German Böhmer (a Czech).

For more info on these please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl

Is Bernatowicz of Germanic origin?

And could Bimmer have been Anglonised when my family came to the US?

No, Bernatowicz is a purely Polish partonymic. Only Poels use the -wicz spelling. The root word Bernat is a Polonised version of German Bernhard.
Bimmer could have been an Anglicised version of Bimer. The only way to know for sure is to consult your immirgant ancestor's OLD WORLD documents if avialable (birth or marriage certificate, possibly travel documents). US-generated documents often reflect how the name got "Anglo-mangled" in America.

Merged: Polish nicknames - Maniush and Cynab/k ???

I have some old letters between my grandmother and her cousin. Her cousin's name was Mary Pauline Mazurowski, but the letters are signed 'Manuish'. Is this a polish form of Mary or a diminutive possibly?

Her other cousin, Walter Mazurowski, is referred to as Cynab/k - again, is anyone familiar with this as a Polish nickname?
Thanks

Yes, Mania and Maniuś are pet forms of Maria. Cynab I'm not sure about. There is a Jewish female name Cyna. But more likely than not this is just a unique-case scenario, a one-off in-family thing without any rhyme or reason.

Ah, yes. Indeed a nick, but as Bernat is Polonised from Bernhard (Bernard?) does that mean that the original bearer of this surname could have been German?

I suspect Bimmer is a very rare surname, I always thought it was German :) (The more you know)

He could have been German or Polish or Czech or Wendish or Jewish or most anything else. We cannot know. Let me take it from the beginning. The German name Bernhard evolved as a compound name comprising Old High German bero (bear) and hart (strong) and originally meant somethign like "strong as a bear". It eventually went into different languages as Bernard (English, French), Bernardo (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) and Bernat (Hungarian, Czech, Polish). Let's say a German named Bernhard moved to Poland in 1100 or 1300 AD and settled. Soon local Poles would have started calling him Bernat and when he fathered a son: presto -- instant Bernatowicz. Regardless of whom Bernat had married, baby Bernatowicz would be at least 50% German. It depends on whom Bernatowicz and his descendnats intermarried with over the centuries as to what percentage of which nationality his DNA now comprises. A DNA test can determine that.

Bernat is no exception. Lets take Thaddeus (Polish Tadeusz) which I presume is your first name. It goes back even further to Aramaic (Jesus' language) where it had the form of Thadday. It was rendered in ancient Greek as Thaddaios and eventually went into different languages as Thaddé (French), Thaddäus (German), Tadeusz (Polish), Tadeáš (Czech) and Thaddeus (English). But that does not mean you trace your roots to Palestine where Aramaic was once spoken or Ancient Greece.

For more info on the above as well as Bimmer please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl

Can someone tell me everything or/and anything about the surname Dabrowski?

Also what's the translation of the name Abbey/Abbigail?

DĄBROWSKI: A surname of topographic (dąbrowa = oak wood) or toponymic (from localities named Dąbrów, Dąbrowo, Dąbrowa) origin. It is Poland's 11th most popular surname shared by some 86,000 people.

For more info please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl


ABIGAIL: from Hebrew Abhigayil which means "she whose father rejoices".

Do you have any other info on Bernatowicz?

Yes, but please email me on that.

Hi I'm doing some research on my family tree and wondered if someone could tell me what these names mean.
Grabowska
Dyga
Motyczynska
Milczarek
Grabiec
I have just found photos of some of my ancestors, my great great nan and my great nan from pre 1930. They aren't white European, they are very dark skinned and eastern looking. I wondered if the names would give a clue. I think they look maybe Polska Roma.

@Ryba76
Grabowska: feminine toponymic from Grabów, Grabowo and similar (Hornbeamville).
Dyga: from dygać (to courtsey).
Motyczyńska: feminine toponymic from Motyczyn (polonised version of German Möttig).
Milczarek: alternative spelling of Mielczarek -- patronymic for "the malter's son".
Grabiec: from grab (hornbeam, tree species) or grabić (to rake), hence raker.

Thanks for your help Polonius3
Dziękuję

filipowicz

Filipowicz: patronymic from Filip = Philipson.