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

It looks Ukrainian. Your dad's first name was Mikail and your surname Redko.

last name "Waranowicz", possibly from Grodno (now Bel.), possible links to Baranowicze, Baronovichi, Hapanowicz (translettered Cyrilic); from "baran" (ram?)

Merged: Looking for family information-Surname Deruba

I'm looking for information reaching backward from my great great grandfather Stanley Deruba, who married Julia Deruba in 1902 in Buczacz, Poland.

Any information would be helpful! I found reports of other people named Deruba living at house 22 Podlesie, Poland but I am not sure how they are connected.

Thank you

Calli

DERUBA: Probably dervied from dera/derka -- the thick horsecloth placed on a horse's bare back before it is saddled. Similar names include Deruga, Derucha, and Derula.

Merged: Surname: Chrapcio

Hello:

Anyone out there researching the Chrapcio surname?
Working with a friend on his tree. Modern variant is Cropcho - but fairly certain they were once Chrapcio. Looking to see if there is any helpful information.

His ancestors settled in Pennsylvania.

thanks!

CHRAPCIO: Appears to have emerged as a nickname for someone who snored, ie the snorer. The -cio is a somewhat endearing diminutive ending untranslatable in English but possibly conveying the message of "cute little snorer".

Merged: Gulch / Gulcz - looking for ancestor help

My 15 year old daughter and I are tracing are family history. My name is Lynn Gulch. My great, great grandfather is buried with the name Kazimerz Gulcz. He was born in Prussia-Poland in 1826 and passed away in Dorr, Michigan in 1902. We know he immigrated to the United States in 1872. He was a widower, had 9 children, seven who survived him.

His son Franciszek was born in 1844 in Prussia-Poland. He passed away in 1908 in Dorr, MI. His gravestone has the last name spell as Gólcz. We know he immigrated in 1870.

What suggestions can anyone provide for the variations in the spelling of the last names? The last name was officially changed to Gulch in the USA.

Where does the name Kazmirczk come from? I know that my great-grandparents moved from poland with the name and changed it when they got the the states, but my family can't trance it back very well.

There are Kachmarchyk's here which are relatives, and is similar. Pretty sure they're Ukranians.

There are also historical records of Kazmiercyzk's and Kazmiercyzak's immigrating to the united states from Poland.

These are two enitrely different surname:
KACZMARCZYK: came from karczmarz (innkeeper), and originally meant the innkeeper's son.
KAŹMIERCZAK and KAŹMIERCZYK: trace back to Kazimierz (Casimir) and meant Casimir's son.

I'm imagining Kachmarchyk (as it appears in the local phone book) may be an english-ized version, possibly of the first Kaczmarczyk but not sure, just some locals related by marriage. My great grandfather changed his last name as well sometime in the 1930's. None of us are really sure what his reasoning was for changing it. But it was about the same time he started using the English spelling of his first name too.

Koprowski was his surname, which I've found out more about in the last while than I've known for my whole life.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the surname Ciecierzyński? It seems to be uncommon, and I am having trouble finding much about it. Thank you very much!

CIECIERZYŃSKI: root-word cicierzyca aka cieciorka (chickpeas). Most likely ot originated as a toponymic nickname-turned-surname from at least two locailities in Poland called Ciecierzyn (Chickpeaville).

Thank you so much, Polonius! I really appreciate your help! It's very kind of you :)

Hi there - I mistakenly filed my original post in the wrong forum and it was deleted, now have found the right place! :)

I am trying to do some genealogy and wonder if you could help me figure out a Polish name.

The last name I have been told is "Spearchek" but that definitely isn't the correct spelling. I suspect I should also check the first name and that is "Tanak". I'm from Canada but that part of the family lived in Montreal. So, anyway, if you are able to help in determining what could be a close name to this I'd really, really appreciate your help!

Last name sounds like: "Spearchek"
First name sounds like: "Tanak"

Thanks in advance!

These sound not Polish but Ukrainian. In Poland there is the surname Spierczyk.
It could have originated from the verb spierać się (to argue, quarrel). A quarrelsome fellow might have got nicknamed Spier or Spiera and the patronymic -czyk ending would have produced Spierczyk = son of Spier.

The equivalent Ukrainian verb is cперечатись, so it migth have worked the same way in that language as well.

Hi Polonius, thank you very much for your speedy reply!

"Tanak Spearchek" is proving to be an illusive character! :) It is a branch of the tree that I'm not terribly familiar with but do need to get right. I've scanned obits and genealogy websites with no luck. After doing some searching and because "Spearchek" is likely wrong, I went after "Tanak" but that too is equally rare. As you've mentioned, it could be Ukrainian and the word "Tanach" is a word associated with the Jewish Torah. Many Russian Jews moved to Montreal in the 40s/50s.

Tanak could be a hypocoristic (pet) form of the Ukrainian first name Atanas, the way Bill is from William and Meg is from Margaret.

Using some recently digitized records I was able to add a few more generations to my grandfather's Polish ancestry. Moving into the 18th century records I made a curious discovery; the family name changed. Suddenly the name I had been researching, Turkiewicz, was no longer appearing in the birth/marriage/death records. However, a new name appeared that didn't exist in the 19th century records for the village, Turkiniak. Comparing the families bearing the two surnames it is evident they are the same people. So what happened?

The Turkiewicz name appears in neighboring parishes and I find no other instances where it was changed. Was this something done by the priest? Did Bazyli just decide one day that he didn't want to be "the little Turk" anymore and declared before the church congregation that from now on he would be "son of the Turk"? His brother, Marcin, must have made the same declaration since he was born a Turkiniak and died a Turkiewicz as well.

This has stirred up a lot of questions that will probably never be answered without resurrecting some dead relatives. Has anybody experienced a similar change in surnames?

So my last name being Kurek, what are other spellings in Polish?

What is the meaning of Rżewski?
Tracing my great grandfather's last name back until the early 1800s it was at one point Rzeski and Rżeski.

Is Janeska a Polish surname?

I think it is both a first and last name.

RŻEWSKI: root-word rżeć ( to neigh liek a horse); probably toponymic nick from Rżewo, a village in today's Belarus, formerly Poland. The village could be roughly translated as Neighville (doesn't sound half bad, eh?), so Adam (for instance) Rżewski would have originated to indentify some christened Adam as hailing from Neighville.

What do you know about the name jaros

Looking for any records of ancestors with last names "Lensky", "Wojdylak", "Peruski", and/or "Rzepecki"? All of my grandparents emigrated before 1900 as young children or teens. Most died before I knew them well. I appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks! Gregory (Lensky) Lynne, USA cf.: wikitree.com/index.php?title=Lynne-40&public=1

BTW: I recently saw the film Ida. I realize it embodies the raw wounds Poland has suffered since my ancestors left it. Trust me: The "religious freedom" my Roman Catholic ancestors' parents and grandparents thought they would find in the USA is nothing but indifferentism and heresy galore! If "Ida" were to visit 2016 USA she would go back to the tranquility and peace of the convent in which she was raised!

[moved from]
Which of these spellings (or an alternate?) is the most-likely correct one? I don't have a clue.... I've forgotten whatever I was told--if it was ever correct to begin with...that person is long-deceased.

Rczyepeki or
Rzepecki or
Rezepecki or
Ryczpecki?

Thank you!

This one is the Polish surname. Check the map:
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/rzepecki.html

Merged: Surname - Nowicki - What does it mean?

Hello dear forum writers!

I have a question about my ancestors! I have hungarian ancestors, which lived in eastern hungary for over 150 years - but their name is a hungarised variant of the polish name Nowicki.

I asked some polish colleagues and they told me different things. One said it is an old polish-jewish surname. Another said it means inventor and another said it is aristocratic. One colleague said it comes from a town called Nowicka.

Maybe you can help me here, I would be very glad!

Thank you,

Nowicki

It either comes from "nowy" which means "new", or from name Nowica, which is a name of town.

This is probably apocryphal, but I once heard that Nowicki was a name given to Jewish converts to Catolicism and that it originated as "Nowy Icek" (Icek beign a common Jeiwsh first name). But since surnames ending in -ski as well as -cki are ususally of toponymic origin, Nowicki probably originated to indicate a native of one of several villages in Poland called Nowica or Nowice.The names of those localities may be roughly translated as Newton, Newbury, Newville or something along those lines.