I am trying to find out anything about my father's Cytryn family. Last year I discovered my whole family was jewish, and had changed their names after surviving the Holocaust. My father's real name was Jakub Cytryn, a building engineer in Warsaw. His father (first name some variant of Mojzesz) was also a builder. They lived in Warsaw at Leszno 56 in 1939. My father's mother Masza Guzik was the older sister of David Guzik (JDC Director of Poland during the war).
I believe the name has to do with quartz stone (english: citrine) rather than lemons, because I was told a story about my father putting a piece of citrine on his first wife's grave in Krakow.
The ancestral nest appears to be in the SE corner of Poland (former Galicja). Of your 195 namesakes, the most live in and around Przemyśl (79) with a bit of spill-over into the neighbouring Rzeszów area (19).
CZOBOT AND CZOBUT were a kind of boot, from Ukrainian ЧОБІT
My last name is Madurski...does that mean anything in Polish?
Madurski is a real stumper. It probably arose as a patornymic to mean son of Madura, but the what does Madura mean? There are Straits fo Madura in Indonesia, but that hardly seems a likely soruce. There is a locality in Belarus called Madora, but that would have produced Madorski. Unelss we assume someone wrote Madorski without closing his 'o' and someone re-copied it s as 'u'. A very shaky hypothesis! Maybe some otehr PF-er might have a better explanation?
YOUNG POLISH 1 WHAT IS THE MEANING OF SAJDLOSKI
SAD£OWSK:99% of -owski surnames are of toponymic origin, hence Sajdłowski would induicate an inhabitant of Sajdłów or Sajdłowo.
Anyone know what (if anything) Bublitz means? Been trying to find out for years. I have heard differant variations on it though, the name supossidly comes from the Pomeranian town of Bobolice (Bublitz possably being a differant spelling).
BOBOLICE: Bublitz is the German name for the town of Bobolice in the Baltic coastal region's Koszalin area. It comes from the Polish surname Bobola (a famous Polish saint is Andrzej Bobola), and means 'the place settled by Bobola's sons'. Not necessarily that Bobola who was a celibate monk.
crystaloski/kristolawsky? can anyone tell me what my last name means and where it is from. my grandpa told me its prussian and the family came over around the 1870s.
KRYSZTA£OWSKI - used by only 19 people in Poland would have originated as a toponymic nickname for an inhabitant of Kryształów or Kryształowo (Crystalville, Crystalton, Crystalbury).
What is the meaning of Walczuk
WALCZUK - eastern (Ukrainian) patronymic nick from Christian names Walenty or Walerian; something like Valson in English.
CHILICKI (pronoucned: heel-EETS-kee) arose as a toponymc nick from the town of Chylice. Chilicki is a variant spelling of the more common Chylicki. The chyl root suggests somethign like bending, drooping or keeling over and the -ice ending means 'sons of', so the whole surname migth tranlate as 'the bloke friom Bendsonsville'.
SZAREK - besides the colour grey, szary in Polish also means drab, ordinary, undistinguished, humdrum, etc. The archaic term szarek once meant a ne'er-do-well or (as we would say today) loser, a ragmuffin or down-and-outer. A similar term szarak means (besides hare) an inpoverished member of the gentry (bosy ale w ostrogach - barefoot but in spurs).
my last name is Jostenski but we can find no record of anyone else having that name in Poland or in the US. We think they messed it up at Ellis Island. Any ideas about other possible spellings or related names?
Kozanecki - means from Kozanki(lord of Kozanki). First document dated 1390,polish nobility. Coat of Arm - Amadej, from 17th century Waz (Snake). They were the Kozanki owners for over 500 years. Coat of Arm Amadej comes from Hungary and belonged to powerful clan Aba. Amade(Amadej) Aba helped to regain the throne of the polish king Wladyslaw Lokietek. His sons received lands in Poland and they were the ancestors polish noble families ( about 10 surnames).Kozanecki never were rich, but family history is probably as long as the Polish history.Maybe is time to start a genealogical research? :)
I was born in Ukraine to Polish birth parents, and my surname was changed to Jordanova. I havent been lucky in tracing back the name, but wondering what the polish variation of my name would have been if not changed?
A mere 18 people in Poland use the Jordanow surname (none spell it Jordanów). Jordanowa sounds feminine. In Poland a woman named Jordan or Jordanow would be familiarly referred to as Jordanowa, but not officially. Incidentally, there are more than 1,100 people surnamed Jordan.
Its etymology traces back to the River Jordan in the Holy Land.
Oh, great thank you. So the Polish equivalent of "jordanova" would most likely be Jordanowa? If so, that would probably have been my surname at birth before it was changed by my birth mother.
Laskowski - toponymic nick from Lasków. Laskowo, Laskowa et al Gorka (heard it means "little hill") - Indeed Hoffman ( Hochmann?) - German for estate steward, courtier or peasant attached to a grange (nobleman's farm) Hochmann also exists btu could haev resutled from a mispronuncaiton of Hoffmann. In rapdi speech both can sound quite similar. Grajewski - toponymici nick from Grajewo
My great-grandmother was also a Laskowska, but she lived in a hollander village among ethnic Germans. So, I've often wondered if she was Polish, or perhaps a Kashub. Do you know anything of the usual ethnic background of people with the name Laskowski?
There is a fair number of Laskowskis in Kashubia, but concentrations also exist elsewhere around the country. I shouldn't think Laskowski is a typcially Kashubian name.
I appreciate the input. Well, maybe the Witzke/Laskowska comination was one of the mixed marriages that did happen from time-to-time in Central Poland.
The Witzke surname is also known in Poland, although not as common as Laskowski. Most live in the Kujawy and neighboring Wielkopolska region -- both areas had been under German (Prussian) occupation from the late 18th c. till 1918. German names ending in -ke were originally of Slavonic (Polish, Czech Pomeranian/Kashubian) origin.
That is interesting Polonius3. And makes sense. I believe that the Witzke family were from Pomerania before moving into Central Poland. They spoke Polish and Low German.
What are the etymological meanings of my ancestral family names? My ancestral family names include: LEPIARCZYK, KANIA, SZYMURA, JAGIE£KA, SZYMURA, HENNICH, SZU£A, and NOWAK.
LEPIARCZYK – potter’s son KANIA – kite (bird) pr Portobello (edible fungus) SZYMURA – variant of Szymon (Simon); possibly augmentative (big, old, good for nothing Sy) JAGIE£KA – grain of millet cereal HENNICH – possibly derived from German Henne (hen) SZU£A – wooden wall or fence post NOWAK - newcomer KUKLIŃSKI - toponymic nick from Kuklin
Home / Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME?
