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

How about Michalczyk?

Does that one have a specific meaning?

steve

Tomiński - probably toponymic nick from locality of Tomin (Tomville)

Michalczyk - patronynmic nick = Michaelson

My grandmother's name was Prysunka. She lived in the Ukraine but I don't think her name is Ukranian. Is it Polish?
Margaret

The form of Prysunka is definitely Ukrainian. In Polish it would be Przysunka, from the verb przysunąć (to bring closer, move up, approach).
There are only 2 people in Poland named Prysunka, both in the Elbląg area (recovered territories), but not a single Przysunka.

My Polish ancestor came to the US in the early 1800s. His daughter was my grandmother's grandmother. Her last name was Nastrasky as it has been handed down to me. Her father appears only once in the Census that I have found. His name is listed as Nostrowsky, born in Poland. He bought a small tract of land in the 1850s. The court house has the name as Nasterowsky. He then disappears off of the paper trail. His wife and family is listed on the 1860 census as Nostrasky. She and family appears on the 1870 census as Mosterowski or something like that. It is almost unreadable. My granny is on the 1880 census as Nastrasky. She then marries and the rest of the family is lost. They moved away. Where? No one knows. THe name is always so mangled on the census it is impossible to track. Granny did have a brother come back for a visit ca. WWI era. My grandmother remembered him coming. The only clue about him is that he prayed "funny".

I am told that -sky is Jewish and -ski is not. No mention if this family was Jewish or not.
Any idea what the name "Nastrasky/Nastraski" means or what name it really might be?
Any help would be appreciated.

The only names anywhere close used in today's Poland are:
Nasterowicz Nasterowski Nasterski
Noster Nosterowicz Nastorowski
Due to widespread illiteracy at one time plus defective manual recopying by semi-litereate priests, village scribes or foreign occupiers, all kind of weird things have happened to surnames over the generations. The meaning and derivation of the above are uncertain.

Noster (as in Pater Noster) may belong to a small group of surames derived from Latin prayers; they include Meus, Dominus and Sekuła (from soecula - Latin for centuries found in the prayer Per omnia soecula soeculoram - Na wieki wieków...). Nosterowicz would be Noster's son.

My last name is Dudzinski, anyone know what it means?

Basic root dudy (goatskin bagpipes used in the Carpathian Mts) - Dudziński probably toponmyic nick meaning the bloke from Dudzin or Duziny (Piperton).

does anyone have an idea of what gonia means or something close to it?

The archaic Polish word gonia once meant a woman of ill-repute, the village (pardon my French) wh*re.
But not all is lost. As an alternative form of gunia it also meant a horse-blanket woven from thick wool.


Komorowski is a name of multiple possible origins. In Russia there may be several localtieis called Коморово (Komorowo) from which the toponymic nick Коморовский (Komorowskij) would have been derived. However, the dozens of Polish localities called Komorów and Komorowo makes Poland the most likely source of Komorowski.

Bud, have any idea about Milioranski or Melioranski last name? :)
Thanks in advance!

No-one in Poland currently uses either the Miliorański or Meliorański surname.

MY DADS NAME IS FRANK CVITAK THE BOXER
MY COUSINS ARE GARY CVITAK AND LEONARD CVITAK

maybe Ćwitak?

Hi,

How about the following:

Brzegowska

Rywańowocz or Rywanowocz (it is different in 2 documents)

Thanks!

Brzegowski - toponymic nick from Brzeg or Brzegi (bank or shore in sing. and pl.- loclaities weould be Bankton or Shoreville in English.

Rywanowocz is impossible in Polish. Rywanowicz is more plausible but no-one uses that name at present. It would mean Rywan's son.

The cvit~cvet root in other Slavonic languages is the Polish equivalent of Kwiat.

My last name is Uchmanowicz. I know it is Polish and I know owicz means Son of. I was wondering what Uchman means. Also any other imformation like if there is a coat of arms or anything like that.

Oh, another one... what about Laks , what would that mean?

My Great Great Grandparents moved to New Zealand in 1876 on the ship the Fritz Reuter, they came from an area in Poland near Stargard possibly Riewald, They were Franciszek and Franciska Kurowski

Uchmanowicz - patronymic nick from Uchman, a name found largely in Ukraine, possibly of Turkish or Arabic origin. No coat of arms goes with Uchmanowicz. The closest is Uchański

Laks - probably originally Lachs (German or Yiddish = salmon)

Kurowski - toponmyic nick from Kurów or Kurowo (Cockville). The locality is now known as Rywałd and is in the Kashubian coastal area. WHen yoru ancestors lived there it was under German control and known as Riewald.

surname Pazder

Does anyone know the meaning or origin of the surname Pazder?

my name was legally shortened to this but i dont know what it used to be before but i know its polish...its Budfuloski. Any ideas?

ok from what I can tell this name doesn't come up much.......how about Mocarski??

Mocarski - either toponymic nick from Mocarze or a patronymic one from mocarz (the village strongman)

Budfuloski - couldn't find anythign even close. Budfuloski is already quadrisyllabic. How long was the name from which it was shortened?

Pazder - probably derived from pazdur, regional form of pazur (claw). Possibly a nick for some nasty soul who clawed his way through life. Or a toponmyic nick from Pazdury.

hi anyone know the origin of thje name Redko - father originally from Tomaczaw
thanks

Redko – hard to say where this surname came from, but the fact is that in Russian редко
(Polish trasliteration: redko) is an adverb meaning seldom or rarely (in Polish – rzadko).
There is also the toponymic option – the Pomeranian locality of Redkowice.

I had posted here awhile ago about my last name Szypkowski ("Anglicized to Shipkowski for pronunciation reasons"),and was told it was probably a toponymic name for town of origin. Well if that indeed is the case I have had no success locating a szypko in Poland. I was wondering if anyone could help me with that? Or if at all anyone has more information it would be greatly appreciated!!

Also perhaps the meaning of Raiewski ( as it is my Babc's maiden name) Thank you! James

Thank You---James Shipkowski

SZYPKOWSKI: Possibly from szyp (archaic for arrow; in modern Polish - strzała).
Ending -owski suggests a toponymic nick, so Szypkowski might have originated to identify the bloke from Arrowville.
There are 147 Szypkowskis in Poland and 10 people srunamed Szypko.

RAJEWSKI: basic root raj (paradise); like -owski, the -ewski ending is also mainly toponymic, hence the guy from Rajewo (Paradiseville).

If your Polish last name is Kurwa, maybe it come from kura - chicken?

Krysia -- No-one surnamed Kurwa in Poland at present, as far as I can determine, but there is 1 person surnamed Kurwacz, 1 Kurwan and 1 Kurwat.
There are a number of people named Fiut, however, and 58 that go by Sral.