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

Good Evening Friends, Do you have any knowledge of the Surname Makiela?

Many thanks.

I came across this forum while trying to look up information on my Great Grandfather who came to America in 1906 through Ellis Island. I'm curious what the last name Grela or Grella means.

Thank you for any information!

STĄPOR: crushing tool (pestle used in a mortar or a log for crushing grain in a trough)

GRELA: a type of peat or an old peasant game using wooden clubs which are called grele; possibly also a pet name for Grzegorz.

MAKIELA: from makielki, a sweet dish served on Wigilia containing poppyseed, nuts, fruit, bread, milk and honey

KACZOCHA: an augmentative form of kaczka (duck); the diminutive kaczuszka means a cute, little duckling whilst kaczocha or kaczysko suggests a big, old, mangy duck.

Tousky? Was told this is a variation on the original spelling (unkown) making it very difficult to trace roots.

No Tousky or Touski in Poland. The ou combination is rare in Polish and appears only in the following T-starting surnames: Toubert Toubor Toufar Toulas Touma Tounsi Tousciuk Toussaint Tousta Toustochowicz Tousty Touszek Touścik Touściuk. Could it have been Towalewski or Towalski?

I was hoping to find the meaning of my daughters last name for a report she needs to do for school. Any help would be appreciated!! The last name is Zieminski

Is it possible the name was changed from Ziemkiewicz? Americanise it, if you will? You are an American, yes?

If so,
surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Zienkiewicz

That's what I found with the help of google..

The meaning of the name Zieminski:

Polish (Zieminski): habitational name for someone from Ziemin in Poznan voivodeship, named with ziemin ‘ground’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, Mar 2003

Apr 16, 10, 17:44 - Thread attached on merging:
Ancestors Names

Bashinski or Basinski, Slibowski or Sliwowski, Wisniewski and Urbanski.

BASIŃSKI: topo nick from Basinów or Basie (Babsville); less likely but not impossible metronymic nick from Basia (short for Barbara); Józek Basiński would mean Babs' (bastard?) son Joe.

ŚLIWOWSKI: root-word śliwa (plum); topo nick from Śliwow (Plumton); Slibowski probably came about through a mistransliteration of the Cyrillic where the Polish "w" sound is rendered by the letter "в".

WIŚNIEWSKI: root-word wiśnia (cherry); topo nick from Wiśniewo (Cherryville)

URBAŃSKI: root-word Urban (man's first name); either topo nick from Urbany or patronymic nick = Urban's son

I have these surnames in my ancestry, can you tell me the meanings please?
Kusztelak
Sadowski
Jasinski
Prill (German?) Pryla, Prylla
Czaplewski
Goergel (German?) or maybe Gergel
Witkowski
Bartkowiak
Jankowiak
Graykowski or Grajkowski
Radzych or Radzik
Etmanski or Hetmanski
Pacek or Pazek
Grzymski
Wierzba (Willow I believe)
Sorry so many and I apologize if already answered... :)

-urawno: I'm assuming it is -uraw + no, what do each of the words mean in English? Thanks!

Could someone give me the meaning for the surname of

Wasik and Ruchniewicz

Thank you

WĄSIK: little moustache

RUCHNIEWICZ: inhabitant of Ruchna might have got the topo nick Ruchny or Ruchno; the son he fathered would have become Ruchniewicz

Pear.

PEAR = GRUSZKA

Żurawno is the correct spelling (-urawno is impossible in Polish!). This soundsn more like a place-name (toponym) than a surname. Its basic root is żuraw (crane, a long-legged wading bird). The no is just a typical toponymic suffix with no meaning of its own.

Example: White in English means white but what about a locality called Whitely or Whiting? what does the ly or ing mean?
So Żurawno might be trasnlated as Cranton, Craneville, Cranly, etc.

Fabisiak
It says Fabisiak means "son of Fabis" or a form of Fabian. Who or what is Fabis?

Fabiś, Fabuś, Fabek, Fabunio and others are all hypocoristic forms (endearing pet names) of the first name Fabian. English Mragaret has even more quite differetn hypocoristic variants: Meg, Maggy, Peg, Peggy, Madge, Marge, Margo, Gretchen and maybe a few more.

A good English patronymic example is WIlson. Will is short for Williamaand Will's son is where the English patronymic surname Wilson came from. Hence also Fabisiak.

hello my name is Błażej
what can you say about surname Świerdza
it is also a rare polish surname? or maybe not? is it related to Italian name Sforza?

ŚWIERDZA: Since so many different things have happened to Polish names, including many unique-case scenarios, there may be an off-chance that Świerdza may have originated centureis ago as a Polish peasant adaptation of Sforza.

More likely is its derivation from świerdziołek (dialectic for świderek) or even świerg -- a bird of the sparrow family (Anthus aquaticus).

Kusztelak: possibly from kosztela, a Polish variety of apple; kosztelak might have been someone raising or dealing in such apples and kusztelak would be a variant dialectic pronunciation

Sadowski: topo nick from Sadów or Sadowo (Orchardville)
Jasinski: topo nick from Jasin (Johnstown)
Prill, Pryla, Prylla: most likely from German name Prill or Brill but possibly also from Polish place-names Prylin or Pryłowo
Czaplewski: topo nick from Czaple; root-word czapla (crane), hence Cranton or Craneville
Görgel, Gergel: definitely Germanic but of obscure meaning; in peasant dialect Gör means a small child or brat; Gergel may contain the Old German root ger (spear) found in such names as Gerhard and Gerald.

Pacek, Pazek: diminutive of Lithuanian name Pac meaning little Pac or patronymic (Pac's son); Pazek is a German spelling of Pacek
Grzymski: patronymic nick from now obsolete first name Grzymisław or topo nick from Grzymki, Grzymisław, Grzymały, etc.
Wierzba: Indeed, this is the Polish word for willow.

Thanks Polonious, I never knew Kusztelak had anything to do with apples but I find that very interesting. I assume Bartkowiak and Jankowiak have to do with sons of first names?

I have a few more I remembered:
Szulist or Schulist (German also?)
Stroik or Stroyk (also Kashubia)
Domogala
Kasperzak (from first name?)
Iczek

I really appreciate your help!
Jim

Please note the qualifier 'possibly'. The apple connection was simply one hypothesis, not a dogma. Back when most people were illiterate and handwriting was shaky, we cannot rule out that someone did not close the top of the letter 'a' in kasztelak and someone else copied it down as kusztelak. A kasztelak would be the son of someone (caretaker, gardener, handyman) attached to a castle-town (kasztel), maybe even the son of the castellan (kasztelan) himself.

Yes, BARTKOWIAK and JANKOWIAK are patronymic nicks meaning Bartson and Johnson respectively.
SZULIST: possibly from szul (Yiddish for Orthodox synagogue)
STROIK: friom stroić się (to dress in a fancy way), hence = fancy dresser
DOMOGA£A: regional pronunciation of Domagała from domagać się (to demand); hence a demanding person
KASPERZAK: patronymic nick from Kasper (Casperson)
ICZEK: variant of Icek, endearing form of the Jewish name Izak (English: Isaac).

Names:

1) Wożniak

2) Lech

3) Tusk

4) wiśniewski

I would be very thankfull if you could say anything about surname Gurbała

GURBA£A: variant of Garbała (humpbacked person); synonyms include Garbus, Garbacz and others.

WO-NIAK: patronymic nick = court crier's son

LECH: name of legendary founder of Poland; synonymous with Poland itself; Ukrainians contemptuously onced called Poles Lachy. Turks once called Poland Lechistan

TUSK: origin obscure; the current Polish PM claims to be a Kashub so maybe it means something in that dialect.

WIŚNIEWSKI: topo nick = guy from Wiśniewo (Cherryville)

From Konigshutte/Bismarckhutte the names Koch and Dobrainsky. What is known about these families?

KOCH: occupation nick; German-Jewish for cook

DOBRIANSKY: the dobr- root means good, so thsi could be the rough equivalent of such English srunames as Goodwin, Goodman, Goodly, Goodson, etc.

How about the name Wall? I didn't know this was a Polish name!

WALL: As such this does not appear to be a name of Polish origin, although more than 300 people in Poland today use it. It could have originated as a short form of Wałach (Valachian= Rmanian shepherd) or such first names as Walenty and Walerian. The German word Wall means a rampart or embankment and as a loan-word it entered Polish as wał. Only 15 people sign themselves Wał.

whats the meaning of mazurkewich and bachur?

thanks :)