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

1480 in Poland now use the Ludwig surname. The name's ancestral stronghold would appear to be ŚLąsk (Silesia) including the southern industrial city of Katowice and environs (525), the Opole area to the west (242) and the adjacent Częstochowa area due north of Katowice (129). The rest are scattered. Only 29 Ludwigs today live in our around Gdańsk.

Might be spelled Jakielski.
"Jak" means "how" or a "yak"
so it could've came from someone who knew how to do things, or was tending a yak herd.

[Moved from]: American equivalents of Polish names - Mitchell and Stanley are not Mieczysław and Stanisław

Mitchell, Stanley, Chester, Bill and Jesse are NOT the lingustiically correct translations of Mieczysław, Stanisław, Czesław, Bolesław and Zdzisław, even though they are often the customary equivalents of choice in N. America.

The same holds true for Bernice, Harriet, Stella and Grace which are NOT the true equivalents of Bronisława, Jadwiga, Stanisława and Grażyna.

But every language has names of its own not readily translatable into other tongues. There are no Polish equivalents of Kenneth, Kevin, Nigel, Trevor, Bruce, Brian, Heather, Holly, Lindsey, Tracy, Dacy, Macy, Lacy, Shmacy...etc.


It probably originally was Świątek whose root is świąt~święt and has generated such words as święto (holiday, feastday), święty (saint, holy), święcić (to bless, consecrate, sanctify).

The -ula ending is a diminutive that expresses pity. For instance biedula means poor, sorry, little thing and contains a note of feeling sorry and expressing sympathy for the person thus named. Cebula is onion and Gawlik is a diminutvie of Gaweł (Gaul, Gall).

For more info on how these suranmes came about, how many people use them, where they live and whether a coat of arms accompanies them

Searching for Gawlik family orginally from Gawluszowice - francezska b.1866 (approximately), married a Stachowice in Borowa and had children, Marianna and Anna. At a dead end, any info or direction would be appreciated - thanks in advance!

Lewandowski----- In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwelath there was village called Lewadów, thought to have been 50 km east of Póznan. Lewandow also derives from the word Lawendow, meaning Lavender. Fukin epic name, get off me ;)

Stachowice sounds like a hamlet or town, not someone one could marry. The surname must have been Stachowic (older form) or Stachowicz (newer version). It means Stanson (son of Stan) or the bloke from Stachowice (Stansonville). For more information please contact: research60@gmail

You should firstly look in some big dictionary like
www_websters-online-dictionary_com/translation/kowal
but insted of 'kowal' put your surname without ending, and instead of '_' put dot. For example for 'kowalski' or 'kowalczyk' put 'kowal', and you will see it means 'blacksmith', so longer form will mean 'of blacksmith'. Easy, and this not commercial dictionary, will automatically search databases of every language, not only Polish, so U may see answer quickly.

Kimpiński does exist in Poland but is extremely rare. It looks to be a spelling variant of Kępiński.

"Brodowicz" has two meanings:
Broda - berad/chin
Bród - ford
+owicz - this suffix means (in the past) "son of".

"Kamiński"
Kamień - stone
+ski - this suffix was used by nobleman. In XIX century some people changed their suffix to -ski.

do you mean Paszkowski ?

Kot=Cat

Jak się nazywasz i gdzie mieszkasz? Mieszkam w Michigan, w Stanach Zjednoczonych.

Cieslewicz – “ewicz” means “son of” “Cieśla” means “carpenter” so probably “Son of carpenter”

Przybylowski – “owski” means “of the” “Przybył” means “arrived” so probably “of the one who arrived”


Szymkowiak – “iak” -ak/-iak is diminutive “little” especially when applied to first names, it tends to have a patronymic significance. Appended to the root of a first name we can translate it as "son of." Root is “Szymon” (Simon) therefore "son of Simon" or "little Simon".

Ignasiak – “iak” again the same thing root is a name “Ignacy” so it’s "son of Ignacy" (if the root is a name of a place like Kraków it would be one from Kraków like in Krakowiak).

Common misconception is that –ski is of the Nobile heritage. That’s not the case unless you can trace your ancestry all the way back to 14th century. If you think you might be of the Nobile heritage check if your surname belongs to any of the Polish Coat of Arms but even then it might not be the case. Please be careful when doing your research and don’t jump into any conclusions prematurely.

Just to remind you Basic Explanation of Surname Endings.

-EWSKI, -OWSKI, -IEŃSKI, -IŃSKI, and -YŃSKI meaning : "of the”

-CKI and –ZKI these are just variants of -ski/-ska : "of the”

-OWICZ or –EWICZ : "son of"

-AK –EK –IAK –IK –KA –KO –UK –YK: generally diminutives "little" or "son of"

-ANKA, -INA -YNA, -OWA -EWA, -WNA –EWNA: These suffixes differ from the others mentioned in that they're not intrinsic parts of the surnames. These suffixes all mark feminine versions of surnames that take the form of nouns, not of adjectives ending in -ski or -cki or -zki. In standard Polish -owa or -ewa indicates a married woman, and –wna -ewna an unmarried one.

Look for the root of your surname and you have the meaning of your Polish Last Name.

Possible polish spellings:
Gąsierkiewicz (6 people in Poland with that name, 2 in £ódź)
or
Gąsiorkiewicz (289 people in Poland with that name, 100 in £ódź)

From what I have seen over here in the UK a lot of people with Jewish names often changed the spelling so that they "hid" their Jewish connection. Could this be a possible explanation for you. We have seen documentaries where the people had become wise of the fact that Jewish people would be victamised and this was going on before the wars. Many people who have settled here in the UK changed their names to a more English one so that their families were not picked on socially by the English people - we are a very tolerant and sympathetic nation and many Poles who have settled here whether they changed their names or not settled in to the English way of life very well. We have recently seen that Jerry Springer of the USA had a g g grandfather who was of Jewish origin - he had changed his name and that is where the confusion comes in. Esther Rantzen of the UK has her family of previous years buried in Jewish cemetetry in Warsaw. This could be a totally useless piece of information but hope it shows how many people over the years changed their names for very personal reasons to them

Please don't think this is about anti-Jewish or anything I amd just trying to explain about people changing their names.

piana or pianka is foam in Polish lol
Malgorzata - Margaret

foam? like, bubble foam? isn't that interesting. i'm named after a frothy substance. margaret? eww. no wonder my mother changed it to Meaghan. i have another question, what places could polish people have migrated from? is there an ancient polish civilization?

Stefan and Irena


I don't think these areas are the same (but possibly they are near each other as the name suggest). It's like "west of downtown" or "east of downtown".

Jakiel (or Jakel) is one possible hypocoristic (endearing diminutive) form of such first names as Jakub or Joachim. The adjectival "-ski" ending may indicate patrimony, so Jakielski (Jakelski looks to be a misspelling or mistranscription from the Cyrillic)* would mean Jacobson. This does not mean the name is necessarily of ethnic Poilish origin, as the same principlel applies to Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian and Slovak names.

* A semi-literate priest or village scribe (and such predominated back when) could have easily transcribed the Cyrillic Яакел as Jakel, forgetting that the Russian "e" palatalises (softens) the preceding consonant and should be transcribed into Polish as "ie".

Jakiel (or misspelt Jakel) could have arisen as the hypocoristic form of the first names Jakub or Joachim. The adjectival -ski ending could have indicated sonhood, so Jakielski would have meant "Jake's boy".

Lesko is the name of a town in Poland. The "les" root could have also been derived from las~les (forest) or the first name Lech/Leszek.

Ryczek is the diminutive form of ryk (roar, bellow, low -- the loud sound made by different animals). I could have origianted as a nickname for someone known to emit such sounds or toponymically to identify someone as an inhabitant of Rycza, Ryczka, Ryczki, Ryczów etc. ropughly translatable as Roarville, Lowton, etc.

The KOTKOWICZ surname may have evolved as follows. When someone nicknamed Kotek (kitten) for whatever reason fathered a son, fellow-villagers would have instinctively referred to the offspring as Kotkowicz or Kotkiewicz. The father might have been nicknamed Kotek because he had something about him that reminded people of a young cat or because he hailed from some such locality as Kotki, Kotkowo or Kotków (Kittenville, Kittenton, Catshire).

Witowski

It may have been butchered or changed from Witkowski, but Witowski is also a bona fide surname used in today's Poland. Mateńkowski is also known and can be found in official registries, however its sole surviving bearer (a female) has died.

Szczerbacki from szczerbaty (gap-toothed like Madonna who can eat spaghetti without opening her mouth!) or a toponymic nick for someone from such places as Szczebaków, (szczerbin or Szczerbowo (Gapville).


Probably from szczerbaty (gap-toothed) or toponymically from the locality of Szczerby or Szczerbowo (Gapville).

The szczerb- (shcherb-) root is common to different Slavonic tongues. There are surnames and place-names incorproating it in all those countries.


It could have also come from the hypocoristic form of Konstanty -- Kostek. Incidentally, that is the root of Kościuszko's name which means "little Connie".

Szymkowiak, Ignasiak

Both surnames are the most common in western Poland's Wielkopolska region. The largest Szymkowiak concentration is in the Poznań area and Ignasiak -- in and around Kalisz. Both names are also well-represented in the region's surrounding areas such as Piła, Leszno and Konin.


Nobody in Poland currently uses the Muławka surname, but there are several hundred people named Mulawka. Their major concentrations are in southern Poland including the Tarnobrzeg and Katowice areas. The mulawka (aka malawka) is a fresh-water fish that buries itself in muddy lake bottoms (from the word muł = muck, mud) when startled. Possibly a folk name for the tench (lin). It is not inconceivable that the word/name also exists in neighbouring Slavonic countries such as Ukraine and Slovakia.


The basic root is koza (goat), of which one spin-off is koziarz (goatherd). The adjectival Koziarski nickname probably originated to indicate the goatherd's son.


Wikarski - the vicar's son
Piechiowiak - the foot-soldier's son or the bloke from (the village of) Piechów
Kurkowski - the guy from Kurków (Spigotville, Tapton)

Sowiński, Dolniak

Both are probably of toponymic (place-name) origin. There are several localities called Sowin (Owlville, Owlton. Owlboro, etc.), so Sowiński would mean "the bloke from Owlshire".

There are many paiors of localities, eg Brzeziny Górne and Brzeziny Dolne (Upper Birchville and Lower Birchville). Dolniak would be used for someone hailing from the latter.


Indeed, this is a stumper. The closest word to Czyczyn is czyczucha meaning either a type of silver-handled sword or a sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus), a fish of the sturgeon family.

Among toponyms within today's truncated Poland the only thing that even comes close is Czyczkowy. Unless it was originally Czyżyny which would have produced the Czyżyn surname and it got misspelled somewhere along the line


Possibly from the marud- root which has generated such words as marudzić (to dawdle, grumble, pester) and maruda (a dawdler, grumbler, ne'er-do-well). In final position voiced consonants are devoiced so Marud and Marut would be pronounced identically. If someone's name had been Marud, he would pronounce if MAH-root and the semi-literate village scribe would write it down as Marut.


Probably it was Truszczyński. Possibly from truś/trusz - rabbit, coward, scaredy cat
or truszczelina - a tree species (eolutea).
Ideal toponymic source: Truszczyny in Masuria.


The vast majority of -owski surnames arose as toponymic nicknames, in this case probably from Wadów or Wadowo (Faultville, Flawton?) and Mirów or Mirowo (Peaceboro?) respectively.


Krajewo --at least a dozen such places in Poland, hence Krajewski = the bloke from Krajewo.
AS to what Krajewo means...well, the root "kraj" may mean country as in foreign country or edge, rim, border. So if we were to hazard a guess it could have meant something like Counryville, but even more likely Edgerton, Edgeville, Rimburg, etc

[Moved from]: Surname Truszcienski

Any information on the surname Truszcienski? Perhaps some different variations of the name. I know my great-grandparents arrived from Poland somewhere around 1913-14. Any help with its meaning or place of origin is welcome. Thank you.

The closest now sued in Poland is Truszczyński.

[Moved from]: FERESZ

Looking for meaning of the name Feresz. Grandmother born in Przemysl 1903

Since all words and names in Polih starting with the letter 'F' are of foreign (non-Slavonic) origin, Feresz must also be.
Please note: Franciszek, fiołki, feretron, fartuch, framuga, firanki, frędzel, Filip, etc. Some appear indigenously Polish such as fala, but that is only because of the compete Polonisation of a borrowing (from German Welle) which occurrede a very long time ago.

Adryanski in Polish would be Adriański. There are (apparently) 10 Adriański's in Poland, all in Wrocław region. Google search for Adriański gave over 4000 hits.

Chojnacki from Chojna (evergreen) or localities such as Chojnatka; Mroziński (frost, cold) or toponym derived from Mrozy; Światowy = worldly or place-name Światonia.

''What does the last names of Florek and Brandys mean?''

The root of Florek is of Latin origin (flora), but it most likely arose as an endearing diminutive of the once quite popular first name Florian. It could have been a patronymic nickname for Florian's son.

Brandys is the Polonised version of the German/Yiddish Brandeis. The 'brand" root in German/Yiddish is akin to English "burnt". Brandwein (literally burnt wine) is brandy in German, so Brandeis should have meant "burnt ice", although that would be quite an oxymoron.


Breaks down into wsze (all) and bór (coniferous forest), so together it would create sometime like Allpine or Allfir. Most likely it originated as a toponymic nickname derived from the locality of Wszebórz near Poznań.


the word dudło (now obsolete) once meant a rotted-out hollow log.
verb dudłać - to scoop or gouge out wood (to make it hollow)
dudlić - to play a primitive shepherd's flute or (pejoratively) play any instruemnt badly.
If the name had originally been Dudłowski, then its source would probabkly have been a village called Dudłów or Dudłowo.


Nobody currently using Lates as a surname in Poland. Somewhat reminds me of latkes (Jewish potato pancakes). There are people named Latoś (the word means this year) and Latus (a book-keeping term meaning the transfer of one column to another). The "S" is a common ending for Lithuanian masculien surnames, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Głogowski in original I think
It's derived from G£ÓG (Crataegus in English?)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus
or in Polish:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Głóg

another meaning can be "Resident of Głogów" - there is such a city in Silesia (SW Poland)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glogow

Might be the Polonised version of the Lithuanian surname Kacinelis? As far as I can tell, it has no meaning in Polish, and my Lithuanian ain't that hot.

Re Głodowski, Głóg is the hawthorn shrub, but 90% or more Polish surnames ending in -owski are of toponymic origin, ie traceable to place-names. In this case it would be places such as Głogów (at least 3 such localities), Głogowa, Głogówek, Głogówiec, etc. (Hawthornville, Hawthornshire?).

That should be Głogowski, not Głodowski. Sorry!


85 people named Dragulski in Poland. Possibly someone from such places as Dragacz, Dragany et al acquired a toponymic nickname such as Dragosz, Draguń, Dragut, Dragul or something along those lines. When Dragul sired a son, villagers would refer to the offspring by a patronymic nickname: Dragulewicz, Dragulicz or Dragulski.


There are 42 people named Kubrycht in Poland, and 95 people named Kübrich in Germany.
The meaning is unknown, as far as can be determined.

Lewandowski----- In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwelath there was once a village called Lewadów, thought to have been 50 km east of Póznan. Lewandow also derives from the Old Polish word Lawendow, which meant Lavender. Fukin epic name, get off me ;)

Cham has various meanings in Polish -- all pejorative -- including
boor, lout, swine, uncouth slob, crudball, etc. The -czyk is a patronymic
ending, so taken together Chamczyk means "son of the slob, lout, swine, etc."
Re: Paper, There is only 1 Paper living in Poland today. A more likely spelling is Papier, a name shared by 187 people in today's Poland . Incidentally the Polish and German spelling of paper is the same: Papier, except in Polish it is pronounced PAHP-yer and in German -- PAH-peer. Both the surname and the first names indicate Jewish ancestry.


Mularski from mularz (archaic form of murarz = stonemason, bricklayer). Adjectival form Mularski could mean the mason's son or helper.


This arose as a typical patronymic nickname, but we must bear in mind that an alterantive version of the first name Fabian (formerly Fabjan) was usded: Pabian/Pabjan. So all this name originally meant was 'Fabian's kid/boy/son'. There exists the posssiblity that someone was nicknamed Pabian because he hailed from Pabianów, Pabianice or the like. When he fatehred a son, the lad would have been dubbed Pabiańczyk/Pabjańczyk (possibly also Pabiańczak or Pabianowicz) all the same.


Most likely originated as a toponymic nickname traceabale to Kusiory in Kujawy region, a dialectic pronunciation of Kosiory. Etymology of place-name possibly kęs~kus (bit, morsel). Other possible toponymic source: Kusowo (also in Kujawy), the -or being a masculine noun ending (eg gąsior, kaczor, etc.)


The spelling is wrong. Can you check in any family documents what it was originally; Waniowski, fro intance?


Karalus – At first glance my erroneous spot association was with “karaluch” (cockroach). Actually, it probably arose as a Ruthenianised version of Latin-derived Old High German Carolus (Charles, Carl, Polish Karol).


Waniowski -- Possibly a patronymic nickname meaning “son of Wania” (short for Iwan, eastern-borderland version of Jan/John). There are 2 localities in Poland called Waniewo and more than 400 Waniewskis meaning the guy from Waniewo. Couldn't find any place called Waniowo in today's Poland, but there are 180 people named Waniowski. Maybe there was once such a locality or maybe it's now beyond the borders of today's highly truncated Poland. Or maybe someone took the "e" of Waniewski in that fancy, curlicue-rich script to be an "o" and it stuck and spread.....????


Kostur -- a crooked, gnarled walking stick of the kind once used by itinerant beggars.

The Boguckis (from one of several localities in PL called Boguty) were a well-knighted breed who besides Krzywda included other noble lines entitled to stamp their possessions and documents with the Abdank, Radwan and Dębno c-o-a.


The root of Gapiński appears traceable to the term gapa (dope, gaper, someone fooishly and open-mouthedly staring but understanding little of what he sees). The verb for this is gapić się. A gapa is also a stoway (non-paying passenger) and a crow. Most -ski names are of toponymic origin and this one may have been derived from the locality of Gapinin.

It may be somehow related to the word "head". Just my guess. :)

Its root is definitely głowa (head). It could have been a nickname as in Jędrek Głowacki (Big-headed Andy) or a toponmyic nickname derived from such localities as Głowa, Głowy, Głowno, Głowaczów, etc. (roughly: Headville, Headbury, Headmont).