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

I think it is from word "ul" - beehive.

My grandfather's name was Gardygailo, I have reason to believe it may have been also spelled Gardygajlo. I do not know the meaning but noticed that those that passed thru Ellis Island all listed their last place of residence as Nowoszyce Austria, wich I understand is western Ukraine today Sambor Drohobych area. Interesting my Grandfather always refered to himself as a Russian, sometimes called a White Russian ( another term for Ukrainian, not always a term of respect?) but my grandparents spoke polish and called themself Ukrainians. does any one know the best way to research records from this area?

does rodak have any meaning

Fellow countryman (ie, member of same nation).

What about this last name of mine;

Moniuszko

MONIUZSZKO: patronymic typical of the Lithuanian-White Ruthenian (Belarusian) borderlands; base form possibly monia (folk dialect for a lazybones).

ULSKI: possibly from ul (beehive) or maybe a contraction from Ulmański, Ulecki or similar. According to the last census only 1 person in Poland (Greater Warsaw) was using that name in the feminine form: Ulska. So it may already be extinct.

RODAK: compatriot, countryman – someone from the same country, region or locality.

ULSKI: possibly from ul (beehive) or maybe a contraction from Ulmański, Ulecki or similar. According to the last census only 1 person in Poland (Greater Warsaw) was using that name in the feminine form: Ulska. So it may already be extinct.

My Grandfather was Michael Gardygailo (how family spelled it Possiblely related to Gardygajlo. does anyone know how this would be spelled in polish or ukrainian? My grandparents always referred to themselves as Ukrainian. I do not know the exact place they came from but all the immigration records I have seen with this last name ( or similar) have listed Nowoszyce Austria or Galicia, wich posting boards I have read state it is western Ukraine today (maybe Drohobych or Simbor). what is best way to reserch my family history in this area?

The Polish spelling would be Gardygajło and in Ukrainian – Гардигайло.
White Russia (Belarus) is north of Ukraine but he may have come from a mixed borderland area between the two where linguistic differences were blurred.

Polonius3
Thank you what I was thinking the same, about being Mixed region , as a boy my grandfather would never refer to himself other than Russian My Grandmother Maiden name was Premek (not sure that is the spelling) wich she said was polish

No Premek in Poland at present but Prymek does exist. Probably from prymus (first place, front-runner, star pupil, top dog, etc.).

What does the surname Siembieda mean?

what is the meaning of the last name Serafin?

Is a type of angel, but I don't know if it means something else in Polish. Serafina is a popular firstname for women in Latin countries.

comes from "saraph":


encyclopedia.thefreedictionary/saraph

saraph - means "burning," a man of Judah...

SERAFIN: from Seraphim (Hebrew pl. of Seraph), the highest choir of angel in Judaeo-Christian tradition, a celestial being often depicted with three sets of wings. Serafin was once a populat first name in Poland and other countries. Serafina for women also exists but is much rarer. Serafin could also ˛have origianted as a topo nick from Serafin or Serafinów.

SIEMBIEDA: possibly derived from the old Polish first names Siębor or Sambor.

Thank you so very much we have been looking for this info for an eternity .. you just made my day!!!!

have a fantastic night.
Nala

[Moved from]: looking for john zubryzcki

I am looking for any information about my mothers cousin, John Zubryzcki. He originally was from Camden NJ. He left NJ back in the late fortys,early fiftys after feeling embaresd about how his life was going. His last known location was somewhere in the San Fransisco area. My mother and uncle would like to know whatever happened to him. If anybody knows anything about him in any way, Please contact me on this site. Your help would be greatly appreciated. God bless you!

SRODZINSKI

Known ancestors originally from Sroda Wielkopolska circa 1810 emigrating to USA but ended up staying in GB, other Srodzinski's also in UK but can find no record of surname in Poland, could it have been altered over the years?

ŚRODZIŃSKI: eps. in view of your family's Środa Wielkopolska connection, this must surely be a surname of toponymic origin. There are fewer than 3 doz. Środzińskis in Poland today, of which 8 live in or around Poznań (NW of Środa) and 2 in the neighbouring Kujawy region's Bydgoszcz area.

Many thanks for your reply

Sad to know so few Srodzinskis left ...but intrigued to know more of those that are now left

Would appreciate your advice as to how we trace these possible family members

Our name is important to us

My surname is Sowa-owl
But most popular surname is Kowalski,Bednarski. Of course in my region.

Merged thread:
Meaning of my last name

I've looked on several different sites and asked my relatives on the meaning of our last name but nothing seems to be popping up. If anyone could help my last name is Brzymialkiewicz, and any kind of information on its meaning or background would be greatly appreciated.

BRZYMIA£KIEWICZ (?): A real stumper! Do you actually use this name? Have you seen it in any Old World documents?
No one uses anything close in Poland. Only the –wicz ending tells us this nickname emerged as a patronymic tag.
There is a village in Małopolska called Brzyna which theoretically at least could have prompted someone to call an inhabitant thereof Brzynałek. When he fathered a son, fellow villagers could have dubbed the offspring Brzynałkiewicz.

But this is all highly speculative.

Actually, having a rare surname can be a boon to family-tracers, because chances are you may be related to all of most of them. Since you know they came from the Środa area, if you are fluent in Polish you can ring up the local Dział Ewidencji Ludniości (public records section) of the town hall. They may be able to tell you whether any Środzńskis still live there. If not, then you can enlist the services of a good genealogical researcher such as Iwona Dakiniewicz:

genealofy@pro-onet.pl
Good luck!

I have found references to the name Brzymiałkiewicz in the Witkowo records (near Gniezno). Two people named Brzymiałkiewicz died in 1854 in Małachowe sembowice (approximate spelling), and there was a birth in 1866 in "Malathowekemboro" where both the father and godfather were named Brzymiałkiewicz. I have not connected these individuals to the American line.

As far as I'm aware, all Americans named "Brzymialkiewicz" descend from Ignac Brzymiałkiewicz who immigrated to Chappell Hill, Texas in 1882, giving his place of origin as Prov. Posen (Poznan). Ignac's brother Franc immigrated in 1906, giving his place of origin as Rudy, which is a village in the same area of Poland. I only know of two male descendants who have shortened the name. Most people pronounce it "briz MALL coe wits", but my grandfather said it actually should be more like "bu ZHEEM y'all kyev its." I don't know if that is phonetically similar to any words in Polish.

Any ideas on the name Kentoski (or Kantoski)?

KĄTOWSKI/KĘTOWSKI: these are topo nicks from the localities of Kąty and Kęty (Corners, Cornerville). Kontoski and Kentoski would be diaspora respellings to facilitate pronunciaton in the English-speaking world.

Thank you so much!!

My last name is Stefanowicz
I guess it means Stephenson in Polish.
That is what my dad said. But, Maybe the family just oversimplied.

Other surnames in the Family are Baj & Halka. I am not sure of the meaning of those.

Stefan is Steven so your dad is right.
Baj is a hungarian word, meaning problems, sickness and bad luck.
Halka is woman's undergarment or a name (Halina)

I know there is a famous Hungarian with the surname Bay

But what about the Last name Bajan? a Pole has that. Could Baj be short for Bajan?