JAB£ONOWSKI: topo nick from Jabłonów or Jabłonowo (Appleton).
MICHALSKI: a very popular last name in Poland (some 50,000 users and maybe an additional 12,000 or so in N. America and world-wide). Originated as either a patronymic tag (Michaleson) or a topo nick from places such as Michale, Michałki, Michalin and similar.
NIECZYPEROWICZ: patronymic nick derived from the first name Nikifor, originally from the Greek Nikiforos, but eventually popular as Nikifor through the eastern Ruthenian borderlands.
WAŚ: Short for Wasyl (Ruthenian form of Bazyli). This first name has generated many surnames including Wasiak, Wasiewicz, Wasilewski et al.
I know that my family is polish and that there only 50 - 60 people in the us with the same last name, i do believe that my name was changed a bit when my great grandparents arrived, does anyone know if "Wozniel" is a derivative of any names or if it is the original, and if it is do you know of a coat of arms for my name?
WO-NIEL: I reckon it was derived either from woźny (minor law court official) or the verb wozić (to transport like a carter). About six dozen users and a handful that spells it Wozniel (without the accent mark). No coat of arms.
Koztoski is misspelled, should have been "Kozłoski" or "Kozłowski". You have a "T" there instead of Polish "£", big difference. Both are formed from a root word "Kozioł" which stands for goat in Polish. "Kozłoski" is rare you'll find it mostly around "Radom" region today but "Kozłowski" is common could be anywhere in Poland.
Hudonka is new to me, originally probably "Hudon" or "Hudoń" in which case the meaning of both would have been skinny. Must have been a woman who had this surname hence ending in -ka as that's the way she would have been called but her surname would have still been "Hudon" or "Hudoń" in written form. Sounds like somewhere in eastern Poland or today's Ukraine.
CHUDON/CHUDOŃ: This was probably the original spelling derived from the word 'chudy' (thin, lean, wan, skinny). Etymologically similar names include Chudor, Chudol, Chudola, Chudolej and Chudoś which probably originated to describe some local skin-and-bones type.
B£AŻEJEWCIZ: patronymic tag indicating the son of Błażej (Blaise); the single largest concentration is in northern Poland's Kujawy region in and around the city of Toruń.
WIECHA: a bundle of straw, hay or branches; an evergreen bouquet placed at the pinnacle of a newly built house to celebrate the completion of the basic structure; as a surname it is mainly concentrated down south in a contiguous area encompassing Częstochowa, Katowice, Kielce and Kraków and their surrounds.
For more information on these names and their bearers please contact me
KĄTOWSKI: This is probably the original seplling of Kontowski; its root-wrod is kąt (corner). There are perhaps four dozen localities in Poland called Kąty (corners) and a number with a qualifying adjective such as Kąty Czernickie, Kąty Rybacki, Kąty Wielkie. Kątowski would be the derivative topo nick.
There is a fine-point difference between toponymic and topographic nicknames. Topography has to do with describing the terrain, so if someone was caleld Zaleski because he lived on the opposite side of a forest (za lasem), that would be a topographic nick.
However if he hailed from the village fo Zalesie (Overwood, Edgewood or something along those lines in English), that that would be a toponymic nickname. A toponym is a place-name.
Merged thread: Dad-derived last names
Many Polish surnames were derived from patronymic nicknames which identified a person on the basis of whose son he was. They were created both from the standard form of the Christian name, eg Stanisławski from Stanisław, as well as from its hypocoristic (pet) versions, eg Stach and Staś > Stachowiak and Stasiak respectively. Other common examples:
ADAM > Adamczyk, Adamiak, Adamowicz AMBROŻY > Ambroziak, Ambroziewicz, Jamrozik ANTONI > Antczak, Antoniak, Antonowicz BENEDYKT/BANADYK: Benedyktowicz, Banach, Banasik DANIEL > Danielak, Danielewicz, Danielski GRZEGORZ > Grzegorczyk, Grzesiak, Grzeszkowiak JERZY> Jurkiewicz, Jurczak, Jurkowski KAROL > Karolak, Karolewicz, Karolczak LUDWIK > Ludwiczak, Ludwicki, Ludwikowski MARCIN > Marciniak, Marcinkiewicz, Marciński For more information on these and other Polish names please contact me
SZAR£OWSKI: probably a patronymic nick from the German name Scharl -- Scharl's son. The German name incorporates the same root found in English share (as in ploughshare) -- the blade of the plough that cuts the soil (Polish: lemiesz).
trying to track down the meaning of my last name: Buirski . I would also like to know if there is a Coat of arms/family crest for this last name. Thank you
BURSKI: topo nick from Bursz or from the German word Bursch (student); during the partitions a bursz was a Warsaw University student belonging to a secret patriotic society (similar to the Filareci).
There actually is a Burski c-o-a, besides several others used by the well-born Burskis. Buirski is not a Polish surname. The extraneous letter 'i' appears to have been erroneously inserted. BTW what is Tai-ping?
My last name is Hosinski, I'm not sure if that is the American and Polish spelling but as far as I know it was not changed when my ancestors came to the U.S. What does Hosinski mean?
Only CHOSIŃSKI exists in Poland today. Possibly a toponymic nickname for an inhabitant of the village of Chosna, but a German source cannot be ruled out.
Home / Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME?
