My partner and myself will be changing our surname to her families traditional name of Petrzywalski. Having researched a bit we can only find this name in England and nothing relating back to Poland. My thoughts on this is that in their emigration to England it was perhaps misspelt in the translation. Anyone have any ideas as to the origins and perhaps the original spelling?
Petrzywalski couldn't find this name in any Polish database. The closest are Petrzycki, Petrzyk, Petrzykowski and similar. They all are traceable to the first name Piotr.
Thank you very much for your reply. I have a sneaking suspicion that the spelling really got changed, or perhaps it is from a different area. I guess we will have to keep searching. They are pretty definite that it is Polish.
Indeed. Esp. the 'trz' combination is typically Polish.
It seems rather likely that the name could have been derived from the village of Pietrzwałd (German: Peterswalde) in the Masuria reigon's Ostróda area. In German it means Peterswood, whilst Pietrzwałd is a translation with no meaning in Polish.
The adjectival form would be Pietrzwałdzki in Polish, but considering that was an area of mixed Germanic and Polish interaction, many spelling variants could have been possible. Since things got recopied in centuries past by generations of semi-literate priests and village scribes, letters could have been added (the 'y' for instance), whilst the 'dz' could have got dropped with '-wałdzki' ending up as
Polonius3 you have been so helpful. Thank you so very much for all the information. I feel like I'm not going crazy now with not being able to find any reference for the surname outside of England. I'm glad that you have suggested that it is still indeed Polish, but misspelt in translation. I was very excited to pass on your ideas for adjectival form Pietrzwaldzki to my partner. I'm very impressed with your knowledge. xx
Thats what I think it is supposed to be. It is the surname of Donny the friend of the Polish-American characters Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski and Walter Sobchak in the Cohen brothers' comedy film which pays tribute to the attitudinal diversity of Polonia in California titled The Big Lebowski. I suppose they had Donny be a Lithuanian in reference to the Polish-Lithuanian alliance of years gone by, thus also making their battle with the German nihilists, in which Donny loses his life, a sort of Battle of Grunewald in an LA bowling alley parking lot.
DOLLA: used in Poland but double consonant is rare in Polish so it suggests foreign, probably German origin, eg Polish adpatation of the German surname Dolle. Such names are typical amongst the Kashubs. In Polish dola means fate, lot, human condition. In German the adjective doll (a dialectal version of toll) means raving mad, foolish, senseless, etc.
GRACZYK: from verb grać (to play, gamble), hence either a diminutive (little gambler) or patronymic tag (gambler's son); also possible toponymic from Gracze. Scattered all over Poland, the biggest concentrations being in and around Poznań and £ódź.
Hello ~ My maiden name is Smyka. What would be the meaning? Could it possibly have been Smyki before my grandfather came to the United States? I've heard that a Polish name ending in "i" is masculine and "a" is feminine.
SMYKA: derived from smyk (bow used to play stringed instruments; also a young whippersnapper). Toponymic soruce is also possible to identify soemoen from Smyków, Smyczyna or similar.
The -a ending for women applies only to names that are adjectival (smyk is a noun), especially those ending in -ski. So it is Tadeusz Smykalski but Barbara Smykalska.
Merged: Looking for the origin of my surname. Kasperowicz
My last name is Kasperowicz. I have done some digging and have maybe come to a conclusion that my coat of arms is indeed Aksak. But I'm not completely sure. I know that owicz means "son of" and the man who created the family and crest of Aksak had the first name of Kasper. So i don't if there's any relation or what? I would really like to know the origin. Thanks.
KASPEROWICZ: Yes, this is a name of patronymic origin which means Kasper's son or (in English) Casperson. The noble line of the Kasperowicz family was entitled to use the Aksak coat of arms. It originated as a Tartar heraldic emblem. Here are the other families' noble lines that shared it:
My Last name is Tytus. I am first born American. My parents came from Poland after world war 2, where they waited for immigration for 5 years in a German camp.
I remember my father talking about his ancestry fled to Poland from Lithuanian, due to war. Tytus was very prominent in Lithuanian back then(?) Any history on the name? I remember my father pronouncing his last name as titu.
My fathers name was Peter Tytus. His father was Nicholas. He had a brother's Joseph (in Germany), and Timothy in Poland, sister's Kathryn, Dominique. My fathers mother's name was Priscilla. Peter's father, Nicholas, died when he was the age of 2. He new he was a carpenter and that he was deaf, due to congenital deafness, My parents had a daughter in Poland, Mary, who died at the age of 2-3 from diphtheria during the war. There are no records she even existed. I heard the hospital, grave site and all records were damaged from the war. The town was a village near Zamosc.
TYTUS: is one of the first (given) names that have evolved into surnames. It was the name of a Roman emperor and became popular in Old Poland in aristocratic circles. The Lithuanian version is Titas, Тит is in Russian, Titus is German and English. No coat of arms in Polish heraldry.
GRUDZIŃSKI: root-word is grudzień (December). The adjectival form Grudziński could have emerged as a patronymic tag to identify the 'son of Grudzień'. The dad may have been called that because he was born or converted to Catholicism in Decmeber. A toponymic source linked to such places as Grudna, Grudno, Grudze or similar is also possible.
