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

Any information about my maiden name, GARBULA, would be greatly appreciated.

Garbula from garb (hump) -- this would be a pejorative term for a hunchbacked woman. No known coat of arms.

Can anyone help with the meaning of the name Fizia

Fiizia - origin obscure. Possible sources: fiżka (pin cushion or diminutive of figa) or endearing form of fizylier (17-18th century or Napoloenic rifleman).

the last name Peret

My grandfather's name last name was Peret. I am sure it was changed when he arrived in America. I remember my mother telling me that he used to speak of living on an estate, and work for his stepfather.

[Moved from]: Wyrko name research

Am looking for any information on the name Wyrko, my grandad's family. any help will be appreciated.

Todrzak - patronymic for "son of Todor (a forrm of Teodor, Fiodor)"
Kupec -- Ukrainian for merchant (Polish: kupiec)
Popec --- possibly Ukrainian patronymic for "priest's son)".

Peret exists in Poland as a surname in its own right but your ancestor may have shortened his from Pereta or Peretiakowicz. Possibly from Ukrainian peretyczka (bread and cakes offered to a priest on All Souls' Day).

Myśliwy: Every Yank can pronounce if you tell him: MISH as in mish-mash, LEE and VI (with a short i sound as in vim): mish-LEE-vih.

Wyrko was once a bed of slats suspended from the rafters of a peasant cottage; it is also a colloquial term for bed in general like English sack.

I have some names that I would appreciate knowing about.

My last name is Aksentowitz, but I have come across other spellings of this: Aksinowicz and Axentowicz. What do they mean?

Also, Doroh (which was probably Dorohovich).

And Komroske.

Aksentowicz (-wicz always indciates a patronymic nickname meaning "son of sb") so here Aksent's son in whatever spelling.

Dorohowicz = son of Doroh (doroha - Ukr. for road/Polish: droga)

Komroske -- probably an anglo-respelling of Komorowski -- toponymic nickname for someone from Komorów (Chamberville).

KOMROFSKE: This spelling of Komorowski is even more obviously a phonetic version created for the benefit for English speakers as indicated by the "f".

I'm sorry, I mis-typed. The third name is Komrofske.

I have just started to look into my families Polish connections. We have two names

Wittkowski and Biernotek

Do these have any particular meaning? The spellings maybe variable as all we have are some German documents and nothing in Polish.

Of the 47 people with this name... most come from Gdansk and surrounding towns. This would also give you a historical connection to Germany.
The German map is covered by this name.


Only 4 people with this name in Poland. I imagine that they are all related. It should be possible to contact this family. But, for their privacy... I will not say where they are.

Only one in Germany.

I am astounded!!! I had thought the Biernotek name was exstinct and only so few Wittkowski's as well.

My aunt was a Biernotek and her mother was a Wittkowski. They were from Mechtal/Miechlowitz and Beuthen/Bytom. As far as I know my aunts parents were in Auschwitz forced labour camp but they were not Jewish.

I am struggling to find sources of further information on this part of world history non Jewish Polish transportation pre War census records and Polish (Silesian?) BMD.

Then I will tell you that the four come from Bytom.

There is plenty of info on this site about the Death Camps and a fair few posters who are knowledgable on the subject. Do a search of the threads.

Keep in mind that not all posters have an interest in Genealogy... so they may neglect this thread. You have to look for them. Look in the History Threads.

Thank you so much. I will do further searches as you suggest. My mother will be very surprised and pleased to know that her Biernotek family might still exist in Poland.

We have a large number of Bienotek photographs dating from about 1900 to the 1940's. It would be nice to be able to put names on the many that we do not know who they are.

Is is possible to take this conversation 'off-line' so we might exchange a little more information privately?

Wittkowski is a variant minority and apparently German-influenced spelling. The standard name is Witkowski used by some 40,000 people in Poland and maybe another 10,000 in North America and around the globe. It is one of Poland's more popular surnames.

Thanks for that. We only have German language documents so it might well be Witkowski originally. Have noted that Biernotek is also sometimes spelt Biernottek in some documents so probably Germanised as well with two tt's.

Thanks

The old Polish sier- root meant poor or destitute and appears in still exitent words such as sierota (orphan) or obsolete ones like sierak (coarse, home-spun peasant's coat). Most

-owski ending surnames are of toponymic origin, hence Sierowski proably originated to indicate an inhabitant of Sierów, Sierowa, Sierowo, etc. (Poorville, Poverton, Miseryburg?).


Bergman is obviosuly of German or Yiddish origin (literally mountain man) but it is widely used in Poland. After WW2, when things German were frowned uopn, some Bergmans changed their name to the more Polish-sounding Górski (mountainous)-


Ochman is of German origin, possibly orignally from hoch (high) and Mann (man), presumably meaning something like "top guy" or "head honcho".


Brożek appears to have been derived from the first name Ambroży (Ambrose).

could anyone tell me what the meaning of the surname von Czapiewski
means and where it come from

"Bergmann" is German and stems from the profession of a miner, a man who works in the Berg (mountain).
"Bergman" is the anglicized version.

Often a german name ending of -mann became a -man outside of Germany, that doesn't mean it's jewish!


The "von" suggests german/prussian nobility.
The "Czapiewski" suggests the home of your family the moment they became nobility.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czapiewice

Kaszuba...from Kaszuba? peasant stock?
Kasubinski...named changed in US during the 1940's.

Ryba (I know, fish)...Galilcian?

Maslanka (does it really mean buttermilk??)...is it a common name? My Maslanka relatives came from Swiatkowice near Warsaw...does this village/town still exist?

Koslowski...from the same area.

Thank you.

Kaszuba -- originally from the Kashubia region along the Baltic. Many still live there but the single largest concentration is now in the Katowice area of Śląsk, about as far form the sea as possible.

Only 28 Kaszubińskis in Poland and none live by the sea.

The largest Ryba pocket is in and around Tarnów, definitely Galicja!

Maślanka = buttermilk, a typical peasant name. I could find places called Świątkowice only in the Kuajwy and £ódź areas. Perhaps it was once within the boundaries of Warsaw voivodship or gubernia.

Kosłowski -- only three such people in Poland, of which only 1 in the Kraków area (former Galicja); the common spelling is Kozłowski which runs in the thousands.


Jakiel was a typical Jewish first name. The adjetival Jakielski probably served as a patronymic nickname (son of Jakiel).

Kosiara, what does it mean?

It comes from the verb kosić (to mow with a kosa/scythe) and could have emerged as an occupational nickname meaning soemthing like grain-cutter, scythesman or harvester. Or as a toponymic nickname from some locality incorporating the kosiar- root.

SEMIK: It could have come from Semion, the Ukrainian equivalent of Szymon (Simon). That would be a diminutive form which might have served as a patronymic nickname (Eng.: Simonson).

CICHOŃ:The adjective cichy (quiet, silent, mute) or some locality containing the cich- root.
In the former case it would have meant the silent one or the quiet bloke. In the latter -- the guy from Quietville.

WĄDOLNY - from wądół (ravine). This probably originated to identify the guy who lived at the edge of the ravine. 98 such people with epicentre in the Bielsko-Biala district of S. Poland.

Anyone know of where the name Pakuza or Długosz comes from or information about the Majdan Stary Radziechow,
Thnks
Gina

Pakuza possibly a toponymic nickname from such places as Pakszyn, Pakosze, Pakość, Pakuły or Pakówka???

Długosz toponymic nickname from such localities as Długosz, Długosze or Długoszyn. Less likely a nickname reflecting someone's characteristic, similar to English Longfellow!!!

Malewicki

i was brought up in America and tought basically nothing about my heritage (im 16) except from my grandma cursing at me lol. gowno and dupek i learned pretty quickly

so im not sure where to put accents in my name, all i know is its properly said Malevitski.

Toponymic nickname from the village fo Malewice in Podlasie (NE Poland).

my first thought is Janowiak

jan and yan would have the same sound... from Polish to English.

Yanowiak in Poland = zero

Janowiak in Poland = 1,000+

Mine used to be Yanowitz so that name is very siminlar to what my married name was.