Anything on Keryluk, Keiryluk or Keiryliuk? This name in my family is unknown in the sense that it can't be traced (we think it was either made up or a poor translation)?
They were Austrian or Galizien German possibly living in what is now Poland or Ukraine. The name was said too have been changed, I'm looking for the meaning of this name (if there is one). Is Keller a possible name that this could have been before? Thank you.
My family's name is Hejnowski, I can't get any information, in regards to what it means or where it originated from, from the internet and was wondering if anyone could give me advice on how to gather information without having to spend money on like a genealogy website or something.
£ODZIEWSKI: root-word łodzia (Old Polish for boat; modern Polish = łódź). Probably originated as a onomatopoeic tag to identify someone from the locality of £odzia or similar.
These are my last two. Small and Jurczak/Yourchak from Galicia in Austria-Hungary. I'm looking for this family but can't find anything? Thank you for all your help.
JURCZAK: patronymic meaning son of Jurek (Georgie); some 5,000 users in Poland. Concentrations include Mazowsze -- Greater Warsaw and surrounding Radom area as well as in and around Białystok on the Belarussian border, the Krosno area bordering Slovakia and Ukraine and also in Góral country in the Bielsko-Biała and Nowy Sącz areas.
Thank you very much for replying to all of my posts. Is Small an anglicized name for Smol, Smolinski, Schmal, Klein, etc? Do you know where I can track relatives from the Polish part of what was Galicia? Lastly do you know the origin or meaning of surnames Hafijczuk and Harasymow? Thanks again.
HAFIJCZUK: Variant of Gafijczuk; obviously a Ruthenian patronymic nick as indicated by the -czuk ending. The root may have been gafa (gaffe) or the German name Haff (dervied from Hafen = port, etymologically linked to English haven). The h~g alternation was common in the Commonwealth's Polish-Ruthenian transition areas.
HARASYMOW: from first name Harasym~Gerasim, used mainly in the eastern reaches of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
SMALL: MAY BE an anglicized name for Smol, Smoliński, Schmal, Klein, etc? So many different things have happened to surnames -- deliberate and accidental trans- mutations, misspellings and respellings, etc., that all we can do is hypothesis but not pontificate. It's an 'anything goes' area, believe me!
TRACKING IN GALICJA: Here only an experienced genealogical researcher can help you.
My grandfather was born in Poland around 1884. My grandmother was born in Poland in 1886. What would be the origin/meaning of the last names Wenclewicz and Cichowska and from what region would that be?
WENCLEWICZ: Patroynmic from the German form of Wacław -- Venzel.
CICHOWSKI: toponymic nick from Cichów or Cichowo (Quietburg, Silentville)
It is impossible to say where they were from. The most Cichowskis (over 300) live in the Katowice area, but there are only 2 Wenclewiczes in all of Poland -- 1 each in £ódź and Katowice. So if you had to speculate, Katowice might be your best bet.
RobertTushinski TUSZYŃSKI: root-word tusza (torso, corpulence); most likely a topo nick from Tuszyn, Tuszyna or similar (Torsoville, Fatbury???)
ZAKRZEWSKI: za (beyond) + krzew (brush, bushes); another topo nick from numerous places in Poland called Zakrzewo.
GĄSECKI: Root-word gęś (goose); another topo nick, this time from Gąsewo or similar (Gooseville).
NOTE: On average, "blue-bloods" constituted at different times 10-12% of Old Polish society, but the percentage was much higher amongst the bearers of names ending in -ski or
-cki. There were nobles amongst the bearers of all three of the above surnames with a whopping 28 noble lines in the Zakrzewski family!
For additional information on this please contact me.
MISIEIWCZ: Like all -wicz surnames this originated as a patronymic tag for the son of Miś or Misio which can mean either bear (bruin) or be an endearing form Michał.
There is a fair-sized cluster in the Katowice area but the single largest concentration is in and around Biayłstok in Poland's NE corner along the Belarusian frontier.
My wifes Maiden name is Danilevics. Her fater is from Latvia (Riga area). He claimed the the name had Polish roots. Is this possible? Is there a Connection to John Sobeski's (spelling?) Mother?
MONTERIAL: When I first saw this name I thought it was the Canadian city of Montréal... I was surprised to find that this name is used by about 3 doz. people in Poland, most of them in western Poland's Poznań area which would include Gniezno.
My initial hunch was that this name came from one of the Romance languages, as the mont- syllable suggests some connection with mountains. For instance, the Italian word for highlander (góral) is montanaro. Or maybe it arose as a foreign toponymic tag. There is a locality in Spain’s Asturia region called Monteril. Some Spaniard centuries ago might have wandered into Poland and been asked: Coś ty za jeden? The person being questioned might have thought he was being asked where he is from, so he said ‘de Monteril’, and someone wrote it down as best he could and it has been that ever since. Just an off-the-wall hypothesis, of course.
Thanks for the feedback, Polonius3. I was wondering if Polish Legions under the French may have had something to do with it. I also thought it was interesting that the name wasn't "Polonized" which makes me thing it's a more modern name.
shaxmaty That cannot be ruled out. I'm sure many of the Grande Armée conked out or deserted during Napoleon's ragtag retreat from Russia. In soem cases, they might have been may have been nursed back to health by some flaxen-haired Polish lass and decided to stay.
My wifes Maiden name is Danilevics. Her fater is from Latvia (Riga area). He claimed the the name had Polish roots.
there was a sizable Polish minority in Latvia in the interbellum period 1920-1939 around the town of Dyne(n)burg /Daugavspils - the people Polonized in the late 18th century and remained there after partitions - some of the Latvian Polonia remained in Latvia after 1945
Reckon I'm not alone... When I googled Monterial, the Candian city of Montréal appeared. When I asked a specific surname question: Quelle est la etymologie du surnom Monterial?, the google folks came back with: Did you mean: Quelle est la etymologie du surnom Montréal? If the name is indeed a corruption of Montréal, then it would have meant (in Old French) royal mountain.
KUKU£A: non-diminutive form of kukułka (cuckoo); some 3,000 users in Poland with major concentrations in the Kalisz-Poznań area, Greater Warsaw, £ódź region and Katowice district. Fewer than 2,000 use the Kukułka version.
As already stated, -ski surnames not only have a classy upscale ring to them in Polish, but are nearly always of toponymic in orign. So it is in this case:
TERESIŃSKI: topo tag for someone from Teresin (Theresaville).)
