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

SZENK: Polish spelling of German Schenk (pub, inn); this is also the source of the Polish word szynk.

Just wondering what my wifes maiden name would mean. It's £owkajtis.

£OWKAJTIS: Looks to be theLithuanian version of the Polish name £owka (having to the with hunting), but spelt the Polish way (there is no letter £ or W in Lithuanian)..

BOBER: derived either from bóbr (beaver) or bober/bób (broad bean). One line of the family enjoyed szlachta status and was entitled to use the Gryf c-o-a.

MARCZEWSKI: probably originated as a toponymic tag for someone from Marczew or Marczewo (Markville, Markbury).
.¡Felíz Pascua!

[Moved from]: MARCZEWSKI

Hello.. I am looking for Marczewski people living everywhere. I live in Brazil and I am Polish decendent!! Mówie troche po polsku tez.. powodzenia

If you go into this website moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/pieczkowiski.html and type your surname into the box you'll find there are 2262 Poles bearing it along with a color coded map of where they live in Poland.

Thank you so much!!! Happy Easter!!!

What is the meaning of the Polish surname Dobrochowski?

DOBROCHOWSKI: root-elements dobro (good) and chow (rearing, breeding); topo tag from Dobrochów, a village on the Polish-German border. German name: Zessendorf.
Pronunciation: dobroHUFFski.

What is the meaning of the Polish surname Pawlak?

PAWLAK: patronymic nickname = Paulson.

I'm very interested in knowing the meanings of the Polish last names in my family. If possible, what are the meanings of the names Niechcial (possibly spelled Niechciał) and Reszetnik? On the Niechcial side of my family, there is the story that our family was once powerful but had to go into hiding for some reason... I heard that the meaning behind the name was "didn't want to" or "defiant"... would this be a plausible origin of the name? I haven't really seen anything about Reszetnik though. Thanks!

NIECHCIA£: exactly as you assumed -- he didn't want to, he refused, etc. Could have identified a refusenik, someone who turned down an offer or shirked some duty.

RESZETNIK: occupational tag for a sieve-maker; also Rzeszetnik.

Am wondering about the meaning of my great grandmother's maiden name--Niepostyn. There are very few of them out there. Thanks!

Yes, sixteen of them in Poland.
The naive, simplistic analysis of Niepostyn name: Nie-post-yn would translate to English as NO-FAST-ONE (a somebody that is not observing a fast). It could be also a variety of Niepostrzyn, which would then mean: Nie-postrz-yn, NO-PERCEIVE-ONE (a somebody of low gift of observation).

The Stankiewicze page, stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=546, has a huge collection of the Polish names beginning with the negative NIE=NO/NOT. Here are some examples:

Nieposiada = he does not possess
Nieposiadam = I do not have
Niepsój = no-spoiler
Niepsuj = no-spoiler
Nieporadny = awkward (male ending)
Nieporadna = clumsy (female ending)
Niedostatek = scarcity
Nieduży = not that big

NIEPOSTYN: origin obscure; possibly derived from niepostnik, Ukrainian niepostnyk (someone who refused to maitnain the fast)???

Although you and I both agree (two posts above) on the meaning of the name NIEPOSTYN, I have to disagree with the above quote since Niepostyn has nothing to do with Ukrainian Niepostnyk - aside from some common Slavic root - since the suffix -yn used to be an indicator of possessiveness in Old Polish, and to some extend it still exists in the modern one.

The first thorough explanation I came across during Internet search was the old book by Trzaskowski (1865), available as google ebook. You can save yourself the trouble of downloading and using your own ebook-reader by reading it directly in your browser and relying on google e-reader. Here is the link to its first page (actually just a black cover):

books.google.ca/books/reader?id=u_BJAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&pg=GBS.PP1

The book title (in Polish):
Nauka o pierwiastkach i źródłosłowach języka polskiego ze stanowiska porównawczej gramatyki
[Knowledge about the elements and etymology of Polish language from the position of comparative grammar]
przez Bronisława Trzaskowskiego [by Bronisław Trzaskowski]

Kraków, w drukarni C.K. Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, pod t. zarządem Ferd. Schmiedehausena, 1865.
[Cracow, in printing house of Imperial & Royal Jagiellonian University, under temporary management of Ferd. Schmiedehausen, 1865.]

Allow me to quote extensively from that book.
[Mods, please be forgiving since any attempt to English translation of this source would not make any sense whatsoever here.]

Any ideas regarding the meaning of Iwienski?

It almost looks like a German name that has been Polonized.

Thanks.

IWIEŃSKI: This is one of many different surnames traceable to the eastern (Ruthenian) first name Iwan (John, Jan). Others incldue Iwański, Iwulski, Iwicki, Iwiński, Iwonicz, Iwaniuk, Iwaszkiewicz., Wańkowicz, Wański and many more.

That is a very interesting explanation. Many thanks!

In other words, Iwieński and the others most likely orignated as patonmyic tags equivalent to the English Johns or Johnson.

Merged: where are the Przytakoski from, in Poland?

we are the Przytakoski's from in Poland, thank you....what does the name mean....................any idea,s...................

PRZYTAKOWSKI: most likely originated as a toponymic tag, possibly from such localities as Przytyk or Przetoczno.

Merged: Rytarowski?

Do you know the meaning/where it comes from and is it a very common surname?

Rytarowski:
The root of the name derives from the German noun "Ritter", a knight, a cavalier, a heavy horseman. This was later adopted in Polish language as "rajtar" - a horseman of foreign contingent. Ritter, rajtar, rytar words share the same origin.

There used to be a village Rytarowce,
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rytarowce
Sanok region. The village, originally consisting of several independent settlements, was founded in 1435 by Nicolas Ritter. It was originally known as Rittersdorf, Ritter's village. In 1678 two villages Rytarowce and Bykowce were joined together as Bykowce.

See the article about German settlements in Sanok Region of South Eastern Poland: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walddeutsche. The settlers were known as Walddeutche (Forest Germans), Taubdeutche (Deaf Germans), Polish Germans, Głuchoniemcy in Polish (deaf-mute), where Niemcy (from Polish for mute) is a generic name for Germans in Polish.

The "Moi Krewni" database reports only 17 persons of this surname in Poland. (Mind you, this database in not comprehensive at all, so there might be more Rytarowskis in Poland)

Merged: surname meanings

Cześć
Could anyone tell me the meaning of the surname Olczyk.
I've heard a few explanations, one was that there's a small town in Poland called Ol, so the meaning could be literally son of Ol and was possibly a name given to someone who did something notable for that place. Can anyone elaborate on the meaning of this name.

Many thanks
Dziękuję

My great grand father came from Izbica. His name was Anthony Wierzbicki and he was a baker. Any thoughts on what the last name meant? Thanks in advance.

LUBOWICKI: any ideas what this means or where it came from? think it might refer to people from the town of Lubow in Poland, but also found some references to "love." Many thanks!

OLCZYK: either toponymic nickname from the village of Olcza (Małopolska) or patronymic for the son of Oleś or Olek (Al, Alec - short for Aleksander).

LUBOWICKI: toponymic tag from Lubowicz oir Lubowicze in the Podlasie region. That's where most of the Lubowickis still live.
Possible etymology of place-name: place settled by a son of Luby (lover, sweetheart, beloved -- perhaps the local Don Juan?) or Lubow (Lubowicz); or the Luby or Lubow offspring (Lubowicze). Yes, Lubow (Polish transliteration) is the Russian word for love.

Palucoski name, city of Warsaw, does anyone know where I can find people with the same surname?

Thanks for answering Polonius3! By sieve-maker do you mean like sieves for cooking? It seems like such an oddly specific job title!