Mothers maiden name - Gladys

Searching for information on Family name Gladys or Gladyz for town of Tarnów

could this be a Jewish last name? A few years I was searching for a friend whose mother had a similar name. Waiting for the Polish name experts......

not that it matters but the reason I ask- have you checked jewishgen.org?

Gładyś (or Gładysz - they are too distinct surnames but of the same origin) is a name of Slavic origin (gładysz was a handsome guy in Old Polish perhaps a woman too but don't know it for sure) - it's not possible to say if the name was not adopted by some Jewish people in Poland

Sounds a bit Welsh

I have always thought we were Jewish I did search the jewishgen.org and came up with nothing. Here is what my sister just gave me

This is the town (Tarnów)

Zofia Kraj left for America with my grandmother Mary Kray Gladys (age 10) In 1912: My mother Harriet Gladys Dzurinkos mother.

I love this site:)

GŁADYSZ: is a good Polish name shared by some 4,800 people in Poland. Its root-word is the adjective gładki (smooth, clean-shaven).

I think it was name Glądys.
Glądys is very popiulare name in my city Bielsko-Biała.
There are 61 people with name " Glądys "
In Poland are 107 people.

Only shows to go how much all those little specks and squiggles mean in Polish. If it was indeed Glądys, then it would have derived either from the Old Polish verb ględać (to seek, search, tr to spot) or ględzić (babble, talk boring rubbish).

I stand for Gladyz, not Gladys.
How is your searching. Any progres?

Upon further searching I have found about 90 people surnamed Gladys (all living in Śląsk) and a few named Gladysz, but no Gladyz, Gladyż or Gładyż.

We were at a dead end and that when I found this page. Thanks everyone for your info.

Interesting for the discussion about the name Gladys and where ist comes from, possibly over Scottish immigrants: "In the 17th century, Poland was described as ‘Scotland’s America’. Contemporaries estimated that 15,000-40,000 Scots were settled in Poland mainly as merchants, peddlers and craftsmen. This mass migration is largely forgotten in modern Scotland, though is remembered still in Poland. The names of the descendants of Scots immigrants are still to be found in Polish phone books, such as Ramzy from Ramsay, or Czarmas from Chalmers. Danzig still has many Scottish street names and villages in the hinterland are named after the Scots - Dzkocja, Skotna Góra, Szotniki or Szoty."

My mothers family is from Człuchów, now Poland. I had a genetic test of my maternal line and I have a lot of genetic cousins in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England.

Not many people in Scotland called Gladys - a few in Wales maybe.

Maybe, they came over the scottish-baltic sealine?

Maybe, they used the conjunction the Scots had to Poland .

my last name is Gladys and I am in Canada. Not many with this last name in this country.

My mothers Maiden name was Gladys but she said it was really pronounced Gawdish that's not how it was spelled that's just phonetically. It was probably spelled Gladysz I really don't know. She thought her family was from Krakow but not sure. We were from Scranton Pa where there were quite a few people named Gladys.

Gladys is normally a woman's given name, but today is considered quite outmoded.