What does my Polish name mean?

Is the Slavic name Snowid still in use, or is it obsolete?

@TwentiethNovemb e.
Never heard it before. I had to google it so I guess it's rather obsolete ...

Would the same hold for the name Poniat?

I am reading names from pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kategoria:Męskie_imiona_słowiańskie

not used since ages

Is there a reliable website with Slavic Polish names still in use (and not obsolete or strange-sounding)?

My great great grandmother was Joanna Schiedeck [or so we believe it was spelt]. He husband was Rotter [which sound German to me] She migrated from Silesia in 1856 and it is believed originally the family came from Krakow. I've looked at other similar names and there is a great variety that may derive from the same root, as Czchedek, Czedek, Schedeck. As I am spanish speaker I am not even sure they sound the same. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance

@ximena tapia
Schiedeck sounds German, too and seems to be used as a surname in Germany. There's a mountain called Schiedeck in Austria.
Your family might have been German or polonised Germans. Or Silesians.
It would be transcribed as Szidek in Polish. According to moikrewni.pl there are 16 people using this name in Poland, mostly in Silesia. There might be other other variations of the spelling , too.

Siegfried gutowski

Is there a surname meaning, "from the marshlands," similar to Zbagń - Zbagniewski i.t.d.

Not starting with "Z". There are no names that start with the letters "ZBAG" on Stankiewicz's pretty exhaustive list. There are several that start with "B", like Bagniewski, but that name is derived from a place name, Bagniewo, which is in turn derived from the word for swamp.

@DominicB
Thank you, Dominic. In English, a distinction is made between a swamp and marshlands.
Isn't more appropriate to translate Bagniewski as, from the marsh(es)?

@TwentiethNovemb e

As I said, it is appropriate to translate it as "from Bagniewo", which is the name of a village in northern Poland:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagniewo,_Kuyavian-Pomeranian_Voivodeship

It is the name of the village, not the surname, that is derived from the word for swamp. Bagno can mean just about any type of wetland, including marsh and swamp.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutowski

@gutowski
It's hard to say if you're related to that noble family. If so, the name's derived from a village called Guty.

Weleszczyk

Any possible relation to the deity Weles?

@TwentiethNov

Absolutely zero. While that name does not appear on Stankiewicz's rather exhaustive list, the etymology he gives for similar names is a shortening of an old Slavic personal names like Wielimir or Wielisław, where the "Wiel" element means "much".

Hola! Normally the German diagraph "ie" goes into Polish as "y" so the probable Polish equivalent would be Szydek. There are fewer than 8 dozen Szydeks in today's Poland.

Buena suerte! Hasta luego!

My mom's maiden name is Cierech. Her Grandmother came to America during the war from Warsaw. When she registered her children after birth half of the children have last names documented as Cherry and the other half are documented as Cierech because of her strong accent, it was difficult for the english speakers taking down the names to understand...It's believed that the name Cierech is shortened from what she was trying to tell them.

@TwentiethNov
WELESZCZYK: Centuries ago, illiteracy was widespread and even those who knew how to read and write (parish priests, village scribes) were often just barely literate. Some people could just barely sign their names and in their shaky untutored hand easily misshaped letters beyond easy recognition. One educated guess (or stab in the dark) is that this might have originally been Walaszczyk or Wałaszszyk. Possibly derived from such first names as Walenty or Walerian or the word Wałach, a Romanian shepherd ethnic subgroup living on the opposite side of hte Carpathians.

ZBAGNIEWSKI: If it ever existed (no-one at present uses it in Poland) it could have originated as both a toponymic nickname (z Bagniewa) or a topographic one (z bagien). The latter type often underwent adjectivalisation over time, so Wojtek zza rzeki (Wojtek who lives beyond the river) could have evovled into Wojtek Zarzecki.

Merged:

Cierech surname?

CIERECH: Could have come from the verb trzeć or daielectal cierać (to rub, scrub, scour) and be used to describe someone whose work involved such action. Possibyl also from ćwierkać (to chirp) or its dialectal form cierkać, said of someone constantly chattereing. If it is a shortened version, it could have come from Cieraszewski or similar. Toponymic origin? Possibly from Cierchy in Świętokrzyskie Kielce) voivodeship.

Is there a surname which means, descendant / grandson of John ?
I assume the end would be -czyk?

22,000 people in Poland have the surname Polak. How or why would they choose this name, or was there a circumstance under foreign occupation where they were given this name by foreigners?

@Veritas1

Polak isn't considered dergatatory in Poland, it's how poles refer to one another.

@Veritas1
Polak has been used as a surname since the 14th century so I doubt it's because of some foreign occupation. It suggests ethnicity so it might have been used as opposed to Litwin or Prus but I'm not sure.

POLAK: At times used by Jews to define their diaspora homeland. In Germnay, Spain or elsewhere it would identify the original domicile of a Jewish family. Many Jews had such nicknames-turned-surnames as Egipski, Syryjczyk, Litwin, Arabski, Pruski, etc. But goyim also had nationality-themed names.

Polish is a language rich in variant forms, so whereas in English there is John, Johns, Johnson, Johnston, Fitzjohn and few others in Polish we have: Janaczek, Janas, Janasz, Janda, Jańczyk, Jańczak, Janeczek, Janeczko, Janowicz, Janiak, Janecki, Janick, Janiga, Janota, Janiewicz, Januszkiewicz and many more, not to mention those derived from the hypocositic forms (Jaś, Jasio) -- Jasek, Jasiek, Jasicki, Jasiewicz, Jasielski, Jasiński, Jasiak, Jasiuk, Jasiukiewicz, Jaśkowiak, Jasina, Jasinkiewicz and many, many more. That doesn't even take into account the eastern-borderland (Ruthenian) root Iwan- which generates another vast array of forms including: Iwańczyk, Iwańczuk, Iwaniak, Iwaniuk, Iwanicki, Iwankiewicz, Iwanowicz. Iwaniec, Iwaszko, Iwański, Iwczenko, Iwicki and many, many more.

@Dirk diggler
Who implied that the word Polak is derogatory? Are you Polish? Your statement is absolutely ignorant and foolish.

@Polonius3
Yes, this is why I wondered why so many Polaków would use the surname Polak. i.e. it seems a bit redundant. Thank you for the explanation.

The American Englkish word Pollock/Pollack (pronounce Polak with an American accent) is derogatory in the US. Of course Polak in Polish is not.

@mafketis
Bez znaczenia!

Gajl lists 10 different gentry lines in the Gutowski family including an own-name one (herb własny).