Any one know anything of Koss surname?

I'm just about 100% Polish, but everyone says it a German last name. Most of the people I've run into say they're Germanic too.

Just wondering if the name was changed...heard a rumor that it may have been Kossack.

Yep, it seems like a German name indeed (even though there are Polish royal last names like Kossowski or... Kossak). Hard to say..

Merged: Koss surname

Does anybody know anything about the koss surname . The last person I met with the surname said they were german , does this mean I'm German :( . My grandparents are from the nowy targ area in lesser poland if it helps

KOS: this is the Polish word for blackbird (a bird of the thrush family). But there is an unrelated German name Koss. (The German for blackbird is Amsel.) Some Poles also spell their surname Koss. There were two gentry lines In Poland amongst the bearers of the Kos surname.

Thanks polonius3 ,at least I'm not german .

Despite that the above comes across as quite arrogant: how do you know that you are not? The name is widespread in Germany.

verwandt.de/karten/absolut/koss.html

Well it appears the german surname koss is predominately a name in western germany , since my family is from lesser poland which is nearest to Slovakia and not germany I'm guessing its a slavic surname . And I don't care about sounding arrogant my family fought to protect poland in ww2 some of us even died so the last thing on my mind are the feelings of some kraut

A twentysomething is talking about his WW2 adventures... :)


I so hope that your ancestors are ethnic Germans or Austrians.

So are Poles and people with Polish ancestry.

Yes, and the ones with Polish ancestry call themselves Germans now.

My last name is Koss as well. I've been told my whole life that my last name was polish, and I finally decided to research into it. We could have the same ancestors. My best guess is that they changed their last name when they immigrated to America to avoid discrimination. Poles were stereotyped as slow and drunks. They also held onto their culture tighter than other immigrants, which Americans couldn't stand at that time (and still seem to have trouble with which is ********).

KOSS: Alternative spelling of Polish surname KOS from "kos" (blackbrid). It also appears in Germany in three different forms: KOSS, KOS and KOß.

There were Polish nobles amongst its bearers with a coat of arms to prove it.
For more info please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl

I hope you're of German descent, Mr. Koss :)

THE IRONY WOULD BE LOVELY

well, in Serbian language we have name for bird that is KOS. Kind of smallest variation of raven. KOSS can be if some Serbian speaks with some malformed tongue or if drank.

Crow, this isn't the case. This guy is of clear Silesian-German descent!

ah, how can one be of Silesian-German descent? Those two can`t go hand in hand. It would be same as if man think that isn`t man but woman. Or if chicken thinks that isn`t chicken but worm. See, serious deviation

There are Polish, German and Czech-speaking Silesians who feel closer to one of those three cultures. That is understandable since over the centuries that region has belonged in whole or in part to Poland (Śląsk), Bohemia (Šlezsko), Prussia and Austria (Schlesien). If someone wants to determine the ethnicity of Sielsians they need to considerr whether they mean the cultural/linguistic side of thigns or genetics (DNA). Those two do not necessarily overlap.

I apologize, I forgot to leave proof for such a simplistic guy like Crow:

Silesian GERMAN DIALECT - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesian_German

Silesians and TYPES of Silesians - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesians

Silesian-German just refers to a Silesian who is of German descent. Obvious isn't it?

EDIT: Polonius, it would seem so. I forgot to explain what I meant by Silesian German.

Merged: Koss surname?

Hello my last name is Koss and I was wondering if anyone had any information on this name. I do not think my ancestors came from Poland but instead Austria-Hungary. I know there is a Slavic name 'Kos' that is similar but I am wondering where the extra s came from. Is this also a common name in Poland?

KOSS: probably a variant of Kos which is the Polish word for blackbird. In Poland its stronghold (about 900 users) is in the Baltic coastal area known as Kashubia. In Germany there are some 1,600 users of the Koss surname. In Poland Kos is far more common (about 6,000 bearers).

My grandpa was from Germany, but he was Polish. Possibly from Bohemia early on. He left Poland when the Germans took over and started forcing the Polish men to serve in the German army and to speak German. Grandpa Koss hated Germany, so he came to America. His children were not allowed to speak German. Uncle August was a Kashubian fisherman and he stayed in Wisconsin.

Hope I'm not too late, lol.

I'm from Brazil and got Slavic descendance (mostly Polish and Ukrainian). My grandmother's surname is Koss, but it was changed after her family came to Brazil, it was originally Kos. They were from the region of Czudowice (when Poland was still Galicia, in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire), everyone from that region that got this surname on their family tree probably are related to me.

Some people here said that Koss is a germanized version of Kos, which I find funny since there's also the surname Szyler in my family tree, that's like Schuller in Polish, lol.