Wolochowicz

Searching the meaning of the surname Wolochowicz. Family is staunch catholic but all my resarch leads to Jewish roots.

Mike Wolo (chowicz)

Not necessarily. Wołoch is an old fashioned name for an inhabitant of today`s Romania. Wołoch is Vlach in English. I had a few students of this surname and they weren`t Jewish.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlachs

Although Wołochowicz is not a typical Jewish name, it cannot be said that no Jew ever used it. Most any Slavonic surname has been used by Jews at one time or another. There were the readily identifiable Jewish names such as Szapiro and Margolis, Yiddish ones such as Goldberg and Apfelbaum (pronounced Apfelbojm in Yiddish), and there were countless typically Polish, Russian, etc. surnames used by people of Jewish descent. At times a Kirschman or Goldstein found it expedient to pass himself of as Wiśniewski or Złotkiewicz. As different armies steamrollered their way across Poland, a Górski may have decided to be known as Berg and vice-versa.

On into the 19th century, Jewish naming practices drove the partitioning powers up the wall! (Serves ‘em right!!!) Many Jews were known by temporary patronymic nicknames in that they were not passed on as surnames to future generations. Eg – Kagan Jankielewicz meant "Kagan son of Jankiel". But when Kagan married and sired a son called Baruch, the latter would have been known as Baruch Kaganowicz. Naturally this threw the "Ordnung muß sein" Krauts into a tailspin and confused their record-keeping, so the Prussian partition authorities forced everybody to legally register a normal pass-downable surname.

Ok. So what does the surname Woloch mean/come from?

Mike

It probably started out as a patronymic nickname meaning "son of the Vallachian" (Romanian highlander or shepherd). That probaly meant the original son was no longer perceived as a Vallachian by fellow-villagers but his father was. One sometimes hears Polish Americans say: "All 4 of my grandparents were Polish.' But he must therefore be Polish too in terms of blood, except that he no longer perceives hismelf that way.

The initial name emergence took palce many centureis ago. The name Wołochowicz was first recorded in 1465 in the eastern borderlands of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth but it probably had existed much before then. It eventually became a surname passed down from one generation to the next. If the surname is your only link to Romania, then chances are you've got but a fraction of a drop of Vallalchian blood in your veins. Incidentally I've got relatives in Scranton, PA named Wołoszyn, which means the same thing as Wołochowski.

Thanks Polonius.. My family is originally from Scranton. I am having a difficult time finding any family members in Poland. Great grandfather michael Wolochowicz came to the US in 1885 at the age of 16. No record of any other family members.]

mgwolo,

Have you found your Great-Grandfather at Ellis Island Records.

If you can find him and if there is record of him on the Ship's Manifest. Then it might/should list next-of-kin.

Sometimes next-of-kin can be a relative, sometimes not.

You might also find the town or area he came from too.

Problem: it will cost money to find out.

Have you done a search at familysearch ?

It is also worth doing a name check at JewishGen

You will have to join JewishGen to do a name search. It's free.

search tip: The first time you search at these sites... only enter the surname. Then if you get too many results you can add more info and do another search.

Check: ancestry. com ... genealogy.com ... polishroots.org

If you would like a few more sites to search... there are quite a few in the Genealogy Resources thread.

It could also mean an ancestor looked like a Vallachian (darker features, for example), behaved like one, or was nicknamed "Woloch." He did not necessarily have to be one.

Hello there! Thought I'd say hello. My rgreat grandparents settled in Wilkes-Barre. They all worked and died in mines. Good luck in your genealogical search......it's not an overnight success, but it is rewarding. :)

Kataryna, You've got that right. Not an overnight success. I'm finding lots of spelling errors in names. Using Soundex is so tedious. Some of these genealogy websites are expensive.

Mike

Hi, I'm actually a wolochowicz and I'm just starting to reasearch my names origin.
I have come up with my grandfather Bronsilaw immigrated to the u.s. In 1912 from Vilma.
This is some pretty interesting information and I'd like to learn more.

There are only 117 people. That would make it easier to track down a relative than if your name were Nowak or Wiśniewski. The general rule of thumb is: the smaller the number of namesakes, the bigger the chance that you are related to all or most of them. This is how they are distributed across Poland according to the old small voivodships. The absence of Wołochowiczes in southern Poland might suggest the original Wołochowicz came to Poland many centuries ago and settled in the north and west of the country.

Wa:25, BP:1, Bs:3, El:8, Gd:8, JG:1, Ka:1, Ki:1, Ko:2,Lg:7, Lu:3, £d:1, Ol:4, Op:4, Pl:2, Po:18, Sł:16, Sz:1, To:1,Wb:2, Wr:3, ZG:5

Hi Mike ..... by any chance is your great grandfather Michael Wolochowicz the hotelkeeper from Dickson City, Pa ?

Pwolo
I think Bronislaw and michael were cousins. Adam may have been the link between them.

The problem is that there were 2 Adams one was born in 1870 and the other was born in 1892