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

Hi. I am looking for an orgin of KURKUS surname. Thanks

You will find it here stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=811

Hi everyone! I'm trying to figure out what the surnames 'Fitkowski' and 'Klajbor' mean and where they originate from. I think 'Fitkowski' might be just a corruption of the name 'Witkowski', but I'm not sure. Thanks :)

Fitkowski: from fitać in local dialect "to catch;" from fita in local dialect "an instrument for measuring diameter of trees;" from German personal name Fit. Currently, 16 Fitkowskis live in Poland.

Klajbor: from German personal names Kleiber, Kleber, those from Middle High German occupational name Kleiber "the one who plasters walls with clay." Currently, 248 Klajbors live in Poland, most in and around Bydgoszcz: moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/klajbor.html

My great grand dad's last name was Mieczkowski, and his wife's maiden name was Lychkowski. I was wondering about them as am also looking at the genealogy of the tree as well, and will be posting what I have later in hopes that anyone may have the links I need...

Lychkowski is anglicized: you won't find this name in Poland. Properly spelled, the name could be Lyczkowski or £yczkowski or in the female version Lyczkowska or £yczkowska.

Mieczkowski is correct. Currently, 2393 Mieczkowskis live in Poland.

Where do you get the numbers of who lives in Poland from?

Check: moikrewni.pl/mapa

That is helpful, I was going on the spelling in my baby book, so... Lol... Yeah sadly on my mom's side I only have names and birth years. My great grandpa Mieczkowski immigrated around 1900 give or take a year from Russia Poland according to the little census photoscan on ancestry...

Thanks.

So turns out that because of handwriting that it was actually Luczkowski. Finally heard from a distant cousin this afternoon. :)

Luczkowski is correct. Only 15 Luczkowskis and 9 Luczkowskas live in Poland. More popular is £uczkowski (with a different first letter "£," often represented in English by "L"). Luczkowski and £uczkowski have different etymologies. Currently, 521 £uczkowskis and 594 £uczkowskas live in Poland.

FITKOWSKI looks to be a name of toponymic origin, traceable to the locality of Fitków in the Lwów region (now in Ukraine). Nearly all Polish last names with the -owski ending or of toponymic origin.

Meaning of surname mentel

MENTEL: Probably of German or Yiddish origin from German Mantel (coat); possibly a misspelling of Mendel meaning 15 of something from German Mandel.

Hi Polonius, welcome back, good to see you posting again, your knowledge in this area certainly is helpful.

Mentel is a relatively popular surname in Poland: 1890; most popular in Kraków: 111
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/mentel.html

Szudejko comes from verb szudzić (now szydzić), which means to jeer, to mock.

My last name is Lies and I have heard it was originally spelled 'Liss'. Could the Lies/Liss family be French, Dutch, Slavic or even Ashkenazim? My ancestor was Helen Mary Lies, born November 29th, 1875 in Stillwater, Minnesota and died August 31st, 1967 in Saint Paul. She married William Henry Foster on January 2nd, 1901 in Stillwater, and she is buried in Saint Michael Cemetery, Bayport, Minnesota. Her Father was Peter Lies, born May 24th, 1826 in Haller, Luxembourg and died on May 4th, 1909 in Stillwater, Minnesota. He is also buried in Saint Michael Cemetery, Bayport. He married Mathilda Pass on July 15th, 1875 in Saint Paul and with her had Helen Mary Lies, Henry August Lies (Leis), Anna Barbara Lies, Joseph Lies and Herbert Duncan Lies. He had previously been married to Mary Julia Ehman. Mathilda Pass, Peter's second Wife, was also born in Luxembourg on March 22nd, 1851 and died on December 8th, 1944 in Stillwater. She is also buried in Saint Michael Cemetery, Bayport.

It seems to me like they are of Dutch origin, but I could be wrong. 'Lies' and 'Liss' surnames are said to have many origins, and in Poland 'Liss' is a variant of 'Lis' which means Fox in Polish. 'Liss' specifically is common among Ashkenazim Jews. For you all, my question would be: What is my 'Liss' family's origin? Does anyone out there know how far back my 'Liss' family can go? Is it quite possible they were originally from Eastern Europe?

Thank you all.

Lis: first recorded in Poland in 1253; from lis "fox;" very common: 30000 people named Lis live in Poland. Liss is a less popular variant of Lis ( 585). Lis and Liss are not Ashkenazic names, but any Ashkenazi person could use any Polish name.

I am trying to find the meaning of my both paternal & maternal grandfathers' names. My paternal grandfather surname Laby came over to america after WWI. He served in the Polish national army & was from an area of southern Poland that was under the control of Austria at the time. It has been very hard to find any record of this name outside of my family. My father said it wasn't shorten at immagration when he came over.

My maternal grandfather's surname was Sito. As far as I know this is the original spelling also.My great granfather came over before 1900 and was from the countryside outside of Warsaw (I think). As far as i know there are still distant realatives still on the family farm. As far as I know both were 100% polish.

Thank you!
Johanna

Laby: from laba "idleness, resting, truancy;" Laby as an adjective could mean "son of Laba." Currently, 173 Labys live in Poland:
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/laby.html

Sito: first recorded in 1397, from sito "sieve" or from sitowie "wetland grass-like plant called bullrush." Currently, 893 Sitos live in Poland:
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/sito.html

Thank you that helps w/my research on my family. My grandmother died this past Decemeber so i'm trying to gather all this information to pass on to my daughters. Thanks for the links also. I was getting alot of dead ends. I guess i couldn't access the right searchs.

Unfortunately not Galina, but I found several people from Mława with Galinatys surname.. Just in case it was a typo or something.

The meaning or origin of the name Gontarski?
Thank You
JG

Probably from gontarz, somebody who made and fitted roof shingles (gont).

Miszczak ? Cam anyone tell me what this means?

MISZCZAK:
1. patornymic -- in the eastern borderlands of the Commonwealth Misza was a pet form of Michał/Michaił. When such a one fathered a son you could have got Miszczak (Michaelson). But you could have also got Miszuk, Misiuk, Misiak, Miszczuk, Miszewicz, Misiewicz and other variants as well.

2. topo-patronymic -- someone from the village of Miszewo could have been nicknamed Misz. When he sired a son the offspring got dubbed Miszczak.

Thank You. I just found an wedding certificate for my father. His Dad Gontarski. His mother Kopec. Do have any thoughts on Kopec?

It's usually spelt Kopeć here, with a ć. The word means thick smoke or fumes (it's sometimes used as slang for a cigarette!) so perhaps someone whose job was melting tar, firing bricks or making charcoal. There's also a place called Kopcia if I remember correctly so it could also come from there.