Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

BESTA: multiple possible sources: 1) Polish phonetic spelling of German Bester which is actually pronounced Besta. (Bester in German means ‘the best one’); 2) bestia – beast. animal (from Latin); 3) Masurianised pronunciation of beszta (from verb besztać – villify, brow-beat, smear (which I believe originally came from Hungarian – any Magyars on PF to verify this?); 4) verb bestwić – goad, tease, infuriate; 5) topo nick from places such as Bestwin or Bestwiny in Poland or numerous Best- localities in the German-speaking countries (including Besten and Bestenheid) as well as Turkey, Scandinavia and South Africa.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

KANIEWSKI: root-word kania (kite - small predatory bird); probably topo nick from Kaniew or Kaniewo (Kiteville).

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

-ski (and its variants -cki and -dzki) are adjetcival, hence they must agree with the person they modify: Kowalski for men, Kowalska for women. The adj. here means of, from or related to. So Brzezińdski comes from Brzezina (Birchville), Makowski from Maków (Poppyville), etc.

Amongst Polish nobles, the -ski and variant naems were the single most common group.
Adrzej z ·Zubrowa (Andrew of Bisonville) eventually evolved into Andrzej Żubrowski (ANdrew Bisonville).

HELESKI: This surname as well as Helewski, Heleński, Heleszko and toehrs are probably metronymic nicknames traceable to the woman's name Helena. Metorynmcis are rare in Polish but did occur esp. when an unmarried girl bore a bastard.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

FABRYCY: rare first name (used by only 2 people in today's Poland) but shared more than 120 as a surname (the largest single concenetration being in Kraków). It comes from the Roman clan-name Fabricius (its Latin root is the word faber or smith).

Genealogy / Russian Poland-what general area would this be? [30]

For what it's worth, there are a numeber of localities in today's Ukraine called Krasnoselka and places in Russian known as Krasnoselsk. Duno if this will help?

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

G£OWSKI: root-word głowa (head); possibly nick for a big-headed fellow.

ZWOLIŃSKI/ZWOLEŃSKI: topo nick for villager from Zwola or Zwoleń.

Food / Black pudding & kaszanka [36]

For czernina visit the Złota Kaczka or Monidło restaurants of Poznań. Smacznego!

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

KORONKA: can mean little crown, but even more likely lace. A koronkarka is a lace-maker. And then there is the toponymic option -- places such as Korona or Koronowo (Crown, Crownton).

News / Poland fines singer for bashing Bible [159]

I don't recall the exact phrasing, but Polish law forbids inciting ethnic. racial or relgious hatred and that includes offending religious sensibilities. Wouldn't the New York press making a big deal about Dodo (er, um, oops...I mean Doda) change their tune if someone had r'pped up the Torah on stage, wiped his bum with an Israeli flag or placed a star of David in a jar of urine and called it art? The latter BTW occurred a few years ago in New York, except someone placed a crucifix in a jar of pee. Christians were outraged, but the arty-farty and liberal media types, especially those of the 'chosen race' who run the show were invoking freedom of artistic expression.

But when they are publicly atacked or ridiculed they call for a ban on 'hate speech'. Either there is total freedom for all views, or laws mandating civility are impartially enforced across the board. You can't have your matzoh and eat it!

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Not necessarily. It is a feminine noun so it would be declined as such: Widzę pana Kurankę....etc. But it is not one of the adjetival -ski names that changes with its bearere's gender, eg Kowalski~Kowalska.

If the kurhan or kur soruces are correct, then the -ka ending would be whimsical and inexplicable; in other words it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to definitively ascertain why it was not Kuranek or Kuranko or, for that matter, Kurhanek, Kurhanka or whatever. So many things have happened to names over the generations and centuries, loads of interaction with foreign influence and regional dialects not to mention the most elsive of all -- unique-case scenarios...

But all those speculations may be barking up the wrong tree, becaue it could simply have originated as a toponymic tag from the village of Kuranów in Masovia.

Language / Polish language would look better written in Cyrillic Script? [212]

I think Romanian was written in CYrillic back in the 19th century. I, for one, am glad Polish is not. All those acutes, bars, dots and ogonki are so very Polish!

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Grateful
Yes, -oski names are rare in Polish. However in English-speaking countries some Poels drop the 'w' of -owski to retain the proper pronunciiaton. Makowski gets Anglo-mangled into ma-COW-ski, whilst Makoski comes out perfect.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

**JARMUŻEK ** WICH£ACZ

JARMUŻEK: diminutive of jarmuż (kale, a leafy vegetable)

WICH£ACZ: liar, cheat, swindler

PANKOWSKI: topo nick from Panków or Panki; root-word panek (lordling, member of petty gentry)

KURANKA: possiblyderived from kuran (old form of kurhan or grave mound) or from kur (cock); no Kuranka currently in Polannbut there is a Kurankiewicz (Kuranka's son).

KURANKA: There is a locality in formerly Polish Belarus called Kuranowszczyzna which might have generated the Kuranka topo nick.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

By and large, Polish names ending in -owski are nearly always toponymic tags dervied from the names of localities. And so it is with:

TACZANOWSKI: from Taczanów, root-wrod taczać/toczyć (to roll); so we might roughly translate the locality's name as Rollville or Rollburg.

MALANOWSKI: toponymic tag from Malanowo or Malanów; probable root mal~mał (small, little), hence Littleton, Smallville.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

It is a legitimate Polish-American term just as legitimate as the speech of the Afros or other groups.

Life / Babcia or Busha - any social class difference? [359]

As far as I know, no current dictioanry of American Polonian speech exists, but if it did, it would certainly record the very widepsread term busia. It is encountered far more often amongst the descendants of the old (late-19th/early-20th-century) Polish immigrants than the Polish term babcia.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

MROGUSZEWSKI(?): As far as I know, no-one in Poland uses this name at present. About the only surnames with the mrog- syllable are Mrogaś, Mrogenda, Mrogiel, Mrogowski and Mrogulec. Most likely they derive from the verb mrugać (wink, bat one’s eyelid) or Old Polish mrygać or mergać (to look at, eyeball something).

WASSERFURT: German/Yiddish for Waterford.

MAINKE, MEINKE: surname possibly derived from German name Maginhart; extremely rare in Poland today.

Genealogy / Mothers maiden name - Gladys [17]

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.

Genealogy / Mothers maiden name - Gladys [17]

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).

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

WOJDERSKI (Polish spelling): from one of 2 different soruces -- from old Polish names incorporating the woj- (war, warrior) root (Wojsław, Wojciech) or from Hungarian vojda (regional chieftain, Polish = wojewoda).

SOCHA: ancient wooden plough (without iron ploughshare).

Genealogy / Mothers maiden name - Gladys [17]

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

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

ZAMIATOWSKI: Indeed the root here is zamiatać (to sweep), and zamiat or zamiata could have been the nickname given to soemone who sweeps. (The official term for a sweeper is zamiatacz.) When he sired a son, the offspring might have been dubbed Zamiatowski.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

** CWALINA ** PAWELKA

CWALINA: topo nick from Cwaliny; root-word cwalina or czwalina (conium - poisonous plant of the hemlock family)

PAWELKA: Could have originated as a patronymic tag from Paweł, but far more common ones are Pawlak, Pawlłik, Pawlaczyk, Pawelski, Pawłowicz, etc. Or as a topo nick from some such locality as Pawełki, Pawelce, Pawlin, Pawłowo, etc.

vel Przybył (also known as Przybył) could have been an intended or unintended alias. Some people referred to the same person differently back before surnames became common. SO a single villager might be callked STach Gruby by some (FAt Stabn), Stach Piekarz (the baker) by other and maybe Stach Brzeziński by still others who remembered his family had come from Birchville.

A first-name/nickanme paraellel in English-speaking circles is the kid known by one side of the family as Little Billy, as Willy by the otehr and maybe also Butch, Scooter, Dodger, Billy Boy or what have you by the odd neighbour or aunt.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

TOMASIKIEWICZ: This may have originated as a double patronymic. Someone named Tomasz (Thomas) fathered a son whom fellow-villagers called Tomasik. They could have also called him Tomanek, Tomczyk, Tomczak, Tomal, Tomasek, etc. (Polish is rich in variants forms). When Tomasik himself became a father, his offspring could have been dubbed Tomasikiewicz and eventually it evolved into a normal surname passed on from one generation to the next.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

PYOSKA: no-one uses this name either in this or some other spelling such as Pjoska or Pioska; there was once an old Polish word pioska (piosnka/piosenka) meaning song.

SADANOWICZ: son of Sadan (a name with an exotic Middle Eastern ring to it)

BOCZKO: from bok/boczek (side, also side of pork, bacon)

All of the above could be of Polish or other Slavonic origin.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

TROJANOWSKI: topo nick from Trojanów or Trojamowo (Trojanville, Troyton)

KANTORSKI: probnably patriolineal nick for the cantor's son.

ZĄBEK: dimintive of ząb (tooth); nothing pathetic about surnames. It could have described a personal characteristic or identified someone from Ząbkowice (Toothsonville).

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

NIEWIEROWSKI: (Neveroski looks to be a phoentic adaptation) topo nick from Kashubian locality of Niewierowo; etymology niewiara/niewiera = disbelief, non-belief, faithlessness.

SKARCZYŃSKI: extremely rare, according to a previous census only 4 females used the name Skarczyńska (possible source: dialectal verb skarknąć – to destroy); maybe it was Skarżyński (topo nick from Skarżyn or Skarzyn)??

DĄBROWSKI: app. 90,000 users

DOMBROWSKI: 2,700

DĘBROWSKI: 60

DĄMBROWSKI: 25

DAMBROWSKI: 10

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

** QUARZEŃSKI ** SIBIGA **

QUARZEŃSKI: Obviosuly a mis- or re-spelling, as there is no Q in Polish. The closest I could find were Kwarczyński (from the word kwarta - quart) and Kwaszyński - topo nick from Kwaszyn (Sourville).

SIBIGA: from sibać, dialectal formn of Old Polish verb szybać (to swindle, poke, nudge).

Genealogy / Looking on information on the name Hreben. [12]

If it sounded like jebin than it probably was Polish grzebień. Please be aware that in the confused multilingual cauldron that was East-Central Europe, names got misspelt, shortened and even translated depending on expediency, convenience and sometimes border shifts and poltiical pressure. So a Górski might pass himself off as Berg if a German-sounding name opened more opportunities (or helped avoid discrimination and/or harassment), and similarly a Hreben could well have redefined himself as Grzebień if he wanted to assimialte to Polish society.