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

Since there is no-one in Poland with a name anywhere close to Darbouze, I suspect my hypothesis of it being an adaptation Dar Boży (donne de Dieu) was unfounded. In an alphabetical list of currently used surnames we find: Daraś, Darawski and Darcz without a single name starting in Darb- in between.

There is however one person in Poland using the Bożydar surname and some 180 using it as a first name. It means the same as Dar Boży.

Perhaps the name was of French or other non-Polish derivation. I suggest you check wtih the Faculté de Philologie Française at a good university in Haiti. Bonne chance!

WOROŃCZUK: from Ukrainian word for crow worona;-czuk is a typcially Ukrainian patronymic ending. So when someone nicknamed the Crow (for whatever reason) fathered a son: presto and we got Worończuk.

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

Exactly. At a time when most people were illiterate and mainly spoke their own local dialect, you'd be surprised to learn the things that happened to Polish last names.

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

These surnames currently encountered in Poland
Rycąbel
Rycombel
Rycombell
Rycembel
Rycember
Rycomber
all come from the peasant term rycząg (also rycong, rycomb, etc.) meaning a type of carter’s seat in a horse-drawn farm cart. It most likely was an adaptation of the German Reitstange.

Of course, Rycabel (without the little nasalising ogonek under the 'ą') also exists.

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

SNAK(?): No-one in Poland currently uses the Snak surname but it has been recorded and there are a few dozen people named Snakowski (son of Snak). The origin is uncertain. Perahps it was dervied from the localtiy of Snarki or the old Polish word snaga (cleanlienss). Snag and Snak are pronoucned identically in Polish, since final consonants are devoiced.

Life / Vasectomy in Poland is illegal? Why? [123]

Why would anyone want to have themselves surgically mutilated (vasectomised) for the sake of debauchery with impunity. Makes about as much sense as silicone implants for air-head females. And going through life without progeny is a poor excuse for life indeed.

Food / Half-free Christmas bigos. SMACZNEGO at Christmastime! [99]

Definitely mushooms and bay leaves! A diced apple also won't hurt. BTW in recent years many PolAms (Polish Americans) have begun using fresh Portobello mushrooms (in Polish: kanie) now readily available at local supermarkets. They may not have quite the deep, dusky, forest flavour of dried boletes (prawdziwki) but are far tastier than the fresh white mushrooms (champignons or pieczarki).

Food / Half-free Christmas bigos. SMACZNEGO at Christmastime! [99]

Boar are pletniful in Texas and elsewhere down south. There are places you can order from online. But bigos does not have to contain any wild game -- only the kinds of meat you have managed to collect over a 2-3 month period. BTW, is there any pheasant shooting in Poland?

USA, Canada / Why are Polish Americans mocked in the American media? [226]

See that brown spot on the tip of my shoe? - That's from kicking the bums of the arseholes who tell me Pollack jokes!

UK, Ireland / What English food would you serve a Pole? [83]

Of course, different people fancy different things. My question was: if yoru were asked to prepare a nice typically English dinner for a visiting foreign couple or delegation interested in learning about English cuisine (money being no object -- an important consideration for Brits!), what would you choose? I'd say roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. How about Brussels sprouts (or do those only go with turkey?). What about a salad? For dessert one of the famous English puddings or a crumble? Are there any good and typically English starters -- cold or warm?

Genealogy / Easy way to find out which Polish coat of arm/Clan you belong to. [105]

PRUS I aka PÓ£TORA KRZYŻA: Prus (Prussian), also known as Półtora Krzyża (Cross-and-a-Half), depicting a white cross on a red shield with an extra half-bar protruding on the right, was said to have originated when three pagan Prussian warriors converted to Christianity and were awarded the coat of arms by the Polish king. There are other Prus crests numbered II and III which differ from Prus I.

Genealogy / Easy way to find out which Polish coat of arm/Clan you belong to. [105]

DMOCHOWSKI: 2 noble lines belonging to the Pobóg and Korwin clans

KICKI: 5 noble lines - Gozdawa, Godzeimba, Gryf, Jelita and Kicki

KICZKI or KICZKA: Kicki

P£UZEWSKI : no noble assocaition

Most major Polish heraldic devices are viewable at:

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herby_szlachty_polskiej_(galeria)#Herby_rod.C3.B3w_szlacheckich

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

DARBOUZE?: My initial impression was to see in this combination Darboży (gift of God), however no-one at present has such a surname in Poland. The only thing anywhere close were:

Darabarz , Darabas and Darabasz which were derived from Barabasz (the biblical rebel leader released by Pontius Pilate instead of Jesus).
Since you mentioned both the Caribbean and French connection, are you perhaps from Haiti where Polish troops were sent to quell a slave revolt during the Napoleonic period?

Maybe a French onomastician may be able to unravel the Darbouze mystery. Bonne chance!

KRZYSZCZUK: patronymic from Krzysz or Krzyś (Chris)

STRUSKI: topo nick from Stróża or Stróże, once mis(spelt) Struża or Struże (Guardianville) respectively.

USA, Canada / Why are Polish Americans mocked in the American media? [226]

As a land of immigrants, America has been awash with ethnic jokes of ervery kind. For the sake of scholarly disucssion (no racialism intended) they tagreted Pollacks, Bohunks, Hungies, Ukies, *******, Kikes, Krauts, Frogs, Spics (Mexicans), Micks, Wops, Dago, Japs, Chinks and other assorted slit-eyes, Scandihoovians, Canucks (Canadians), etc., etc. As I have already pointed out, these joke waves CAME and WENT. That would have probably happened to the Pollack jokes of the 1960s were it not for Gomułka's anti-Semitic purge in 1968. Unable to get at the red Warsaw regime, the opinion-moulders of America's news and entertainment world had to settle for the next best thing: Polish Americans who were on hand. Instead of the normal 2-3 years, the Pollack joke craze lasted close to two decades. What really put an end to it (although occasionally it still resurfaces) was the election of a Polish Ponitff and Lech Wałęsa's Solidarność revolution.

* The moderator's asterisks (*******) have replaced the N-word. (N like Norwegian, of course!)

USA, Canada / Why are Polish Americans mocked in the American media? [226]

The image question has long been the concern of conscious, active PolAms, although admittedly they do constitute a minority. Most are concerned only about money and consumerism.

Indeed, most Americans rarely if ever think about Poles, Poland or Polonia and may go through life without ever meeting one. But to conscious, thinking PolAms the negative image often attached to things Polish when they do turn up in the mainstream media is a cause for concern.

As already noted, there are multiple reasons for the negative image and non-image including:
-- Polish immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the largest single group of Central-East European bread-seekers that came to America, and naturally had to take all the arduous, low-paying jobs;

-- The absence of an independent Poland meant that much of what made its way into the American mainstream about Poland came from German government, scholarly or media sources (and the Master Race mentality predated the Hitler years);

-- Unlike Jewish immigrants of the same period who saved up and sent the brightest of their kids to college to become a doctor, accountant or lawyer, Polish immigrants sent all their kids at age 16 or so (I'm speaking of the late 19th and early 20th centuries!) to the car factories, collieries, steelworks and abattoirs to increase the family's pay packets;

-- Poland's interbellum period was too short for any serious positive image-building, and in the US the image of Poles churned out by Hollywood was less than favourable (see Prof. Biskupski's 'Hollywood's War on Poland'). The pro-Soviet slant of WW2 propaganda reaching the US only helped entrench negative sentiments towards Poles;

-- Gomułka's 1968 anti-Jewish purge set off America's stand-up comics and other entertainment figures (most of whom are of ah, er, um...Norwegian...or is it Bolivian ancestry?!) and what could have been merely a passing Pollack joke phase (other ethnic joke waves had come and gone) was turned into an all-out smear campaign to deride and ridicule the Polish people;

-- It's easy enough to point the finger at external forces, so it should be stressed that Polish people are also to blame. Although they may be at each others' throats in their closed Polonian circle, they are known for their timidity, passivity and lack of assertiveness vis-à-vis the outside world. That has included both their ineffectiveness in combating Pollack jokes as well as their failure to convey a positive image, creating things with universal appeal and being culturally productive (music, books, films, etc.). Even now, most educated PolAms prefer safe, secure and well-paying jobs in business, medicine, accounting, law, etc., but how many PolAm singers, novelists, actors and others performers, film directors, script writers, journalists and academicians (esp. historians, political scientists, cultural anthropologists, etc.) are there? A successful PolAm dentist may have a grand house in the burbs with swimming pool and three pricey cars, but professionally he is not in a position to propagate the Polish heritage in the American mainstream the way a book author, film director or playwright can.

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

SKIBICKI: root-word skiba (furrow - the groove made in the soil by a plough; in some areas also a slice /of bread/); topo nick from Skibice (Furrowville).

For more info on Skibicki and other names please contact me

APFELBAUM: German for apple-tree; a common Jeiwsh surname, pronounced Apfelbojm in Yiddish. Only a handful of users in today's Poland. Some may have changed their name to Jabłoński.

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

This is not a Polish spelling. I could have been an attempt at a German phonetic respelling of some Polish surname. The only thing even close to Novereske beign used in today's Poland are: Nowerski, Nowaryński, Nowarski, Nawarski and Nawarowski.

DĄBROWSKI: topographic or toponymic nick from dąbrowa (oak grove) or Dąbrowa (Oakville).

JANKOWSKI: topo nick from Janków or Jankowo; possibly patronymic from Janek or Janko.

KOZ£OWSKI: root-word kozioł (billy goat); topo nick from Kozłów (Goatville).

MAZUR: regional tag for someone from Masuria (Mazury).

WOJCIECHOWSKI: topo nick from Wojciechów (Albertville).

KWIATKOWSKI: topo nick from Kwiatków or Kwiatkowo (Floralton, Bloomville).

KRAWCZYK: patronymic from krawiec (tailor)

KACZMAREK: patronymic from karczmarz (publican, innkeeper)

FOR MORE INFO PLEASE CONTACT me

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

WOJTUŚ: this nickname-turned-surname has evolved from a hypocoristic (pet) form of the first name Wojciech (in English Adalbert), the name of Poland's first martyr saint.

GUMIEŃSKI/GUMIŃSKI: root-word gumno (threshing floor in a barn); gumienny would have been the threshing foreman and his son might have got the patronymic tag Gumieński or Gumiński. Toponymic sources are also possible.

For more Gumiński/Gumieński info please contact me

BARSZCZEWSKI: topo nick from Barszcze or Barszczewo; root-word barszcz (tart soup) or barszczownik (a weed).

SIDOROWICZ: patronymic nick from Sidor (pet name of Izydor) = Izzy's kid.

NIES£AWSKI: root-word niesława (infamy, ignominy); probably topo nick from a place called Nieława.

HORODECKI: name is Ukrainian in form; Polish would be Grodecki: source either the word horod/gród (fortified town) or first name Grodzisław/Horodysław.

For more info please contact me

Merged: Origin of most popular Polish surnames

These are Poland's top 10 surnames and approximate no. of users:
NOWAK: new guy in town - 200,000
KOWALSKI: patronymic from kowal (blacksmith) or topo nick from Kowale (Smithville) - 140,000
WIŚNIEWSKI: topo nick from Wiśniewo (Cherryville) - 110,000
WÓJCIK: patronymic from wójt (rural mayor) - 99,000
KOWALCZYK: patronymic from kowal - 97,000
KAMIŃSKI: topo nick from Kamień (Rockville, Stonebury) - 94,000
LEWANDOWSKI: topo nick from Lewandów or Lewandowszczyzna (Lavenderville) - 92,000
ZIELIŃSKI: topo nick from Zielin (Greenville) 91,000
SZYMAŃSKI: topo nick from Szymany (Simonville) - 89,000
WO-NIAK: patronymic from woźny (court crier) - 88,000.

For more information please contact me

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

JARASZKIEWICZ: Jarosz, Jarasz, Jarek, Jarko, Jaruś, Jaruszko, etc. are all hypocoristic (pet) forms of such old Slavonic first names as Jaromir, Jarosław or Jarogniew. When someone known by those endearing names fathered a son... presto - you got Jaroszkiewicz or Jaraszkiewicz. In modern Polish jarosz means vegetarian, but the surname probably emerged long before that meaning went into use.

Incidentally, Jaroszkiewicz is at least five times more comon in Poland than Jaraszkiewicz, but Jaraszkiewicz is the more prebvalent version in and around Wielkopolska which includes the Poznań and Sieradz areas.

BOBER: To ShockTroop: This means that the unfamilair coat of arms you showed is not found in Polish armorials (compendia showing different coats of arms). The only heraldic device to which the sole noble line of the Bober family was entitled to use was Gryf. That branch of the Bober family somehow got ennobled probably by adoption or marriage into the Gryf clan and thereby acquired the right to identify themselves with that clan's heraldic emblem.

Incidentailly, Bober is peasant dialect for both beaver (bóbr) and the broad bean (bób).

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

KAUSZKA: This is the only form of the name currently used in Poland. It is used by 12 people: Bydgoszcz and environs (German Bromberg) 8, Elbląg (Elbing) 1, Gdańsk (Danzig) 3. New armies marching in, new rulers setting up shop, border shifts, partitions, occupations, etc. have made the de-ethnicisation and re-ethnicisation of surnames fairly common in this part of Europe. Someone named Góra found it expedient at some point to become a Berg. Another time, a Schultz may have changed his surname to Szulc or even Sołtys.

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

Polish armorial resourcers list Gryf as the clan to which nobles of the Bober family belonged.
Scroll down on the link for a glimpse of the Gryf heraldic device:
pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:Gryf_herb.svg&filetimestamp=20061112204717

EKNER: probably from Old High German first name Eckhart

BIGARCZYK: patronmyic nick from biegarz/biegacz (someone often seen ruinning from place to place)

KAPUŚNIAK: cabbage or suaerkraut soup

ŻAKOWICZ: patronymic nick meaning the scholar's son.

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

£YSZCZEK: possibly from verb łyszczeć (regional for błyszczeć - to shine, glitter, glisten, sparkle)

RÓG - róg is the Polish word for horn; possibly topo nick from Rogowo (Hornville)

KWAŚNY: from word for sour (kwaśny); maybe a nick for a sourpuss.

For more info please contact me

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

BOBER: bober is the peasant dialectic form of bób (broad bean or fava bean, scientific name: Vicia faba); peasant nicknames derived from the names of corps, tools, livestock, etc. often evolved into bona fide surnames including Groch (pea), Sałata (lettuce), Żyto (rye), Byk (bull), £opata (spade), Motyka (hoe), etc.

STASIAK: this is a straightforward patronymic nickname indicating the son of Staś (compare Stanson).

Stasiak and Bober have already been explained elsewhere.

Genealogy / Manko, Federowicz, Baszczek, Zatwarnicka. Family history mystery. [36]

The Hatalewicz surname exists in Poland, and 24 of its some 3 dozen bearers live in the recovered lands, so originally they must have hailed from east of today's border.

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

£AŃSKI: topo nick from £ańsk; root-word probably archaic/dialectic łańka (łąka) - meadow

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

WNUKOWSKI: root-word wnuk (grandson); topo nick from Wnukowo (Grandsonville); fewer than 1,000 users, nearly 200 in Radom area

BERKOWSKI: possible sources include the German word Berg (mountain), German name Behr or Jewish name Berko.

BIRDINA?: There exist such surnames in Poland as Byrda and Byrdy; origin is uncertain uncertain but some suggest Old Polish bardo (weaver's comb), barda (baltle-axe) or bard (hillock) as possible sources.

For more info please contact me

PI£SUDSKI: topo nick from Piłsudy, Polish name for Pilsudai in Samogitia; from patriotic Polish family reportedly of partially Lithuanian stock..

MATEJKO: common to Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine; hypocoristic form of first name Matyjasz (English Matthias) originally from Ancient Hebrew Mettithejah meaning ‘gift of Jehovah’; father was Czech, motehr Polish-German.

CHOPIN: name of French origin possibly from the verb “chopiner” (to tipple), so a chopin would be a boozer, souse, etc. Chopin’s father was a full-blooded but culturally polonised Frenchman.

COPERNICUS: Latin name for astronomer Mikołaj Kopernik; topo nick from Silesian village of Koperniki, earlier also known as Köppernig and Köppernick, or occupational tag because dad was a Kraków copper merchant; mother was German-Polish

KOŚCIUSZKO: from Belarussian hypocoristic form of Konstanty.

NOTE: Names are not the same as nationality, and the contributions of the above to Poland’s national heritage is indisputable Anyone know if any DNA studies have been conducted on the above? If a Frenchman named Lapin settled in Poland in 1721 and nearly all his male antecedents over the following generations married Polish women, with a few marrying German, Jewish and Ukrainian ladies, would the Lapins of 2010 still be considered French?

News / Chechen Congress in Poland, Russia frowns [90]

Kraków has for years played host to a Chechen Information Centre and most Poles have sympathised with the plight of hte subjugated Chechen people. When will the Rooskies finally give up their tsarist-soviet conquests and puppet regimes and set these people free? The West abandoned colonialism in the first decades after World War Two, so maybe it's time for the Kacapy to catch up with the human race.