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

The archaic Polish word gonia once meant a woman of ill-repute, the village (pardon my French) wh*re.
But not all is lost. As an alternative form of gunia it also meant a horse-blanket woven from thick wool.


Komorowski is a name of multiple possible origins. In Russia there may be several localtieis called Коморово (Komorowo) from which the toponymic nick Коморовский (Komorowskij) would have been derived. However, the dozens of Polish localities called Komorów and Komorowo makes Poland the most likely source of Komorowski.

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

Basic root dudy (goatskin bagpipes used in the Carpathian Mts) - Dudziński probably toponmyic nick meaning the bloke from Dudzin or Duziny (Piperton).

Genealogy / Pieklo, Lutski, Lucki, Reyman, Tyniec - Trying to locate relatives [3]

£ucki - toponymic nick from the town of £uck (now in Ukraine

Piekło - hell

Reyman - also spelt Rejman and Reimann (originaly from German toponymic nick Reimann (Rhein + Mann) someone from the banks of the River Rhine (German: Rhein) or Rhineland.

Tyniec - from archaic tyn (hedge, enclosure); also a monastic town in soutehrn Poland.

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

The only names anywhere close used in today's Poland are:
Nasterowicz Nasterowski Nasterski
Noster Nosterowicz Nastorowski
Due to widespread illiteracy at one time plus defective manual recopying by semi-litereate priests, village scribes or foreign occupiers, all kind of weird things have happened to surnames over the generations. The meaning and derivation of the above are uncertain.

Noster (as in Pater Noster) may belong to a small group of surames derived from Latin prayers; they include Meus, Dominus and Sekuła (from soecula - Latin for centuries found in the prayer Per omnia soecula soeculoram - Na wieki wieków...). Nosterowicz would be Noster's son.

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

The form of Prysunka is definitely Ukrainian. In Polish it would be Przysunka, from the verb przysunąć (to bring closer, move up, approach).
There are only 2 people in Poland named Prysunka, both in the Elbląg area (recovered territories), but not a single Przysunka.

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

Tomiński - probably toponymic nick from locality of Tomin (Tomville)

Michalczyk - patronynmic nick = Michaelson

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

Only half a dozen people in Poland using the Ingelewicz surname. Coudl it have been Engelewicz (Engel being German or Yiddish for angel)? At any rate, it originated as a patronymic nick meaning 'son of Ingel'.

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

Pietrasik is definitely a Polish spelling and originated as a patronymic nick (Pete's son).

Genealogy / Translation of last name (Blachowski) [8]

If this is any help, nearly all -owski names in Polish are of toponymic origin and are derived from localities ending in -ów or -owo. In this case Blachów or Blachowo.

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

rek - a stake used to support a net enclosure at the lake or river bottom while fishing; possibly short for rekut (dialectic for rekrut); or toponymic nick from places like Reklin, Rekowo or Rekówka.

No-one in Poland currently uses the Szylobryt surname as far as I can determine. Are you sure of the spelling. Just off hand I'd say this was the Polonised verison of an originally German name, maybe something like Schillbrett, but that's only a guess.

Revised opinion: some 150 people surnamed Szyłobryt. Intially I had sought only Szylobryt (without the barred 'ł').

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

Indeed, the noble Gombrowiczes stamped their documents and property with the Kościesza c-o-a. It is said to date from a 1072 battle in which a knight named Kościesza kept on undauntedly swinging his sword in combat although riddled with arrows and bleeding badly. Seeing this, Polish King Bolesław the Bold honored his valour with a crest in which a stylised arrow displayed a perpendicular bar symbolizing a sword to form a cross.

And the -wicz patronymic ending was typical of Polish Lithuania. The Lithuanised version is Gombrovièius.

Genealogy / Zelem family - Southeast poland [73]

Just occurred to me...perhaps Zelem was derived from a form of the first name Anzelm, one of whose Lithuanian forms is Zelmas. So many different things have happened to names over the generations, centuries, foreign partitions, etc. amid all the resultant cultural cross-fertilisation....

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

Reminds me of the politcian who gets thrown a tough question and replies: 'That's a good question' or 'I'm glad you asked', whilst thinking to himself (you dirty bastard! - how am I gonna wiggle out of this one?!)

Seriously though, your questions are true riddles, esp. the second one. Some names are quite straightfoward: Kowalczyk originated to indicate either the blacksmith's son or helper or the son fo someone from the village of Kowal or Kowale. Full stop!

Sienkiewicz: there are numerous localities such as Siennów. Sieńsko, Sieniec, Sienno, Siennica etc. (Hayville, Hayton, Hayborough, Hayfield, Haywood, etc.) which could have generated the Sieniek or similar toponymic nick. When he fathered a son: presto and we get Sienkiewicz.

Gombrowicz is a real stumper for lack of any word in the Polish language or locality I could find with the 'gombr-' root. But there is a locality in Lithuania called Gembres and one called Gombra in Slovakia. Could these have been the source? This is only an

(un)educated guess, in fact more of a stab in the dark!?

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

Nearly all Polish adjectival surnames ending in -owski or -ewski are of toponymic origin and traceable to localities ending in -ów, -owo, -ew or -ewo. Hence:


Komorowski: from Komorów or Komorowa (Chamberton, Shedville)


Kolewski: from Kolew or Kolewo (koło=wheel or kole from kłuć /to sting, jab, prick/, hence possibly translatable as Wheelton or Stingville).


Bliskowski: from Blisków or Bliskowo (Nearton, Closewville)
Szulim: possibly a variant of Szulman (synagogue teacher) or a form of the surname Sulim or Sulima (there exists a Sulima coat of arms).

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

Piasecki - toponmyic nick from numerous localities in Poland called Piaski (Sands, Sandyville, Sandton).

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

Dobija - could be other-Slavonic, but in Polish from dobijać - to finish off, deliver a coup de grâce.
Przybyłka - female newcomer, new girl in town
Taraszkiewicz - patronymic nick 'son of Taras' (Ukrainian first name)
Peczkowski, Paczkowski, Waszewski and Szyłkowski - like 99% of names ending in -owski are toponymic nicks to identify a native of Pieczków or Pieczkowo (a pieczka is a widndfall apple or pear dried on a piec); Paczków (Packville, Parcelton), Waszewo (Basilton) and Szyłkowo (???) respectively.

Genealogy / Zelem family - Southeast poland [73]

Zelem looks to be a Jewish name. Not sure but possibly a form of Zelman (from Salomon?).
Only 24 people in today's Poland with that name, of which 22 live in the regained territories.

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

Patronymic nick meaning Mattson, Mathewson or Mathews. Since Polish is a variant-rich language, unlike the only two known English patronymics -- '-son' and 's' (as in Edwards) the first name Mateusz in Polish has also generated such patronymic nicks as Matusiak, Matuszczak, Matuszewski, Matuszkiewicz, Matyszkiewicz, Matys, Matyszewski, Matowski, Matuch, Matyga, Matyka and probably quite a few more.

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

Most if not all German names ending in -ke are of Polish or other-Slavonic (Czech, Sorbish, Polabian) origin. In their Slavonic tongues of origin they mean somethiing, whereas in German they are meaningless adaptations. A good example is Pomerania (Latin-derived Egnlish version). Pommern is a Germanised verison of Pomorze (Polish-Slavonic for along the sea). The common German surname Lipke means nothing in German but in Polish lipka is a little linden tree.

Neitzke isi probably another case in point. It appears to be the German adaptation of the Polish word neicka (a topographic term for a basin, depression or hollow).

Incidentally, 39 people in Poland use the Niecka suirname and 7 use what I beleive to be the German adptation - Neitzke.

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

The Veliczky spelling is defintiely not Polish. Perhaps that was the Hungarian phonetic transcription of Wielicki - a toponymic nick for someone from the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland, not far from Kraków. That is where the world-famous Wieliczka Salt Mine is located.

Love / What are the best love poems in Polish to receive? [77]

Hippocrene, a NY publisher, issued a tome of Polish love poems in English a few years ago. Check it out on Google.

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

Cieniawski - toponymic nick from Cieniawa or villages called Cienia (Shadowville, Shadeburg, etc.)

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


MAJERSKI: The Majierski spelling you gave is impossible in Polish, but the Majerski surname is known and used in Poland. Its basic root could have been either the German word “Maier” (estate steward or dairy farmer) or the Hebrew name Meir (meaning brightness, light, illumination). Regardless of its origin, however, Poles would have added the adjectival -ski ending for patronymic purposes to describe someone as “the steward’s or dairy farmer’s son” of “Meir’s boy”.


MARCHLEWSKI: Its basic root is Marchal or Marchel, a dialectic variant of the first name Melchior (incidentally the name of one of the biblical Three Wisemen, the remaining two being Kasper and Baltazar).

The -ski ending i adjectival and more often than not indicates a surname's toponymic (place-name-derived) origin. There is a village called Marchelówka in NW Poland's Podlasie region. People from outlying villages could have applied the Marchlewski, Marchlowski or Marchelowski nickname to someone who hailed from there. But remember - this may have occurred centuries ago. To later generations it became just another name.

Genealogy / Kuzdeba: Is My Last Name Polish? [14]

There are 4 people in Poland surnamed Kuźdeba, and one who spells it Kuzdeba. Since there is no such commonly known word in the Polish language nor any loclaity incorporating it, I would venture a guess that it orginated in the eastern (Ruthenian) borderlands of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Ran across this info about the Kozdęba clan on the net:
genealogia.mrog.org/Kozdeba.html

Some 470 people in Poland surnamed Kozdęba; ancestral nest appear to be SE Poland's Tarnobrzeg area (170). Possible etymology: koz- (goat) and dęb- (oak).

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


** Nearly all Polish surnames ending in -owski are of toponymic origin. Wierczhowksi was derived from one of seeveral localities in Poland called Wierzchy, Wierzchowo, Wierzchów, maybe Wierzchowice, although the latter should have produced Wierzchowicki.

As for possible meanigns - it could have been derived from wierzchowiec (mount, riding horse) or wierzchołek (mountain top, peak, summit).


** Knezinek (Кнезінек) looks like the Ukrainian diminutive meaning princeling (little prince).

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

** The -ska ending is feminine and would be found in every document (birth/baptismal, marriage or death certificate, identity paper, passport, name roster, etc. of a female whose father or husband had a ski-ending name.

The -sky ending in America is associated with Czech, Slovak, Russian and Jewish surnames. Polish is also -ski. Of course, if a Pole wants to change his -ski name to -sky, legally he is free to do so.

** Szymański originated as a toponmyic nickname for someone from Szymany (Simonville).

Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]

Tyko Wyborowa!

Life / Superstitions in Poland [60]

Nov 5, 09, 16:14 - Thread attached on merging:
Polish superstitions

Some things like black cats crossing the road and Friday the 13th are universal superstitions. Are there any specifically Polish ones? Isn't the 'nie przez próg' thing, where you should never shake hands over a threshold, one of them. Another is when you have to return for something you have forgotten, and the superstitious sit down for just a second or two before leaving again.

And then there is not getting married in a month lacking the letter 'r' in Polish, so that eliminates January, February. May,and July. And on Wigilia if the first non-family member to cross the threshold is a female, that spells bad luck for the household.

Know of any others? Do you practice them or have observed them being cultivated?

Food / Bigos Recipe [183]

If draining sauerkraut, save the drippings in a sealed jar abd refrigerate. It's keep almsot indefintiely.You can use it to make the bigos tarter if it isn't tart enough or for other souring needs, eg soups such as bean, pea, lentil. cabbage, barszucz, etc.