Genealogy / Polish Romani (gypsy) surnames [64]

Unfortunately, Gypsy onomastics is not my speciality, but I thinjk it’s safe to say that like Jews, many Gypsies picked up names from the countries they lived in. Bergitka Roma from the Carpathian Mts tended to have names of Hungarian origin such as Gabor or highlander names (Dunka, Mirga, Siwak). Lowland Gypsies tended to have Polish names including Majewski, Pawłowski and Paczkowski. The Kełderasza Gypsies (from the Romanian word caldarar for pot-maker) produced Gypsy kings in the between-the-wars period including Janusz Kwiek. One of the best-known Polish Gypsy poets was Jerzy Ficowski (1942-2006).

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

About 50 people in Poland sign thesmelves Pazder. It appears to be the Ukrainian equivalent of the Polish word paździerz (wood chips, scraps) pressed together to form płyta paździerzowa (chipboard).

Food / Do you call it kiszka or kaszanka? [61]

Is this possible? In some old 19th-century cookery books I have seen the term 'kiszka kaszana'. Could it have been that the émigrés too the 'kiszka kaszana' to America where it got shortend to just 'kiszka', whilst in the Old Country the second part was rejigged into 'kaszanka'. Just a guess. Sound plausible?

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

Jański exists as a separate surname (Johnson?) but also joins other roots as in Świętojański (St John's). Incidentally Jan is the most prolific Polish Chrsitian name in terms of derivative surnames which include: Janik, Janiak, Janowski, Jankowski, Jankowiak, Janosiak, Jankiewicz, Jankowicz, Janda, Janowiak, Jańczak, Janach, Janeczko, Janic, Janicki, Janiuk, Janoszek and (from its hypocoristic form Jaś) -- Jasiak, Jasik, Jasikiewicz, Jasiulewicz, Jasiuk Jasiecki, Jaśko, Jasiewicz, Jaśkowiak and more......

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

SOKOLNICKI - falconer's son (patronymic nick) or inhabitant of Sokolniki (toponymic nick). The locality might translate as Falconers or Falconerville.

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

could it have originally been Petryński? Such a name exists in Poland. How migth it be phonetically respelt in Romanian?
In general, how are -ski ending surnames rendered in Romanian? Do they get the -escu ending?.

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

No-one in Poland is surnamed Petrencki at present. Petrenchi looks to be the Italian phonetic respelling except correctly it should read Petrenschi.

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

Both the Walas (pronounced: VAH-lahss) and Walaś (VAH-lahsh) spellings exist in Poland. The name is derived from a first name such as Walerian or Walenty and can mean "little Val" (diminutive) or Valson (patronymic nick).

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

SZYMAŃSKI - inhabitant of Szymany (Simonsville)


GROBORZ – dialectic (for instance Silesian, Tatra Highlander) pronunciation and spelling of grabarz (grave-digger)


GUTT – from German word meaning farmstead, holding, property.


RUTTKOWSKY – phonetic respelling of Rutkowski in a way (-sky) that makes it look to be of Russian, Czech or Jewish origin. Rutkoski would have been a better alternative to retain its Polish flavour (the F is barely audible and can be omitted). Etymology: inhabitant of Rutkowo or Rutków (Rueville).


WODZIŃSKI: Probably a toponymic nick from a locality called Wodzina or Wodzin (Leaderton, Chieftainville).

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

LEPIARCZYK – potter’s son
KANIA – kite (bird) pr Portobello (edible fungus)
SZYMURA – variant of Szymon (Simon); possibly augmentative (big, old, good for nothing Sy)
JAGIE£KA – grain of millet cereal
HENNICH – possibly derived from German Henne (hen)
SZU£A – wooden wall or fence post
NOWAK - newcomer
KUKLIŃSKI - toponymic nick from Kuklin

History / What Was Happening in Poland around 1905? [73]

KUPIEC - this originated as an occupational nick (merchant, trader) and is most common in SE Poland (former Austrian partition), esp, in the Tarnów and neighbouring Kraków areas. There is another prominent concentration in the Katowice area to the west of there (former Prussian partition).

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

The Witzke surname is also known in Poland, although not as common as Laskowski. Most live in the Kujawy and neighboring Wielkopolska region -- both areas had been under German (Prussian) occupation from the late 18th c. till 1918. German names ending in -ke were originally of Slavonic (Polish, Czech Pomeranian/Kashubian) origin.

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

There is a fair number of Laskowskis in Kashubia, but concentrations also exist elsewhere around the country. I shouldn't think Laskowski is a typcially Kashubian name.

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

Laskowski - toponymic nick from Lasków. Laskowo, Laskowa et al
Gorka (heard it means "little hill") - Indeed
Hoffman ( Hochmann?) - German for estate steward, courtier or peasant attached to a grange (nobleman's farm)
Hochmann also exists btu could haev resutled from a mispronuncaiton of Hoffmann. In rapdi speech both can sound quite similar.
Grajewski - toponymici nick from Grajewo

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

A mere 18 people in Poland use the Jordanow surname (none spell it Jordanów). Jordanowa sounds feminine. In Poland a woman named Jordan or Jordanow would be familiarly referred to as Jordanowa, but not officially. Incidentally, there are more than 1,100 people surnamed Jordan.

Its etymology traces back to the River Jordan in the Holy Land.

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

It may have been Justyński which would have been a patronymic nick for the son of someone with the first name of Justyn.

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

SZAREK - besides the colour grey, szary in Polish also means drab, ordinary, undistinguished, humdrum, etc. The archaic term szarek once meant a ne'er-do-well or (as we would say today) loser, a ragmuffin or down-and-outer. A similar term szarak means (besides hare) an inpoverished member of the gentry (bosy ale w ostrogach - barefoot but in spurs).

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

CHILICKI (pronoucned: heel-EETS-kee) arose as a toponymc nick from the town of Chylice.
Chilicki is a variant spelling of the more common Chylicki. The chyl root suggests somethign like bending, drooping or keeling over and the -ice ending means 'sons of', so the whole surname migth tranlate as 'the bloke friom Bendsonsville'.

News / Do Poles in Poland really feel betrayed because there won't be any US Shield? [288]

OBAMA SUPPROTS RUSSIAN TSARS?

chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6637878.html

\This editorial in the Houston Chronicle is surpisingly anti-Obama and pro-Polish. What do you think?

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

KRYSZTA£OWSKI - used by only 19 people in Poland would have originated as a toponymic nickname for an inhabitant of Kryształów or Kryształowo (Crystalville, Crystalton, Crystalbury).


WALCZUK - eastern (Ukrainian) patronymic nick from Christian names Walenty or Walerian; something like Valson in English.

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

CZOBOT AND CZOBUT were a kind of boot, from Ukrainian ЧОБІT


Madurski is a real stumper. It probably arose as a patornymic to mean son of Madura, but the what does Madura mean? There are Straits fo Madura in Indonesia, but that hardly seems a likely soruce. There is a locality in Belarus called Madora, but that would have produced Madorski. Unelss we assume someone wrote Madorski without closing his 'o' and someone re-copied it s as 'u'. A very shaky hypothesis! Maybe some otehr PF-er might have a better explanation?


SAD£OWSK:99% of -owski surnames are of toponymic origin, hence Sajdłowski would induicate an inhabitant of Sajdłów or Sajdłowo.


BOBOLICE: Bublitz is the German name for the town of Bobolice in the Baltic coastal region's Koszalin area. It comes from the Polish surname Bobola (a famous Polish saint is Andrzej Bobola), and means 'the place settled by Bobola's sons'. Not necessarily that Bobola who was a celibate monk.

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

The ancestral nest appears to be in the SE corner of Poland (former Galicja). Of your 195 namesakes, the most live in and around Przemyśl (79) with a bit of spill-over into the neighbouring Rzeszów area (19).

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

DOSTATNI - well-to-do, affleunt; common to Polish, Czech and probably other Slavonic tongues

GRUZ - multiple possible sources: 1) gruz = rubble; 2) Grużajny - village in Masuria; 3) Gruzin = Georgian.

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

SZYNALSKI - from szynal (rail nail, large nail used for railway sleepers, rafters, &c.), adapted from German Schienenagel.

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

English equivalent would be Alecson (patronymic nick); -uk ending suggests Ruthenian (eastern) origin.

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

BIA£OG£OWSKA - from białogłowa, literally whtie head, an old-fashion name for a married woman; there is also a Białogłowski coat of arms depicting three white skulls (białe głowy) on a red shield.

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

There was once a neighbourhood called Lewandów in right-bank Warsaw's Białołęka area.
Also a locality called Lewandowszczyzna in the Lublin region, and these are the most common sources of the Lewandowski surname.
Any Polish surname may have been used by someone of Jewish descent, but the actual source of Lewandowski does not seem Hebrew or Yiddish.

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

ŚLĘCZKA (the proper spelling) in Polish peasant dialect once meant a woman not invited to a wedding who would stand outside and peer through the window at the festivities. Maybe not a party-crasher but rather a party-peeper. The masculine equivalent is Ślęczek.


Kapeluch - the augmentative* form of kapelusz (hat), is a bona fide Polish word. It came into Polish from middle Latin capellus. That does not mean that it does not also exist in Ukrainian. From a lingusitic standpoint, we cannot go beyond that statement. To determine the ethnicity of your ancestor, you would have to consult a professional genealogist.

* augmentative -- a grammatical form that makes something sound bigger, coarser or more overwhelming that the original; eg -- pies (dog), psisko (big, old, nasty cur).

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

Possibly a variant spelling of lekwarz (a plum pomade once used in medicine, now mainly in cakes and pastries).