Genealogy / Surnames Gall / Figura / Odrowaz [34]

The surname Petin probably started out as the French Pétin. Most likely many wounded Napoleonic soldiers were nursed back to health by Polish maidens and decided to settle down and start a family. The name appears derived from the French verb péter (roughly pronoucned payTAY) which means... to give off a loud cracking sound, let 'er rip or, to put it mildly, to break wind. The related word péteur means farter or sorry individual, a miserable excuse for a human being. On Polish soil the etymology was not widely known, as only the upper classes knew French.

You may be interested to know that Odrowąż is the name of a Polish coat of arms whose origin is quite unusual. In genral Polish coats of arms are surrounded by medieval legends explaining the circumsatnces of their emergence. The rather gory legend surrounding the Odrowąż coat of arms is said to go back to a hand-to-hand encounter that took place in the Middle Ages in Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic) between a Polish knight and a pagan warrior. The knight became so frustrated that he could not topple the resisting pagan that he grabbed him by his bushy moustache and ripped it off, nose and all, impaled it on an arrow and presented it to his lord as a trophy. The lord was so revolted at the sight of the mutilated noseless pagan that he forced the knight to use the Odrowąż coat of arms which means something like "moustache-ripper" and depicts what is supposed to symbolise a white moustache impaled on a stylized arrow set against a blood-red shield. The heraldic device may be viewed online at:

republika.pl/akromer/armorial_pocz.html

Genealogy / Surnames Gall / Figura / Odrowaz [34]

There are more than 5,500 Figuras in Poland, the major stronghold beiong in southern Poland's contiguous Bielsko-Biała. Katowice and Nowy Sącz areas. Figura is obviously of Latin origin and in Poland meant a religious statue or a bigshot /celebrity).

Gall is used by only 268 Poles. It means Gaul, ancient forerunner of the Frenchman. The first chroncler of Poland was called Gallus Anonimus (the Anonymous Gaul).

Genealogy / Polish surnames - Origin and Meaning [29]

You may be interested to know that there is only 1 person in Poland currently using the Szpital surname, but 31 people are named Szpitalak (a patroynmic meaning son of the bloke called Szpital).

Szpital nowadays means hospital but back when the surname was emerging it had a broader range of meanings including: poorhouse, homeless shelter, hostel for travellers, etc. BTW etymlogically the words host, hospital, hotel, hospice as well as the Germanic Gast, the English guest and the Polish gość all go back to the same Indo-European root.

Genealogy / Polish surnames - Origin and Meaning [29]

Polish and probably all otehr european surnames following a similar pattern. Polish ones are based on ia the following:
1) Occupation (eg Piekarz = baker)
2) Place of origin (Brzeziński = the bloke from Brzezina/Birchville)
3) Characteristic (Cimięga = duffer, clumsy oaf)
4) Common household and barnyard objects, animals, food, etc. -- typical of peasant names: £opata = spade; Wróbel = Sparrow)
5) Nationality (Niemiec = German)
6) Polonised foreign names (Michejda derived from Scottish McCleod) -- BTW itinerant Scots traders were once so common in the sprawling Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that a (now obnolete) English saying once referred to "a Scots pedlar's pack in Poland" - meaning everything but the kitchen sink.

History / Is there a list of those in the Polish Army during WWII? [195]

Try faxing your inquiry to the following military-research bureau: Prof. Krzysztof Komorowski, Wojskowe Biuro Badań Historycznych; tel. (+48 22) 682 5873.
Be sure to include as much vital data as you possess.

Genealogy / Justewicz and Szawatkowski [11]

Only two people in Poland sign themselves Justewicz and a mere 12 share the Szawatkowski surname. That makes it much easier to trace long-lost relations than with more popular surnames.

Genealogy / Any information about Dziedzic Surname? [35]

A nominal fee is charged. Send me email for details.

Genealogy / Polish & Prussian/German town name cross-reference. [100]

A partial lsit is found at:
pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niemieckie_nazwy_polskich_miejscowo%C5%9Bci

Genealogy / Looking for a person living in Warsaw - any online phone book in Poland? [33]

A major concentration of Kłopotowski family members is in the Greater Warsaw area. Another is to the NE in and around the city of Białystok.

Genealogy / Leszczynski surname, Balcerzak [51]

Lescinskis appears to be the Lithuanian translation of Leszczyński. The latter incidentally was the name of one of Poland's kings.

FYI the following people are researching the Leszczyński surname:
Leszczyński -- Montpellier & Carmaux, FRANCE; Strzelno, POLAND -- laurent.leszczynski@wanadoo.fr -- Feb/05
Leszczynski ---- BrennaJne@aol.com -- Feb/98
Leszczynski ---- gbarnes@unicomp.net -- Oct/96
Leszczynski -- Bielsk k. Płocka -- john@prodicus.com -- Aug/98
Leszczynski -- POLAND > SWEDEN -- k1mart@cox.net -- Sep/03
Leszczynski ---- kathyrt@dreamscape.com -- Mar/99
Leszczynski -- Pennsylvania, USA -- Keepersmom@worldnet.att.net -- Jan/98
Leszczynski -- Rekitnica -- kowallek@iglou.com -- May/04
Leszczynski -- Biechów, POLAND > Depew, New York; Toledo, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan, USA -- meliasz@em-group-llc.com -- Nov/02
Leszczynski ---- mike@eliasz.com -- Mar/07
Leszczynski -- GALICIA -- ripr@pipeline.com -- Mar/01
Leszczynski; Leszczyński ---- malachowo@yoyo.pl -- Apr/01
Leszczynski; Leszczyński -- Bereza Kartuska i okolice -- p_towpik@poczta.onet.pl -- Nov/00

Genealogy / Any information about Dziedzic Surname? [35]

Yes, more than 20,000 in Poland share the Dziedzic surname. The biggest concentrations are found in southern Poladn in the Katowice, Bielsko-Biała Kraków, Tarnów and Rzeszów areas. Two different coats of arms accompany the related surname Dziedzicki. For more information please contact resaerch60@gmail