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

LACHOWIECKI: toponymic nickname for an inhabitant of the Mazowsze village of Lachówiec. Lach, Lech and Lechita were various old names for ethnic Poles, so maybe we could call Lachówiec (no offense intended to Polish Americans) something like Polackville. Lachowecki might be the way a Ukrainian would pronounce it.

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

OLSZAK: patronymic for the son of someone nicknamed Olsza (alderwood).

EWASZKO: possibly a Ruthenian metronymic for Ewa's bastard son.

STOJ: hypocoristic (pet) form of old first name Stoisław.

WARSZANY: not currently used in Poland; possible toponymic tag for inhabitant of Warszewo or Warszówek; or patronymic from old first name Warcisław.

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

WÓJTOWICZ/WOJTOWICZ: patronymic describing the son of the wójt, an official variously translated into English as village headman, chief or mayor. NOTE: More precisely, the wójt is the head not of a single village but of a gmina (jurisdiction, commune, basic administrative unit) which comprises a main village and a number of smaller surrounding villages and hamlets.

Genealogy / Surname Cybert. Is it Welsh or Polish? [11]

Considering all the forces affecting Polish surnames over the centuries -- including widepsread illiteracy, linguistic licence and the partitiond -- any of those could have been the source of the Cybert surname. From a purely lingustic standpoint, the German vowel combination "ie" usually goes into Polish as a "y". On that basis, the source should be Ziebert.

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

WOTKE: not currently used in Poland; this is the Germanised version of the Polish surname WOTKA, probably derived from wotum (votive offering). NOTE: German names ending in -ke are usually adaptations of Polish, Czech or Wendish names ending in -ka; e.g. German Lipke (meaningless) from Slavonic Lipka (little linden tree).

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

ZWOLIŃSKI: toponymic nickname for inhabitant of Zwoleń.

SZNARSKI: possibly from sznara -- dialectal term for vodka (from German Schnaps)

FRONCKIEWICZ: patronmyic nick for son of Francek (Silesian pet form of Franciszek).

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

OBIREK: dialectal of Ruthenianised pronunciation of obierek, usually in the plural as obierki = fruit or potato peels, leavings, scraps, something picked over.

MODLIŃSKI: toponymic nick from the town of Modlin.

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

TORZ, TORZYK, TORZECKI & SIMILAR: possibly from the Old Polish verb torzyć się ( to rot, decompose) - podssibly said of somone who smelt of death.

MENDELAK: from mendel (15 of something); probably patronymic tag meaning Mendel's son.

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

It's a toponymic tag or locality-derived nickname, i.e. one based on the name of a person's hometown. So someone living in the village of Brzezina (Birchville) gets called Brzeziński -- meaning the bloke from Birchville. Most names ending in -cki, -ski and

-dzki are of toponymic origin and reflect the place-names of their bearers.

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

NAGIECKI: This looks to be a topo tag except that no locality to which it could be traced was found. Ideally it should have been a village called Nagieck or Nagiecko. So the marigold (nagietka) connection is as good an explanation as any.

NAGÓRZAŃSKI: root-words: na górze (on the hill); topo nick from the village of Nagórzany (Krosno area).

GURGA: possibly derived from dialectal gurgas (sauerkraut-juice soup) or gurgol (decoration on a woman's folk costume); or an adaptation of the German surname Gurg.

BOKSA: hypocoristic (pet) form of such first names as Bogusław and Boguchwał.

PATON: possibly from dialectal verb patać (to wave hands or flap wings); less likely from pat (stalemate in chess).

SZTABA: sztaba is a bar of gold or other metal.

P£UŻEK: Possibly from Old Polish verb płużyć - said of people to mean they are flourishing, prospering, doing very well; płużek can also mean little plough (diminutive of pług).

HUDRA: currently not used in Poland; possibly from chudy (thin, lean, impoverished) or Chudor (an Old Polish form of the first name Teodor).

POBIEDNICKI: topo nick from village of Pobiedno near Krosno.

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

GRZESZCZUK: root-word Grzegorz (Gregory); patronymic nick equivalent to Celtic McGregor; -uk ending suggests eastern borderlands origin.

BOJKO: root-word bój (combat) or bać/bojeć się (to fear); most likely topo tag from Bojków (Warton, Fearville?); or from Bojki - a Slavic-Vallachian ethnic subgroup from the Polish-Ukrainian eastern Carpathians.

Genealogy / Where in Poland is the town of Laka? [20]

TOMAKA: This nickname-turned-surname was derived from the first name Tomasz. The latter came into Polish and all other Europrean languages (e.g. English Thomas, Hungarian Tamás, Russian Foma, etc.) from the Aramaic word toma (twin).

WOROS; WOROSZ, WOROSZCZ: from dialectal Polish verb woroszyć (to destroy, devastate, upset, disrupt).

WROS, WROSZ, WROSZCZ: probably derived from the old first name Wrocisław.

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

CZACHORSKI: root-word czahar (stunted scrub vegetation); topo nick from the village of Czachory.

The well-born Czachorskis belonged to two separate noble lines: Abdank and Korab.
Foir more information on the surname and its heraldic links please contact: me.

WO-NIAK: This nickname-turned-surname originated as a patronymic tag indicating the son of a woźny, in Old Poland a court crier/messenger (official) who read out verdicts and served summonses. There either were an awful lot of them and/or they were especially prolific reproduction-wise, because today Woźniak is Poland's 10th most popular surname shared by some 88,000 people in Poland. Since it is widely held that about one-fourth of all Polish people live abroad, there may be another 20,000 or so scattered around the globe. But no Woźniak was ever known to have achieved szlachta (noble) rank.

For more information on this and Polish surnames please contact: me.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [770]

Perhaps it was GA£ECZKA? The spelling you gave looks as though he heard the name pronounced but never saw it in print, hence an attempt at a crude phonetic rendering. In Polish Lydia is spelt Lidia.

There is a town called Wisła in the south of Poland; that's where ski-jumping star-turned-rally driver Adam Małysz is from.

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

DOSLEA: no-one uses this surname in Poland; it is definitely Romanian; there are apparently 14 Dosleas in Canada nad 4 in the US.

Genealogy / Any one know anything of Koss surname? [22]

KOS: this is the Polish word for blackbird (a bird of the thrush family). But there is an unrelated German name Koss. (The German for blackbird is Amsel.) Some Poles also spell their surname Koss. There were two gentry lines In Poland amongst the bearers of the Kos surname.

Genealogy / Does your last name end in CKI not SKI [60]


Wojowciewski does not exist in Poland. It is possible linguistically, but if it ever existed it was surely on the rare side.
Wojciewski would be more like it. It comes from the first name Wojciech but most likely originated as a topo nick from places such as Wojcieszyce, Wojciechy, Wojcieszyn or similar.

For 123 years between the late 18th century and 1918 Poland did not exist as an indepndent country, having been carved up by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Tsarist Russia had annexed the largest chunk of Polish territory. Poles coming to America in that period bore passports of that parttioning power which ruled their native region.

For translation of Russian documents check out: andywbuffalo@yahoo

Genealogy / Does your last name end in CKI not SKI [60]

BIEDRZYCKI: like most surnames ending in -ski, -cki and -dzki, this is probably a topo nick from Biedrzyce.
A biedronka (ladybug) is called that in Polish because it was thought to resemble a miniature version of a red-coated cow. A biedroń is a red bull and a biedrula a red cow. A ladybug is also known by such folk terms as boża krówka (God's little cow) and krówka Matki Boskiej (Our Lady's little cow).

Genealogy / Does your last name end in CKI not SKI [60]

WINNiCKI: root-word winnica (vineyard); either occupational nick for vineyard owner or topo nick from a locality called Winnica.

PRYSTACH: Ruthenian version of Przystarz (a husband who has settled on a wife's family farm).

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

ŻMUDA: derived from the old verb żmudzić (to waste time, dawdle, grumble, fret); the noun żmud means drudgery, wearisome, back-breaking toil; also could have originated as topo nick from the village of Żmuda (£ódź region); three szlachta (gentry) lines.

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

ĆWIKIEL: root-word ćwik (Old Polish for sparrow-hawk; in modern Polish krogulec); or ćwikła (beetroot).
Probabll originated as a topo nick from Ćwików, Ćwiklin or similar.

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

NASIADKA: root-word nasiadać (said of a bird to hatch, brood. sit on eggs to incubate them); probably a topo tag from the village of Nasiadki in Mazowsze. No Nasiadka was ever recorded as having held membership in a szlachta clan which would have entitled him to use its coat of arms.

The legend surrounding the emergence of the Szaława clan and heraldic device goes as follows. In around 988 AD, Vladimir the Great, Prince of Kievan Rus' (now Ukraine), wanted to adopt Orthodox Christianity and sent envoys ot Byzantium to bring back the new faith. When they returned, the Pagan Russians began ridiculing the new religion, so one of the envoys challenged three pagan warriors to a three-against-one duel. He stood at the center of a circle and hacked all three of them to pieces. The Szaława coat of arms commemorates that combat with a circle and three inward-pointing cavalier's crosses. The Szaława coat of arms is shared by the nobles lines of 40 Polish gentry families with surnames ranging from Alkiewicz to Wigura.

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

£uckowicz may or may not make sense, but...w Polsce jest 8 osób o nazwisku £uckowicz.
Zamieszkują oni w 2 różnych powiatach i miastach. Najwięcej zameldowanych jest w Stargard Szczeciński ,a dokładnie 5.
z 3 zamieszkuje m. Włocławek osób o tym nazwisku.

Please keep your comments in English, thanks.

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

£uk is also bow in Polish and the name £ukowicz would have originated as a patronymic tag ot identify someone as the son of someone nicknamed £uk.

£uckowicz would be a totally different name. Again one of partronymic origin, but the father would have been nicknamed £uck, probably because he hailed from the once Polish now Ukrainian city of £uck.

Genealogy / the name Markiewicz / also Szczygielski [17]

SZCZYGIELSKI: root-word szczygieł (goldfinch); topo nick from Szczyglice, Szczygłowice or Szczygły (Fimnchville).

MARKIEWICZ: patronymic tag meaning son of Marek (Mark).

GÓRECKI: root-word górka (hillock); topo tag for someone from Górka (Hillton).

MARKIEWICZ - 10 coats of arms
SZCZYGIELSKI - 2 coats of arms

Genealogy / Piasta relatives from Gibalka, Pajka from Ostroleka [14]

PIASTA: hub of a wheel; the legendary founder of Poland was Kołodziej Piast (Wheelwright Piast)

PAJKA: diminutive of Old Polish paja (yap, trap,snout - pejorative or humorous for mouth); in modern Polish - mordka, pyszczyk).

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

WOLSZA: probably from a dialectal pronunciation of olsza (alder - tree species); no known coat of arms.

SZLASZYŃSKI: topo nick from one of several places in Poland called Szlasy; no known coat of arms, but there were nobles amongst the bearers of what could be its variant spelling Śleszyński.

CICHOWSKI: 3 coats of arms

Couldn't find Kiecolt or Kiecołt. The closest was Kiecol (without the final 't') - about 4 dozen users; no c-o-a.

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

KAJETANIAK: patronymic nick from first name Kajetan (from Latin Caietanus, originally meaning an inhabitant of the town of Caieta); in Poland the most live in Mazowsze.

Any Polish name can be used by a Jew: Nowak, Kowalski, Wójcik, Wiśniewski, Kamiński, etc., etc.
There are also typically Jewish names such as Margolis, Szapiro, Perlman, Goldberg, Rubinstein, SIlberman, etc.

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

CICHOWSKI: root-word cichy (quiet, still, silent); topo nick from Cichów or Cichowo (Quietville, Stillton, Silentburg).

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

MICHALEWICZ: yes indeed this is the Polish equivalent of Michaleson; the -wicz ending is almost exclusively a patronymic indicator. Possibly in a few cases someone was called Michał because he hailed from Michale, Michałki, Michałów or similar, When he fathered a son, fellow-villagers could have dubbed the offspring Michalewicz. But they could have also chosen Michałowicz, Michalak, Michalczyk, Michałkiewicz, etc.

There were two gentry lines and consequently two different coats of arms in the Michalewicz family.