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

Merged: Help with Polish last name.

My last name is Hejnowski. As far as i know my name was not changed in any way upon my family's arrival in the United States during the late 1800's. I've been told on this forum that there is a chance that my name originated near the Gdansk area and that might have some Germanic origin. I've also been told that my name may have originated some greater Poland locality near Poznan. I myself have recently turned to social networking. While searching my name on Facebook I found that pretty much all of the Polish users that shared the same last name as me were from towns in Polish Pomerania. Seeing as though owski names are usually toponymic I don't know of a town on the Baltic that would correspond with Hejn part of my name but I was just wondering if anyone could give anymore information on the Pomeranian origin theory for my last name.

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

Merged: How do I do a search on my surname?

My family's name is Hejnowski, I can't get any information, in regards to what it means or where it originated from, from the internet and was wondering if anyone could give me advice on how to gather information without having to spend money on like a genealogy website or something.

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

Merged thread:
can someone tell me the meaning of my last name?

I'm an American... obviously. My family has been in the USA for over 4 generations. My last is Hejnowski and the only thing i can find out about my name is that I have relatives in Warsaw and in and around the Gdansk area but I don't know if we're originally from any of those places. I'd like to know if there is a certain meaning behind my family's name. So far the only thing people who speak Polish could tell me is that there is a good chance that I have German in me because the Hej part of my name comes from German names or something along those lines. Any help would be strongly appreciated, also can someone tell me how to do a search in terms of Polish surnames, I can't get much info off the internet?

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

Thread attached on merging:
anyone know what my name last name means?

I'm a fourth generation Polish American from Chicago Illinois USA. No one in family speaks Polish surprisingly seeing as that we have been in this country since before WWI. My last name is Hejnowski and so far on the web the only thing I can find is that I share the same last name with a few people in Warsaw, Gdansk, and Poznań. I can't figure out what my name means or where it originated. Any help would be strongly appreciated.

John