AnielaMaria
29 May 2023
Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [367]
My God Father (Uncle)'s name was Walerian but as a little kid coming to Canada and wanting to use an English variant of his name like his older sister (my mom Zuzana) did he felt that Valerian in English sounded girly, so he went with Walter. I couldn't find much on this, but my mom also had issues as her first name (Janina) she mistranslated and went by the wrong name for years on her driver's license, health card, etc until just a few years ago in her 60s applying for a new Passport they had an issue. Which is odd because they never had an issue with her translation of her name before. So now legally she has one name on her Passport yet a different name on her other documents. She thought Janina translated to Jeannette because another Polish lady with the same Polish name went by that translation. According to the Passport people though it was wrong, and they would not accept it even though she went by that for over 60 years.
My God Father (Uncle)'s name was Walerian but as a little kid coming to Canada and wanting to use an English variant of his name like his older sister (my mom Zuzana) did he felt that Valerian in English sounded girly, so he went with Walter. I couldn't find much on this, but my mom also had issues as her first name (Janina) she mistranslated and went by the wrong name for years on her driver's license, health card, etc until just a few years ago in her 60s applying for a new Passport they had an issue. Which is odd because they never had an issue with her translation of her name before. So now legally she has one name on her Passport yet a different name on her other documents. She thought Janina translated to Jeannette because another Polish lady with the same Polish name went by that translation. According to the Passport people though it was wrong, and they would not accept it even though she went by that for over 60 years.