To: Ted Wlazlowski, tedw@digex.net, who wrote:

... Please help! I have been wondering about the origin of my surname Wlazlowski and would appreciate any information at all. 

In Polish Wlazlowski would normally be spelled with a slash through the second L, which I represent on-line as L~. That letter is pronounced like our W, while Polish W is pronounced like our V. So the name sounds like "vloz-WOFF-skee." As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 502 Polish citizens named Wlazl~owski. There was no one area in which the name was concentrated; a family by this name could live almost anywhere in Poland. 

The basic root of this name is probably the noun wlazl~o, which Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut defines as "ubiquitous person, meddler, uninvited guest." So it's possible the surname might mean "kin of the meddler." But most of the time the suffix -owski refers to the name of a place where the family lived at some point centuries ago. In other words, it means "one from Wlazl~owo" or some similar name beginning Wlazl~-. Thus the surname could be interpreted as "one from the place of the meddler."

I can't find any places with names beginning Wlazl~- on modern maps, but that's not unusual. Polish surnames often came from the name of a field or hill or little settlement, names used only by locals, that would be unlikely to appear on any map or in any gazetteer. So the place this name refers to may be quite obscure, or may even have disappeared or renamed or absorbed into another community centuries ago.

============

KOCIENIEWSKI - KOCINIEWSKI - KUBISIAK - KUBISZAK

To: Mike Kocieniewski, MKocieniew@aol.com, who wrote:

Last time we analyzed the surname Kocieniewski you thought it might be from the root Kot or even a reference to kitten. However, you also thought it could have been derived from a place name. Since then I have done my homework and found references to a couple of places that start with Kocie nearby. One is a village to the west called Kocien Wielke and another to the north called Kociewie.

The longer I study Polish names, the clearer it becomes that names ending in -ewski usually -- not always, but usually -- derive from names of places. The name Kocieniewski would therefore mean in most cases "one from X" where X is a name something like Kocien or Kocieniew or Kocieniewo. One source that discusses the name Kocien~ski says Kocin~ski is a spelling variation of that name, so I think you're right -- Kocien- or Kocin- is the same thing, possibly developing because of a spelling error, or even because of a slight difference in the way people pronounced the name. Thus the surname could also refer to places with names beginning Kocin-.

None of my sources discuss this specific name, so I can't pin its derivation down with certainty. But you know the region your ancestors came from, which simplifies things -- we can pay more attention to places somewhere near there, as odds are the family name refers to a place fairly nearby. Kocien Wielki seems to me a very good candidate. As a rule we'd expect that name to yield the surnames Kocienski or Kocinski, but it wouldn't be unusual for Kocieniewski to come from it as well. Literally, Kocieniewski would translate more or less as "of, from the _ of the Kociens." That fits pretty well with Kocien Wielki. But I suggest you keep looking: often if there's a place named X, one finds other places nearby with names in the form X-ewo or X-y, and then surnames such as X-ewski can easily develop from those names. So Kocien might be the right place, or it might point to a smaller place nearby with a name like Kocienie or Kocieniewo.

I wish I could tell you what those place names mean, but I have no information on that. The Polish Language Institute is publishing a series that gives lots of info on the meanings and origins of place names, but so far they've only got as far as the letter I. So it may be another year or two before they get to the K's and I can see what their research indicates about the basic meaning of place names beginning Kocien- or Kocin-.

In addition I read an article in the PGSA Journal that referenced a group of people from centuries ago known as the Kociewacs or something on that order. I can't find anything on the internet about them however. I think you may have even been involved with that article. It even included a map with that name located just to the northwest of my ancestral towns. I have not been able to find that article again. It was from a couple of years ago. 

That's not likely to be relevant. The root of the name would be either Kocien- or Kocin-, and that -n- is an integral part of the name. The other name (I think it was Kociewacy) would have nothing to do with it, except in that it may have come ultimately from the same linguistic root.

I know your book includes Kociniewski but not Kocieniewski. My spelling, Kocieniewski is the older of the two names from my research. I can trace it back to the early to mid 1700's. It seemed like the Kociniewski spelling developed around the early 1800's in an adjacent town. My guess is that it was an error that just stuck, so as to differentiate two distinct branches of the family. I tend to think the two names are related and may try and prove it some day through my research.

As I said, I think you're right. We often see such spelling variants, forms with -in- and -ien-. That's very common, and can have a lot to do with the way people pronounced the names.

Let me know if you have any new opinions on my surname. Also how can I check if there is a coat of arms for my family? As you can see I enjoy doing the research so just point me in the right direction when you get a chance. I am not in any hurry. Just looking for some ideas and hoping to borrow some of your expertise. Thank You.

I can't tell you a thing about coats of arms. But you might be able to learn more if you post a question to the mailing list Herbarz-L. It is frequented by gentlemen with access to various armorials and libraries, and very often they are able to provide some information on specific noble families and their coats of arms.

To subscribe (which costs nothing), send an E-mail message with just the word SUBSCRIBE to this address:

HERBARZ-L-request@rootsweb.com

No one reads this note -- a computer will process it automatically, add you to the mailing list, and send you a brief note explaining procedures. Then you can post a note to the list itself, where it will be read by the members, at this address:

HERBARZ-L@rootsweb.com

I also have another family name not covered in your book, Kubiszak. This was my great grandmother's maiden name. 

That is basically the same name as Kubisiak, and is pronounced almost the same, much like "koo-BEE-shock." The "sh" sound of SZ is a little chunkier than the sound of SI, which is lighter, more hissing, with the tongue arched higher in the mouth. The -ak here is almost certainly a suffix meaning "little, son of," and Kubis~ and Kubisz are both nicknames from Jakub. So Kubisiak or Kubiszak would both mean something like "Jake's son, Jake's kin."

As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 4 Polish citizens named Kubiszak, living somewhere in the provinces of Torun. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. But this suggests Kubiszak is just a rare variant, found in the Torun area, of the more common name Kubisiak.

============

GOTFRYD

To: Bill Gotfryd, WTGLAWPROJ@aol.com, who wrote:

... I am interested in more information than it seems is readily available from here. My grandfather, Joseph Gotfryd, came from the area somewhere around Jaslo in the province of Galicia somewhere around the turn of the century. At that time, of course, the area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
     I have been contacted by Gotfryds in Belgium and in New york, each seeking to know if we are related. The Gotfryds in Belgium seem to be ethnic Poles, while the Gotfryds in New York are jewish, having come from Spain during the Inquisition. They changed their names to Gotfryd. Why? What is the derivation of Gotfryd, which seems Scandinavian/Germanic, and then is a given name?
     My parents and I believe that we are ethnically Slavic/Polish and are Roman Catholic.

Gotfryd is a Polish phonetic spelling of a name of Germanic origin, seen in modern German as Gottfried, and in English as Godfrey and Jeffrey. It comes from ancient Germanic roots meaning "god" and "peace," modeled after pagan names that combined two basic words as a kind of prophecy or name of good omen for a child; naming a child Gottfried expressed the parents' hope it would grow up to live in God's peace, or something like that. 

Some of these two-part names, such as Alexander (from Greek, "defender of men") and Polish Stanisl~aw ("may he become famous/glorious) date back to pagan times, and thus have no hint of Christianity about them. I'm not sure if Gottfried is that ancient; if it is, it originally referred to the peace of the gods or peace in the gods. What's certain is that its use in the last thousand years or so would be colored by Christian beliefs, expressing a hope that one would have peace in God. 

However, the basic sentiment expressed is compatible with Jewish beliefs -- Jews have many names that use the Hebrew roots for "God" or "peace," so that Jewish parents might feel this was a suitable vernacular name for their child. I would expect it in most cases to be associated with Christians, but as I say, some Jews might find it appropriate as well -- particularly Jews who did not want to compromise their faith but were willing to use a name that didn't sound so foreign or alien to Christians. Such a name helped them fit in a little better, but was acceptable because the basic idea behind the name's meaning is one Jews would find proper and decent. Many Jews spoke German or Yiddish, which is based on an old dialect of German, so it wasn't unusual for them to use German-sounding names or names similar to those borne by German Christians, so long as the meaning of the name was not offensive to their beliefs.

I cannot tell you why any particular family would change its name to Gotfryd; that requires research into the individual family's background. There could be a thousand reasons for taking this name, and I don't have the time or resources to do the kind of detailed study necessary to shed light on the change.

It's not at all unusual for surnames to come from first names; consider English names like "Edwards" or "Davidson" or "Peters." Usually they started out as a way of saying "kin of so-and-so," and thus Gotfryd might originally have been a way of referring to a family as "Gotfryd's kin." There are a great many names of Polish origin that were formed from first names.

Over the centuries Germans and Poles interacted to a great extent -- millions of Germans settled in Poland to escape war and trouble in Germany, or because they were invited to come settle unused land. So we see German names among Poles and Polish names among Germans; German names are particularly common in western Poland, in the areas seized by Germany during the partitions, and also in southeastern Poland, where many Germans settled over the centuries. Initially German names would feel "foreign" to Poles and we'd see them used only by immigrants from the lands west of Poland; but as time went on many German names were Polonized and came to be used by Poles, such as Henryk (German Heinrich, English Henry). 

As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 583 Polish citizens named Gotfryd. The largest numbers lived in the southeastern provinces of Tarnów, 165, and Krosno, 79 (which is the province Jaslo was in as of 1990); the rest were scattered in much smaller numbers all over Poland. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. 

So the bottom line is, Gotfryd is of Germanic origin, and that particular form is probably most common among descendants of German Christians living among Poles. But it wouldn't be strange to find it among native Poles as well, especially in southeastern Poland, due to the large numbers of Germans who settled there over the centuries. Some German-speaking Jews might also find it an acceptable name because its meaning was compatible with their beliefs and heritage (although many would refuse to use it because it wasn't Jewish enough). It began as a first name, but came to be used as a surname much as many other first names came to be used that way, as a kind of verbal shorthand for "kin of X." There would not be one big Gotfryd family, but rather a number of separate ones that came to use the name independently under different circumstances.

============

ANIOL~OWSKI

To: Diane Aniolowski, daniolow@students.depaul.edu, who wrote:

... Hello! I was looking at your website and didn't see any of the names of my relatives from Poland on there. My grandmother's maiden name was Pawl~owska, and my last name is Aniol~owski. I know Pawl~owski is a fairly common name (at least in the Chicago area), but I have not been able to find many other Aniol~owskis besides the ones I am related to in Chicago. Do you know what areas of Poland these names are common in, and what they could mean? 

Pawl~owski (pronounced roughly "pahv-WOFF-skee") is a very common name. As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 52,744 Polish citizens named Pawl~owski, living in large numbers all over Poland. So I'm afraid we can't point to any one area and say the name is more common there than elsewhere; families by this name could come from anywhere in Poland.

The name refers to the name of a place the family came from at some point centuries ago, places with names like Pawl~ów and Pawl~owo, which just mean "Paul's place" and were usually named after someone who owned or founded them. The problem is there are a great many places in Poland with names that fit, so the surname doesn't provide any useful clue whatsoever as to where a particular Pawl~owski family came from. Only genealogical research might allow one to determine which particular Pawl~ów or Pawl~owo or Pawl~owice (etc.) a given family took its name from.

Aniol~owski ("on-yo-WOFF-skee") is a little different. As you say, it's much less common. As of 1990 there were 257 Polish citizens named Aniol~owski. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 35, Elblag 37, Gdansk 23, Suwalki 49, and Torun 73. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. This data tells us the name is found mainly in the northcentral and northeastern quarter of Poland. 

This, too, would come from the name of a place, but there are fewer candidates than with Pawl~owski. I can find only three places in modern Poland that make sense as possible sources of this name. One is called Aniol~ów and was in Lodz province (according to the provincial arrangement in force 1975-1998). Another Aniol~ów is just north of the city of Czestochowa and is apparently part of that city now. There is also a Aniol~owo that was in Elblag province. Both these names mean "[place] of the angels" or perhaps "of Angel" if that was used as a first name for one who owned or founded the settlements. 

I should add these aren't necessarily the only candidates. Polish surnames developed centuries ago, and often the places they referred to have since disappeared, changed names, become too small to show up on most maps, etc. So in a given case the surname might refer to some other "Angel's place" besides the two I've mentioned. But the geographic distribution suggests chances are very good many, if not most Aniol~owskis derive their name from one of these places.

If you'd like to see a map of where Aniol~owo is located, go to this Website:

http://www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker/loctown.htm 

Enter "Aniol" as the place you're looking for, select "Poland" as the country to be searched, and select "All towns starting with this precise spelling." Click on "Start the search," and after a moment you'll see a list showing one place in Poland with a name starting Aniol-, ANIOLOWO, 5408 1936, 142.3 miles NNW of Warsaw. Click on the blue numbers (latitude and longitude) and you'll get a map showing that location. You can print the map, save it, zoom in and out, etc.

I don't know why that site doesn't show either Aniolow. The one in Lodz province is 5 km. west of Zgierz, and you can see a map of that area by using the same procedure described above to find Zgierz. It will work for Czestochowa, too, although as I say, apparently they don't show the places with names beginning Aniol- on those maps. (You might also use this site to check out how many places there are with names beginning Pawlow-, and you'll understand why Pawl~owski is a much more difficult name to deal with!).

============

BUCZKO - WIELOCH - WIERZCHOWSKI

To: DWierzchow@aol.com, who wrote:

... Can you translate the following names? I found some similarities in your site, but don't know if the translations are the same: Wierzchowski, Buczko, Wielock.

As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 4,263 Polish citizens named Wierzchowski. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 314, Biala Podlaska 401, Ciechanow 222, Lublin 404, Siedlce 240, Torun 394. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. This data tells us the name is found all over Poland, especially in the east and southeast, but not to the point one can be sure a given family with this name must have come from there -- it could come from anywhere in Poland.

Names in the form X-owski almost always come from the names of places where the family lived centuries ago. We'd expect Wierzchowski (pronounced roughly "v'yezh-HOFF-skee") to come from places names beginning Wierzch-, from the noun wierzch, "top, summit, peak." The surname could refer to places named Wierzchy or Wierzchów or Wierzchowo, all meaning more or less "place of the peak, place of the summit." There are quite a few places in Poland with these names, so there's no way to tell just from the surname which place it refers to in a given family's case. Only detailed genealogical research might narrow the focus down to a specific area, at which point one might be able to point to a specific settlement near one's ancestors' home and say "This is probably the place they were named after."

As of 1990 there were 1,076 Polish citizens named Buczko ("BOOCH-ko"), with the largest numbers living in the following provinces: Przemysl 108, Suwalki 72, Zamosc 233. So while the name is found all over Poland, it is particularly common in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the country. Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles], saying it appears in records as far back as 1349 and can derive from the noun buk, "beech tree" -- so that it could mean something like "little beech," perhaps referring to one who worked with beech wood or lived near an impressive stand of beech trees. But it can also come from the verb buczec~, "to hum, drone, buzz," and especially from the dialect noun buczek, "crybaby, one always crying about something." Either basic root could apply, and only the most detailed research might determine exactly which one is relevant in a given family's case.

Wielock is not a name found in Poland today, and is probably a misspelling or variation of Wieloch ("V'YELL-okh," with the final sound a guttural as in German "Bach"). As of 1990 there were 1,387 Polish citizens named Wieloch, living all over the country, with no concentration in any one area. 

This name can come from the root wiel- meaning "much, many," but exactly how it derives from it is not so easy to say. It might also have begun as a kind of nickname for various ancient Polish pagan names beginning with the archaic root wiel- meaning "to order," such as Wielimir or Wielisl~aw; if so, it's just a nickname and doesn't mean much more than "kin of Wielimir or Wielisl~aw." If it comes from the root meaning "much," it might mean something like "one who has a lot." There is a noun wieloch that means "very high, very great person," and it's possible the name started out with that meaning, either used directly or ironically ("Oh, here comes the big shot!"). Again, hard to say without extensive research into a family's history. Rymut says this name appears in records as far back as 1497, so it's been around a long time.

============

KUSZEWSKI

To: spiritchristmas@sprint.ca, who wrote: 

I have checked the Polishroots surname web site and I can't find any information about the name Kuszewska, if you can get any information about my family name I would be very grateful. 

The -ska in this case is a feminine ending, so the standard form of the name would be Kuszewski. A male would be called Kuszewski, a female Kuszewska. So Kuszewski is the form we need to look at.

As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 985 Polish citizens named Kuszewski. The largest numbers lived in the provinces of Warsaw, 115, and Kielce, 253; the rest were scattered in smaller numbers all over the country. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info.

Names in the form X-ewski almost always come from the names of places where the family lived centuries ago. We'd expect Kuszewski (pronounced roughly "koo-SHEFF-skee") to come from places names beginning Kusz-, which can come from the noun kusza, "crossbow," or from a short form of the first name Jakusz, which is in turn a nickname for Jakub (Jacob). The surname could refer to places named Kuszy or Kuszew or Kuszewo, all meaning more or less "place of the crossbow" or "place of Jakusz." There are several places in Poland with these names, so there's no way to tell just from the surname which place it refers to in a given family's case. Only detailed genealogical research might narrow the focus down to a specific area, at which point one might be able to point to a specific settlement near one's ancestors' home and say "This is probably the place they were named after."

============

KACZANEK - KACZENIAK - KATZANEK

To: Katy Cassen Sexton <RSexton3@aol.com> who wrote:

Hello! I just completed a family tree project of both my husband's side of the family and mine. His can be traced back about 500 years to England, Ireland and Scotland ... and mine fizzles out after about 100 years. I know that my grandfather came from Poland, the town of Brest-Litovsk, and emigrated to the US around the turn of the century. His name was changed at Ellis Island.
But here is my question to you: In the few documents I have that have his name on them, his surname is spelled differently each time. If I were to give you the spellings I have, are you able to just look at them and tell me which is a correct Polish spelling? Then at least I can have a definite surname to work with!
Here are the choices:
Katzenek
Katzanik
Katzonik
Katzenak
........and other combinations!
Which do you think is a Polish spelling? Thanks for your time!

I'd like to help you, but none of these is a correct Polish spelling. Poles don't use the letter combination TZ; they write that sound with the letter C. Usually names with TZ are German or English modifications of the original Polish name. My experience with such changes suggests the original name might have been Kacanek, Kacanik, Kacenik, Kaconik, or something similar. Also very possible are Kaczanek, Kaczanik, Kaczenik, Kaczonik; Germans in particular were prone to turn Polish C and CZ into TZ. Since most Poles emigrated by way of German ports, usually Bremen or Hamburg, it was not unusual for this contact with German officials to be reflected in the way the surname was spelled.

The problem is, none of those names is very common. I looked in the 10-volume Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland" -- which uses data from a 1990 government database on 94% of the population of Poland to list surnames, tell how many people bore those names, and how many lived in each province -- and the only one I found was Kaczanek. As of 1990 there were 18 Poles named Kaczanek, living in the following provinces: Czestochowa 1, Katowice 4, and Opole 13. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info.

There were 30 Poles named Kaczeniak, so that's a possibility too. They lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 4, Koszalin 3, Legnica 7, Slupsk 2, Tarnobrzeg 14.

Historically, similar names such as Kacanik and Kocanek and Koczonek appear in the records, but they seem to have died out in modern Poland. At least Kaczanek and Kaczeniak still exist, albeit in small numbers.

As I say, these names are pretty rare, so I have to wonder if the original name was something else that I haven't been able to reconstruct. That is a very real possibility. But numbers don't necessarily mean much, and Kaczanek and Kaczeniak do, at least, make sense in terms of phonetics and spelling; so you might try looking for those forms. According to Polish name experts, both would derive from the term kaczan, "cabbage stump, cob," presumably used at first as a nickname.

============

CEMPA - CE~PA - CIEMPA - CIE~PA - CZEMPA - CZE~PA

To: Kathy (Ciempa) DePaepe, chuckdepaepe@freedomelectricinc.com, who wrote:

... I am attempting to locate any information while tracing my family history. My rather recently passed away, as has my grandfather, and I have no one left to provide me with any useful information on the surname "Ciempa". If there is any information you can provide that would assist me in my search, I would be most grateful. 

With this name it's important to realize there are several sounds in it that can be spelled two ways, so the name might be spelled different ways. The sound combination "emp" in Polish may be spelled that way, but the "em" can also be spelled with the nasal vowel written as an E with a tail under it, which I represent on-line as E~. So Ciempa and Cie~pa are both possible spellings. Also, the CI in Polish is a soft "ch" sound, whereas CZ is how they spell a harder, chunkier "ch." Ideally the two sounds should never be confused -- Poles distinguish them easily -- but in fact they sometimes are, because they sound similar. Thus with dialect influence, or simply misspelling or mishearing a name, Cz- instead of Ci- is also possible. So Cze~pa and Czempa could come into play as well. All these names would be pronounced roughly "CHEM-pah."

Also, in some dialects of Polish we sometimes see the "ch" sound of CZ alternate with the "ts" sound spelled C. So we can't rule out Cempa and Ce~pa (pronounced "TSEM-pah").

As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 74 Polish citizens named Ciempa. They lived in the following provinces: Gdansk 2, Katowice 7, Krakow 9, Krosno 18, Rzeszow 5, Tarnów 9, Walbrzych 15, Wroclaw 9. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. This data shows that the name was most common in southern Poland. It may be before World War II it was found primarily in southeastern Poland, but after that war millions were forced to relocate from eastern Poland to the western part of the country. So it may be the name was originally found mostly in the southeast; but we don't have data to let us say that for sure.

There were 14 Poles named Cie~pa, living in the following provinces: Kielce 6, Legnica 2, Rzeszow 4, Walbrzych 2. 

There were no Poles named Cze~pa, and 73 named Czempa, living in the following provinces: Gdansk 3, Katowice 63, Opole 7.

As of 1990 there were 561 Poles named Cempa, with the largest number, 303, living in Nowy Sacz province, in southcentral Poland; the rest were scattered all over in much smaller numbers. There were 25 named Ce~pa, in the provinces of Krakow (3), Rzeszow (7), Tarnow (15).

The common thread here is that all these names are most common in southcentral and southeastern Poland. This region was ruled by Austria from roughly 1795-1918, along with the western half of Ukraine, and was called Galicia. It seems to me pretty likely this name is associated mainly with the territory of former Galicia. I would make note of all these spellings, because it is entirely possible you might see any of them during the course of your research.

I have only one source that mentions any of these forms. It's a book specializing in names of southcentral Poland, and it suggests Cze~pa and Ce~pa both come from a verb ce~piec~ or cze~piec~, which means "to squat, to labor over something, to doze off while sitting down." I can't find anything on cie~p- or ciemp-, except one source that mentions another name beginning Cie~p- that is a variation of a name beginning Cze~p-. 

With all this, I think it's at least plausible to say these are all variations of the same basic name, and probably began as a nickname for one who often squatted, or dozed while sitting. This is by no means certain, but it hangs together, and is consistent with the information I was able to find. 

============

BIEGON~ - BIEGUN

To: Constance Watson (Biegun), cwatson@post.com, who wrote:

... I was wondering if you could shed some light my last name and its possible variations: Biegun or Biegon. The name on the Wall of Honor at Ellis Island is Biegun but I've seen the name spelled Biegon on my grandparents' steamer trunk and also my father's birth certificate and marriage certificate. I ran into a Society for Bieguns, et al for Canada that had these and other variations. I don't speak or read French or Polish, so I couldn't read the history behind all the names or the function of the society. 
The Wall of Honor says my grandfather was from Warsaw, but I realize that might have been were he left from to come to the States. My father said his father was Austrian but my grandparents spoke Polish. They're buried in a
Polish cemetery in outlying Niles, Illinois. 
Another interesting fact is that my grandparents are the only two Bieguns on the Ellis Island listing, but there's gobs of Bieguns in the U.S. and I also discovered, Canada. 

As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 1,874 Polish citizens named Biegun. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Bielsko-Biala 1,155; Katowice 162; Krakow 129. The rest lived in much smaller numbers scattered all over the country. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. 

What this data tells us is that this name is highly concentrated in southcentral Poland, which was on the western edge of the territory seized by Austria during the partitions. It comprised part of the Austrian province of Galicia, which ran from a little west of Krakow east to cover much of Ukraine. Most persons who came from this area were ethnic Poles or Ukrainians, but for official purposes they were classified as citizens of Austria or Austria-Hungary.

The name is pronounced something like "B'YEGG-oon." There is also a name Biegon~ with an accent over the N, pronounced roughly "B'YEGG-oin." It was found mainly in the same areas as Biegun, and can be regarded as meaning virtually the same thing. These names sound similar enough that they could easily be confused, so that the same family might easily show up in records as Biegun one time and Biegon another. Technically they can be distinct names, but they mean the same basic thing and, as I said, could well be variations of the same name.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions Biegun in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. It comes from a verb meaning "to run," and biegun means more or less "the runner." In modern Polish it is also used in the meanings of "(North or South) Pole," also "rocker"; but in names, which developed centuries ago, "runner" is probably the relevant definition. We'd expect the name started as a kind of nickname for one who was noted for his ability to run, or perhaps one who ran away at some crucial moment. More than that we can't say.

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STRAZ*

To: Scott Straz, sstraz@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu, who wrote:

My name is Scott Straz and I saw your site on the internet. I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the Polish name Straz. 

In Polish this name is generally spelled with a dot over the Z, which I represent on-line as Z* (because browsers won't show the real letter unless configured for use with eastern European languages). As of 1990, according to the best data available (the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," which covers about 94% of the population of Poland), there were 132 Polish citizens named Straz*. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Katowice 38, Krakow 23, Rzeszow 13. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to find that info. This data tells us the name is not very common, and is found all over Poland, mainly in the south.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it comes from the noun straz*, "guard, sentry," related to the archaic noun straz*a, "vigil, alert." So the name probably began as a way of referring to one who stood guard in case of enemy attack, fire, and other dangers. In modern Polish the word straz* is still used to mean "guard," and the fire department is called the straz* poz*arna, the municipal police are the straz* miejska, and so forth. So the meaning hasn't changed a great deal, except that the noun these days is used as a collective term for the members of a group who guard against fires, crime, etc., whereas when used as a name it would refer to an individual who performed such duties.