To: PARIS BASE@aol.com, who wrote: 

... I have been looking for information about the last name of my late grandfather who came to the United States from Poland when he was just thirteen. I am writing to see if you might be able to answer one simple question before I pursue a detailed inquiry. Is the last name "Otocki" 100% Polish? I cannot seem to find it anywhere and I am wondering if perhaps the name may have another orgin. A "yes or no" answer or appropriate re-direction in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Otocki is definitely a Polish 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 744 Polish citizens named Otocki. The largest number, 188, lived in the province of Lodz in central Poland; the rest were scattered in much 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.

In Polish Otocki would be pronounced roughly "ah-TOT-skee." One of my books mentions this name as deriving from a place name, Otok, in the district of Sieradz, and says it appears in records from the 1st half of the 14th century. In other words, it originally meant "lord of Otok," since Polish nobles often took their surnames from the name of their estate. Later on, as surnames spread throughout Polish society, peasants took them too, and a name like Otocki came to mean nothing more than "one from Otok." 

I should add, however, that that one Otok in Sieradz district is not the only place in Poland with this name, and the surname could refer to it or the others. The only way to tell which place the name refers to in a given family's case is by way of genealogical research.

If you'd like to see maps showing at least some of these places, go to this Website:

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

Enter "Otok" 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 of various places in Poland with names starting Otok-. For each one, 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.

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

MAJUSIAK

To: Kenneth J. Majusiak Jr., Kenneth.J.Majusiak@nap02.usace.army.mil, who wrote:

... Hi I was wondering if you had any info. on my surname, Majusiak, I would like to find out some general info, and what my family crest or coat of arms is. Thank you and I appreciate your time.

In Polish the name is pronounced roughly "mah-YOOSH-yock." 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 89 Polish citizens named Majusiak. They lived in the following provinces: Gdansk 12, Gorzow 4, Jelena Gora 3, Kalisz 69, Leszno 1. 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. From this data we can see that the name is most common in an area just a little southwest of the center of Poland.

As for the origin of the name, one of my sources mentions it, saying that it could have two derivations. It could come from Latin maius, "May," and in fact there are a lot of fairly common Polish surnames from the Polish word meaning the same thing, maj (e. g., Majewski, Majkowski). So such a derivation is plausible; in that case the name would mean something like "kin of the May guy," referring to someone called Majus because there he was perceived as having some connection with May -- perhaps he was born in May, or converted to Catholicism in that month, or had some special duty or obligation to perform in May.

The other possibility is a connection with the Latin term magus, "Persian priest, wise man, sorcerer." In Polish the Latin G was often modified to J (pronounced like our Y), so this, too, is plausible. The exact nature of the connection with one of the Magi is hard to say. One possibility is that an ancestor played one of the Magi in a Christmas play. Often that's how improbable names connected with Biblical characters got started; a person might be called by that name because he'd played that role in one of the morality plays staged on special feasts. So one of your ancestors may have played one of the Three Wise Men in such a play. But of course, it's also possible you had an ancestor who came to Poland from the Middle East and was regarded as an exotic fellow, perhaps even a Magus.

Surnames generally developed centuries ago, and in most cases there's nothing written that's survived to tell us exactly how they originated. About all we can do is note the basic meaning and then make plausible suggestions. So your name probably means either "kin of the May guy" or "kin of the one who reminded people of one of the Magi, or played that role in a Nativity play."

As for family coats of arms, you must understand they were restricted to the nobility -- these companies that send out mailings saying "Here's your coat of arms" are con men. Only detailed genealogical research can establish whether or not a particular family was, in fact, entitled to bear a coat of arms. Having the same surname as a noble family doesn't even prove it, because as surnames spread through Polish society, many that were once used exclusively by nobles came to be used by peasants as well. The only way, I'm afraid, is to trace your family to a specific place and time, then see if they show up in registers of nobles. If they do, it's great news, as records on noble families usually go back centuries further than those on peasants. But of course, the peasants were the majority. -- though if you trace your roots back enough generations, the odds increase you'll find intermarriage with nobles somewhere along the line.

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

DEPTUL~A

To: Joseph Deptula, jdep48@earthlink.net, who wrote:

... I'm trying to find the origin of the surname Deptula. I can not find any reference to it anywhere. Could you please help, with some information? 

In Polish this name is spelled with a slash through the L, which I represent on-line as L~ (I use the tilde to represent diacritical marks because the Polish characters don't show up on browsers unless you configure them for eastern European languages, which is more trouble than most folks want to take). Thus the name is Deptul~a and is pronounced roughly "depp-TOO-wah." 

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 3,783 Polish citizens by this name. They lived all over Poland, but the largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Olsztyn 777, Ostroleka 1,397, Warsaw 257. 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 indicates the name is most common in northeastern Poland.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says names beginning Dept- come from the verb deptac~ (accent over the C), which means "to tread on," or the dialect noun depta, "dawdler." As a rule names in the form X-ul~a mean "one always doing X, one always demonstrating the trait X." So Deptul~a probably began as a kind of nickname for one always treading on something, or one always dawdling around. I would think the second interpretation is more likely to be applicable to a surname. So I think most likely this name means you had an ancestor who was perceived by others as a dawdler -- or else the name was meant ironically, the way guys named "Tiny" are usually huge, so a might also have been one who never dawdled. These names developed centuries ago, and all this time later all we can do is give the basic meaning, then make reasonable suggestions on what the name might have meant originally in a given context.

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

GNIECH

To: PRUSSI1@aol.com

... Have you run across the name GNIECH? The most I know is it came out of Prussia

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 72 Polish citizens named Gniech. They lived in the following provinces: Gdansk 70, Konin 1, Suwalki 1. So the name is definitely concentrated in the area of Gdansk, which was formerly ruled by Prussia. 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.

As for the name's origin, Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions Gniech in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it began as a kind of nickname or affectionate short form for ancient Polish first names such as Gniewomir, literally "wrath-peace," or possibly others beginning with Gnie-. In other words, these names existed long, long ago, before the Poles converted to Christianity, made up of two roots that produced a name of favorable omen for the child so named. There were names with the first part gniew from a word meaning "anger, wrath." But just as we produce nicknames like Teddy from Theodore, Poles began creating nicknames like Gniech from those longer names. Eventually the nicknames came to be names in their own right, and then became surnames. So having a surname Gniech suggests nothing more than that somewhere along the line you had an ancestor by that name.

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

TREUTLER

to: hwht@adam.com.au who wrote:

Where can I find out how many Treutler's are still living in Poland.Seen something like this in a forum and the data is from 1990

The source in question is the Slownik nazwisk wspolczesnie w Polsce uzywanych, "Directory of Surnames in Current Use in Poland," ISBN 83-85579-25-7, which was compiled from data covering about 94% of the population of Poland as of 1990. That data was provided by the PESEL Government Information Center, which administers certain social programs and thus deals with virtually all Polish citizens. According to it, as of 1990 there were 14 Polish citizens named Treutler. They lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 2, Bydgoszcz 3, Czestochowa 1, Krakow 6, Opole 2. (Please note that this is based on the setup of provinces in force from 1975 to 1998; they have since been changed.)

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. The PESEL Center does not allow researchers access to its data, in the interests of protecting Polish citizens' privacy. The one source that might help researchers find a specific individual or family was mentioned in the July 2000 issue of the Polish-American Journal. In that issue the PAJ Answerman suggested one can find individuals or families "by contacting the one office in Poland that has on file the addresses of all people currently living in Poland: Centralne Biuro Adresowe, ul. Kazimierzowska 60, 02-543 Warsaw, POLAND." I have no idea whether this works or not, I've never tried it. But I thought it worth passing on, in case it might help you.

That's about all I can tell you. I hope it's some help, and wish you the best of luck with your research.

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

RYDZ

To: Barryrydz@care4free.net (Alpha baldeh), who wrote:

I am researching the background of my grandfather, Simon Lisear Rydz, who was born in Slesen, near Kalish, in 1853 and migrated to England in the 1880's. I have noticed your answer to a previous enquirer under the name Rydzewski. The family is Jewish and I am curious to know if this name is commonly Jewish, especially as the pre-war head of state 
> bore the name Rydz-Smigly and it seems unlikely that a person of Jewish descent would have held that office in those years. I plan to visit Slesen shortly to see what I can discover there.

You're right that it would be unlikely for a person of Jewish descent to hold such an office... There are a lot of surnames that are borne almost exclusively by Jews, and others borne almost exclusively by Christians. Rydz falls into the category of those that could be borne by either. Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles], and says that it comes from the root seen in the noun rydz, an edible species of agaric, Lactarius deliciosus. Another expert says it can come from the adjective rydzy, "reddish-gold color." A Jewish expert, Alexander Beider, mentions the agaric but not the "reddish-gold color" in his book on Jewish surnames from the Kingdom of Poland.

Frankly, I suspect the color might be a factor when the name appears among Jewish families, simply because the adjective might refer to reddish hair, which I understand is found far more among Jews than ethnic Poles. I cannot be sure -- this is simply speculation -- but it would make for a plausible connection. Still, a name like Rydz might just as easily refer to an ancestor's liking that agaric, or cooking often with it, or selling it, or living in an area where it was common. Without detailed research into a family's background, there's no way to be sure which derivation is relevant in their particular case. The most I can say is that this name is borne by Christians and Jews, since there is no factor that would limit it to one or the other. 

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 2,564 Polish citizens named Rydz (pronounced roughly "Rits"). The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 143, Katowice 118, Kielce 203, Krakow 131, Lublin 198, Lodz 198, Radom 124, and Tarnow 108. Only 33 lived in the province of Kalisz. 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 the name is found all over Poland; it is not associated with any one area. 

Have you looked to see if there are other researchers studying this name? You can try the following searchable database:

http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/ 

That's about all I can tell you. I hope it's some help, and wish you the best of luck with your research.

==========

MRZYGL~ÓD

To: Ric Acheson ricacheson@hotmail.com, who wrote:

… After conversation with my friend I have been given another spelling, it is Mrzyglo. Perhaps this will have more luck, if you have the time could you check this name for me. 

This is a step in the right direction. 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), here were the following numbers of Polish citizens with names beginning Mrzyglo-, with a total for all of Poland and a breakdown by province:

     MRZYGLOD: 9, all in Katowice province
     MRZYGLÓD: 1, in Jelenia Gora province
     MRZYGL~OCKI: 189; Warsaw 14, Bydgoszcz 6, Czestochowa 2, Gdansk 26, Gorzow 16, Jelenia Gora 22, Katowice 4, Krakow 4, Opole 34, Slupsk 1, Szczecin 3, Walbrzych 11, Zielona Gora 36
     MRZYGL~OD: 10; Bielsko-Biala 2, Katowice 5, Lodz 1, Torun 1, Walbrzych 1
     MRZYGL~ODZIK: 30, all in Katowice province
     MRZYGL~ODZKI: 19; Jelenia Gora 1, Katowice 1, Krakow 14, Lodz 1, Opole 2
     MRZYGL~OWSKI: 8; Olsztyn 6, Slupsk 2
     MRZYGL~ÓD: 1,989, with the largest numbers in the following provinces: Bielsko-Biala 637, Katowice 228, Krakow 87, Tarnow 265
     MRZYGL~UD: 1, Kielce province
     MRZYGOD: 7, all in Katowice province
     MRZYGÓD: 1, Walbrzych province
     MRZYGUT: 4, all in Katowice province

I'm using the tilde ~ here to stand for Polish letters with accents or other diacritical marks  because the Polish characters don't show up on browsers unless you configure them for eastern European languages, which is more trouble than most folks want to take. Thus L~ stands for the Polish slashed L, pronounced like our W. Ó stands for the accented o, which sounds like "oo" in "book." The RZ combination sounds like "zh" in "Zhivago," or like "s" in "measure." So Mrzygl~ód sounds like "M'ZHIGG-woot," MRZYGL~OCKI sounds like "m'zhigg-WOT-skee," and so on.

All these names except Mrzygl~owski are variant forms of one name, of which the standard spelling is Mrzygl~ód. This comes from a noun mrzygl~ód, which means "starveling, miser." The surname can also refer to places named Mrzygl~ód, of which there are at least two (one in Czestochowa province, the other in Krosno province), or to Mrzygl~ódka in Czestochowa province. You'll note the names above tend to appear all over Poland, but Mrzygl~ód appears mainly in Bielsko-Biala, Katowice, and Tarnow provinces -- in other words, in the area from southcentral to southeastern Poland. People by these names don't have to come from there, but that's where they tend to be most common.

The term mrzygl~ód comes from a combination of the verb mrzec~, "to die," and the noun gl~ód, "hunger," so that it means literally "die-hunger, starve." In fact there is a common expression in Polish, mrzec~ gl~odem, "to die of hunger, starve." Presumably Mrzygl~ód began as a nickname for one who ate very little, was very thin, perhaps because he was very tight with his money.

Now Mrzygl~ód is quite a handful to say if you're not used to speaking Polish, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was simplified a little along the way, if only by dropping the diacritical marks and the final d. So I'm guessing your friend's name is an Americanized form of Mrzygl~ód, meaning an ancestor was a miser or a starveling.

I can't find any other Polish word or root that begins mrzyg-, so I think this is most likely to be right. At least it's the best I can do with the information available to me. I hope it's some help, and wish you the best of luck with your research.

=====

KOTEWA - KOTWA

 To: Diana Borrero-Lowe, dborrerolowe@new.rr.com, who wrote:

 … I was curious about the surname Kotewa which was my ex husband's name. His grandparents were the first immigrants and I was thinking that maybe they shortened it at Ellis Island.

 First I should mention it's a myth that names were often changed at Ellis Island. The officials there simply went by the names on the passenger lists given them by arriving ships' officers. Obviously with human error some inadvertent modification may have happened. The overwhelming majority of name changes, however, occurred before and especially after arrival in America. It usually turns out the name was changed when the new immigrants realized their names sounded too foreign and were making it hard for them to fit in. Also, census officials and other officials tended to massacre Polish names, and sometimes the mangled forms stuck because they were written down on paper. In any case, when a name was changed -- and many, many were, often past all recognition -- it usually happened after Ellis Island. 

It's hard to say whether Kotewa was changed or not. That name is found in Poland, but it's rather rare. 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 33 Polish citizens named Kotewa. They lived in the following provinces: Czestochowa 6, Pila 27. 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 name probably derives from the noun kotwa, "anchor," which also appears in some areas in the form kotew. So Kotewa is almost certainly a variant of that noun, and originally was a nickname for one associated somehow with anchors -- perhaps an ancestor made or sold them, or was a seaman. It's tough to say exactly what the nature of the association was, but it's pretty likely the name started out meaning "anchor guy." 

Incidentally, Kotwa is a more common name, borne by some 463 Poles as of 1990. Kotwica, from the same root, is even more common, borne by 2,824 Poles, but that's not a factor here. Kotwa could have been the original form of the name, with Kotewa a modification made after the family arrived in the U. S. Or Kotewa could be a form that originated in Poland, as a variant between Kotwa and Kotew. Tough to say without detailed research into the family's history.

=====

MAS~LANKA - MAS~LONKA

To: Chandie2@aol.com, who wrote:

… I just found your web site and saw that you are able to do surname research. Is it possible that you research two names? My mother's maiden name and my father's name? The two names are Kasprzak and the other is Maslonka. 

In Polish Maslonka is usually written with an accent over the S, which I indicate online as S~; it is pronounced roughly "mosh-LONE-kah." 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 123 Polish citizens named Mas~lonka. They lived in the following provinces: Bielsko-Biala 33, Bydgoszcz 23, Czestochowa 1, Gdansk 3, Kalisz 3, Katowice 15, Krakow 1, Legnica 6, Leszno 17, Opole 3, Pila 15, Poznan 1, Wroclaw 1, Zielona Gora 1. 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. 

None of my sources mention this particular name, but I think we can safely regard it as a variant of Mas~lanka, a name borne by 6,371 Poles as of 1990 and coming from the noun mas~lanka, "buttermilk," or the adjective mas~lany, "buttered," or the noun masl~o (L~ = the Polish slashed L, pronounced like our W), "butter." So it seems likely Mas~lanka, and its variant Mas~lonka, originally were applied as nicknames to people associated with something buttery. Perhaps they made butter, or sold it, or their complexion or color was butter-like; with nicknames it can be very hard to figure out, if you weren't there, exactly what the association was that originally caused people to associate a particular person or family with a particular nickname. 

As for Kasprzak, it is pronounced roughly "KOSP-zhock." It means literally "little Casper, son of Casper," and there were 16,744 Poles by that name in 1990. As with most surnames from popular first names, this one is common all over the country. There isn't one big Kasprzak family, but dozens or hundreds of individual ones that all came by the name independently, because around the time surnames were being established, a Kasper or Kacper was prominent enough that his kin were referred to by his name. 

=====

PLEBAN

To: D-n-D, drx001@core.com, who wrote:

… I’d like to know the meaning of Pleban. Is it Polish, I’m not sure? 

I can't say it is exclusively Polish -- it is possible this name could develop independently in another language. But Pleban is definitely a name used by Poles. 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 713 Polish citizens named Pleban. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 130, Katowice 62, Rzeszow 55, Tarnow 44, Skierniewice 176. 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. 

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 pleban, "parish priest, village priest, curate." Presumably it was originally applied to the kin of a local priest or someone closely connected with him. It is pronounced roughly "PLEH-bonn."

=====

GDOWSKI

To: Katharine Gdowski, -kat-@home.com, who wrote:

… Would you be able to give me information on the Polish surname Gdowski, I am trying to research about my family and also the family crest. 

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it appears in records as early as 1614, and in some instances might derive from gdowa, a dialect term for "widow." So in some instances it might mean "kin of the widow, one from the place of the widow." 

But as a rule names ending -owski come from the name of a place where the family lived at some point centuries ago. We would expect Gdowski to mean "one from Gdy or Gdów or Gdowo" or something similar. Rymut mentions that this surname is particularly likely to derive from the name of the town Gdów, southeast of Krakow. So while the derivations mentioned earlier might prove relevant in some cases, for most folks named Gdowski the name would just mean "one from Gdów." 

If you'd like to see a map showing where Gdów is, go to this Website: 

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

Enter "Gdow" 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 of places in Poland with names starting Gdow-. It's a short list, and the second one is the one most likely to be relevant. 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. 

As for family coats of arms, you must understand they were restricted to the nobility -- these companies that send out mailings saying "Here's your coat of arms" are con men. Only detailed genealogical research can establish whether or not a particular family was, in fact, entitled to bear a coat of arms. Having the same surname as a noble family doesn't even prove it, because as surnames spread through Polish society, many that were once used exclusively by nobles came to be used by peasants as well. The only way, I'm afraid, is to trace your family to a specific place and time, then see if they show up in registers of nobles. If they do, it's great news, as records on noble families usually go back centuries further than those on peasants. But of course, the peasants were the majority. 

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

If there was a noble family named Gdowski, chances are good someone on the list can offer a little more info. 

=====

OSAL~KOWSKI - PAWL~OWSKI - PRUSS

To: Christine Myers, swampkitty52@juno.com, who wrote:

… My grandmother had said "On her side one of the ancestors was the right-hand man to the king" and that we are Pruss. It was her parents that migrated here. She was born in 1913, surname Osalkowski. My grandfather on the other hand came here as a 6-month-old infant with his parents, that would have been approx. July 1902, surname Pawlowski.

Using L~ to stand for the Polish L with a slash through it, 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. 

It's also not out of the question that Pawl~owski could just mean "kin of Pawel~." The form Pawl~owski is adjectival and just means "of the _ of Pawel~," where that blank is filled in with something so obvious it didn't have to be spelled out. Usually it's "place," but in some instances it can be "kin." So we'd expect the name usually to mean "one from the place of Pawel~" and thus refer to places named Pawl~ow-. But "one of the kin of Pawel~" is also possible. 

As for Pruss, it just means "Prussian," and it's a common name, since East and West Prussia were located in territory now part of Poland. As of 1990 there were 6,505 Poles named Prus, another 1,176 with the same name but spelled Prus~, with an accent over the S (so that it sounds a bit more like "proosh"), plus 442 who spelled it Pruss. There are numerous other forms of this same basic name, including Preuss and Prajs. People by these names lived all over Poland, although of course they were particularly numerous in areas ruled or colonized by Germans. So the name itself doesn't offer any useful leads; it just means you had an ancestor who was Prussian. 

In Polish Osalkowski is usually spelled with a slash through the L, so the name sounds like "oh-sowk-OFF-skee." As of 1990 there were 18 Polish citizens named Osal~kowski, living in the provinces of Bydgoszcz (13) and Pila (5). 

None of my sources mention this name, but surnames in the form X-owski usually refer to the name of a place where the family came from centuries ago. Thus we'd expect this surname to mean "one from Osal~ki or Osal~kowo" or some similar place name beginning Osal~k-. I can't find any places by those names on modern maps, but that's not unusual. The thing is, Polish surnames developed centuries ago, and 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 now be quite obscure, or may even have disappeared or renamed or absorbed into another community centuries ago. It's also quite possible the place name or surname, or both, have changed somewhat over the centuries. I'm afraid only genealogical research might uncover facts that would clear up exactly what place the surname originally referred to. 

=====

WRE~BIAK

To: Christine Dowd, dowd@mac.com, who wrote:

… Just checked your book for a newfound ancestral surname but could find nothing. My gggg grandmother was Anastazya Wre~biak. The family was from Tereszpol, of woj. Zamosc. Any information on this surname would, as always, be appreciated and revered... 

In Polish this name is spelled with the nasal E written as an E with a tail under it; online we use E~ to stand for this letter. Normally pronounced much like “en,” before a b or p it is pronounced more like “em,” so that Wre~biak sounds like “V’REMB-yock.” 

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 324 Polish citizens named Wre~biak. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Gorzow 26, Legnica 35, Zamosc 118. 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 the area your ancestors came from is the main place where you find folks by this name. 

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it comes from the root seen in the verb wra~bac~, "to guzzle, wolf down," and the noun wra~b, "incision, notch." The -[i]ak suffix is diminutive, often meaning "son of" or "one always doing X," so Wre~biak could mean "son of the guy who wolfs his food down" or "little notch" or something equally inscrutable. It may be one of those instances where the name's relevance was perfectly obvious to anyone who knew the person, but you had to be there. 

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CZECH

To: Todd Check, checkers@voyager.net, who wrote:

… I was wondering if you could tell me the origin of the surname Czech. I know that my grandparents came to America from Poland, but I'm curious if I'm part Czechoslovakian? I have found this surname on some websites as Polish, therefore I truly hope you can answer my question!  

I'm afraid it's not that simple. Some Polish names come from one and only derivation: Kowalski comes from kowal, "smith," and that's about all there is to it. Other names could develop independently in more than one way, and the only means by which one can determine which derivation is relevant in his particular ancestors' case is genealogical research, which might uncover some old document that mentions something enlightening. 

In Polish Czech is the word meaning "person from Bohemia," and it is entirely possible the name indicates you had an ancestor who was called this because he was a Czech. In fact, that Cz- spelling is Polish; Czechs or Bohemians use a C with a little v over it to indicate the "ch" sound that Poles spell as "cz," so that the Czech word for "Czech" is actually C^ech (using C^ to stand for that letter). 

But among Poles this surname can also come from a kind of nickname or affectionate short form for a number of ancient Polish first names beginning with Cze-, such as Czesl~aw. Poles often formed nicknames from popular first names by taking the first few sounds of the name, dropping the rest, and adding suffixes. So they would take Cze- from Czesl~aw, drop the rest, and add the guttural -ch. The result, Czech, would sound kind of like our word "check," but the final sound isn't a K, it's a light guttural somewhat like "ch" in German "Bach" or Scottish "loch." 

So the name can have more than one meaning, and it's very hard to say which one applies in your ancestors' case. I'd think odds are good the name refers to an ancestor who came from the area now covered by the Czech Republic. But there's no denying the name can also come from that nickname for Czesl~aw or other old names beginning Cze-. 

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 15,305 Polish citizens named Czech. They lived all over Poland, with no significant concentration in any one part of the country. So a family named Czech could come from anywhere -- although obviously, if the name does refer to the ethnic group, at some point, centuries ago, an ancestor must have come from the lands south of Poland.