CHARE~Z*A - HAREMZA - HAREMZ*A - HARE~Z*A

To: Connie Williams, Conwill1961@wmconnect.com

> I would like to know if you have heard of or know of the name Haremza. My ancestors are from the Poznan area of what used to be Prussia.

This name is spelled many different ways by Poles, all sounding more or less like "hah-REN-zhah" or "hah-REM-zhah." Most of these spellings use letters we don't use in English which are not easy to reproduce reliably online (unless you've configured your browser to use the Central European Character Set or Unicode, which is more trouble than it's worth). So we use E~ to stand for the Polish E with a tail under it (pronounced like "en" or "em"), and Z* to stand for the Z with a dot over it, pronounced like "zh." The version Haremza, with no special letters, would sound like "hah-REM-zah." Put a dot over the Z and it sounds like "hah-REM-zhah." Change the -em- to the nasal E written with a tail under it, Hare~z*a, and it's "hah-REN-zhah." Since H and CH are pronounced the same in Polish, we often see forms versions beginning CH- instead of H-. And so on; many different spellings, but all variations of the same basic name.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it is of Romanian origin, from the Romanian noun arindza, "stomach." Presumably it began as a nickname for various people of Romanian origin who had a large stomach, or was always eating, or something along those lines. A given ancestor was called this by Romanians, and when he and/or his descendants moved to live among Poles the name stuck. The different spellings in Polish probably resulted from slightly different pronunciations of the word or name as it came to be used by Poles. They weren't familiar with the Romanian word, and as they tried to pronounce it they modified it slightly. Some people spelled and pronounced it one way, others a slightly different way. That's how we end up with all these different spellings.

We often run into names of Poles that turn out to be of some other linguistic origin, including Romanian, Armenian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovak, etc., so this is not surprising. Historically there were significant ties between Poland, so that there was a certain amount of mixing of names; we see distinctively Polish names borne by people in Hungary and Romania, and Hungarian and Romanian names borne by Poles. It's not at all odd, therefore, to find people who consider themselves 100% Polish but bear names that actually originated in some other language.

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  434 Polish citizens named Chare~z*a, 595 named Haremza, 340 named Hare~za, and 556 named Hare~z*a. You need to keep your eyes open for all these spellings, as any of them could conceivably appear in the records.

Of the 595 Polish citizens who spelled it Haremza as of 1990, the largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Leszno 63, Poznan 330, and Wroclaw 47. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, what I've given here is all I have. This data tells us the name is found all over Poland but is concentrated primarily in the western part of the country, which would include the area your ancestors came from.

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FORMAN~SKI

To: Kathy Wilcox, kathymwilcox@msn.com

> My grandfather was born in Biavestake (sp?), Poland. Do you know anything about this surname [Formanski]?

In Polish it is spelled with an accent over the N and pronounced roughly "fore-MINE-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 169 Polish citizens by that name. They were scattered in small numbers all over the country, with no significant concentration in any one area.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it is a variant of Furman~ski, from furman, "coachman." So Forman~ski or Furman~ski would mean "of the coachman," presumably referring to the kin of one who made his living that way.

I can tell you there is no place in Poland named "Biavestake" -- that name has been badly mangled somewhere along the way. I don't know what it would have been originally. It might, possibly, have been Bialystok, written with a slash through the L and pronounced roughly "b'yah-wee-stock." It is a sizable town in the far northeastern corner of Poland. One problem with this theory, however, is that the Surname Directory shows no one named Forman~ski living in the province of Bialystok as of 1990; so if your kin did live in the area once, it appears they no longer do.

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GO~RSKI - GURSKI

To: Michael Gorski, sonofski@webtv.net

> I have been told many things over my life about my heritage, it just  seems that I can't tell what is true. My surname is Gorski, and yes I state it with pride. I am wondering if you can tell me what it means, and  approximately how old it is.

In Polish the name Gorski is spelled with an accent over the O, Go~rski, pronounced roughly "GOOR-skee" -- the accent over the O causes it to be pronounced like Polish U, and that's why you also see it spelled Gurski sometimes, but Go~rski is the standard spelling. As of 1990 there were 41,790 Polish citizens by this name. They lived all over Poland, with no significant concentration in any one area; a Go~rski family could come from practically anywhere.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it appears in records as early as 1386. The root of the name is go~ra, "mountain, hill." So go~rski is just an adjectival form meaning "of, from, pertaining to, connected with the mountain or hill." Sometimes the name just means "hill-guy, the guy who lives on the hill," and sometimes it refers to any of the jillion villages with names formed from that root go~ra, thus "one from Go~ra, Go~ry, Go~rka, Go~rsko, etc." Or in other words, this name developed among Poles much the same way the surname Hill developed among English-speakers.

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GRABOSKI - GRABOWSKI

To: Matthew J. Grabowski, mjg233@psu.edu

> I was wondering if you find me something definitive on the name Grabowski

In Polish this name is generally pronounced "grah-BOFF-skee," or in everyday speech it would often sound like "grah-BOSS-kee" -- which is why one may sometimes see it spelled Graboski. But Grabowski is the standard form (with Grabowska used when referring to females).

It is a very common surname among 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 54,652 Polish citizens named Grabowski. They lived all over the country in large numbers, so it's highly likely there are many separate Grabowski families, not just one big one, and they are found all over Poland.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it appears in records as early as 1387, and generally derives from the name of a place where the family lived or worked at some point centuries ago. It could refer to any of a large number of places with names beginning Grab-, including Grabowo, Grabo~w, Grabowa, Grabowo, Grabowice, Grabo~wka, Graby, etc. In such cases there is no possible way to know which of those places a given Grabowski family was connected with, short of doing genealogical research that traces them back to a specific region.

Those place names, in turn, derive from the root seen in such Polish words as grabie, "rake"; grab, "the hornbeam tree"; and grabic~, "to plunder." Thus a place name like Grabowo would often have started out meaning "place of the hornbeams," and the surname Grabowski would mean "one from the place of the hornbeams." But place names beginning Grab- could also have been named for an owner or founder named Grab, and that name could come from the expression for "plunder" or "rake" or "hornbeam."

So there are no specific answers available through general research; only research into the past of a specific family can uncover facts that will establish the exact origin of this name in that family's case, and perhaps why it seemed appropriate to call them that.

I should add that sometimes surnames in the form X-owski can mean just "kin of X." So Grabowski might, in certain specific cases, mean "kin of Grab," referring to an ancestor by that name. But as a rule these -owski names tend to refer to place names. If you trace your Grabowski family to a specific area in Poland and then find a place nearby with a name beginning Grab-, chances are fair that's the place the name referred to. (Of course, you couldn't be positive unless and until research established it -- there are just too many places in Poland with names that qualify).

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GUCWA

To: Janice McCall, mccallrh@earthlink.net

> I am interested in finding out the meaning of the surname Gucwa.
> If you have any info, I would appreciate it.

Gucwa, pronounced roughly "GOOTS-vah," is a moderately common name by Polish standards. As of 1990 there were 1710 Polish citizens by that name, living all over Poland, with the largest numbers in the southcentral and southeastern part of Poland, in the provinces of Katowice (164), Krakow (163), Nowy Sacz (278), and Tarnow (455).

I have a book by a Polish name expert that focuses on names from that region, and it mentions Gucwa, saying that it may come from a short form of the old Germanic first name Guttwein or Gottwin. This is not as implausible as it might seem; it is credible that Poles might modify that name into Gucwa, and historically large numbers of Germans have lived in those regions. So absent any more definitive source, I'd have to say that's the best explanation I can offer.

The Germanic name was introduced in the area centuries ago with German soldiers, prisoners of war, and colonists who came to settle in southcentral and southeastern Poland, and over time Poles modified that name Guttwein or Gottwin, which sounded very foreign to them, into something a little more consistent with their phonetic preferences. They took Guttwein, dropped the last few sounds, turned the T sound into the "ts" sound spelled as a "c" in Polish, and changed the ending to -wa, a suffix that shows up fairly often in Polish names.

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JANOVSKY - JANOWSKI

To: Brad Janowski, janowski@lisco.com

> Thanks in advance for your efforts.

> Name: Janowski or Janovsky

The correct spelling in Polish is Janowski, pronounced roughly "yah-NOFF-skee." It's a moderately common surname, borne by over 13,000 Polish citizens as of 1990; they lived all over the country, with no concentration in any one area.

The name means literally "of John's _," where you fill in the blank with something so obvious it didn't need to be spelled out -- usually either "kin" or "place." So this name could mean simply "of the kin of John."

But most of the time surnames in the form X-owski refer to a family's connection at some point centuries ago with a place that had a name beginning with the X part. So we would expect this name to mean "one from Jano~w or Janowo" or some other place name beginning with Janow-. There are lots of places that qualify, and there's no way to know which one a given Janowski family came from, except by doing genealogical research. If you trace your family back to their ancestral region, at that point it may become possible to establish exactly how this name came to be associated with them. It helps a lot if you can focus on looking for a Jano~w or Janowo or Janowice in a specific area, instead of having to cope with dozens of them all over Poland.

This name can also appear in other countries, especially the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but also sometimes Russia and Ukraine. But Russians and Ukrainians use "Ivan" for the name "John," as opposed to Poles and Czechs and Slovaks, who use the form "Jan." So Janowski (Polish spelling) or Janovsky (Czech/Slovak spelling) usually originated among Western Slavs, not among Russians and Ukrainians, who'd be more likely to use the surname Ivanovsky with the same meaning.

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JASKO~LSKI - JASKULSKI

To: Chris Jaskulski, deputy9227@attbi.com

> I am trying to locate information about my last name Jaskulski...
> Please advise of any information about the history of my name...

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He explains that it comes from the root seen in the noun jasko~l~ka, which refers to the bird we call a swallow. In Polish the O has an accent over it and the L has a slash through it; since it's often difficult to reproduce Polish letters reliably online, we use ~ to indicate these letters, so you won't confuse them with regular O and L. The noun jasko~l~ka sounds like "yoss-KOOW-kah." The accented O is pronounced the same as U in Polish, which is why you often see names spelled either way. That's the word the surname comes from.

Jaskulski sounds like "yoss-KOOL-skee," but it can also be spelled Jasko~lski, pronounced the same way (when the -ski is added, L~ changes to normal L). You want to keep an eye open for either spelling, since the same person might be Jasko~lski in one record and Jaskulski in the next. Literally this name would mean "of the swallow," and might refer to an ancestor whom people associated with swallows for some reason. An ancestor might have imitated a swallow, or dressed in clothes that reminded people of a swallow's coloring, or lived in an area where there were lots of swallows -- hard to say which derivation might apply in a given instance.

Rymut points out that this name can also refer to the names of places in Poland derived from the word for swallow. In other words, Jaskulski or Jasko~lski can also just mean "one from Jasko~l~ki." There's more than one place by that name, and only detailed research into your family's history might uncover facts that would clarify which one your particular Jaskulskis came from.

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 4,867 Polish citizens named Jasko~lski. There were another 5,113 who spelled it Jaskulski. Both names were common all over the country, and give no clue what area a given Jasko~lski or Jaskulski family might have come from. As I said, only research into the history of your particular family would establish that; the surname itself gives no clue.

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KANIEWSKI

To: Joseph Kaniewski, Joerecords@aol.com

> Any ideas on the origin of Kaniewski from the Torun area circa 1905 immigration?

In Polish Kaniewski would be pronounced roughly "con-YEFF-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 7,194 Polish citizens named Kaniewski. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 924, Bydgoszcz 221, Katowice 292, Kielce 303, Lodz 235, Pila 315, Poznan 424, Siedlce 212, Skierniewice 222, and Wloclawek 545. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, what I've given here is all I have.

Names ending in -ewski usually refer to the name of a place the family came from centuries ago. In this case, one would expect the name means "one from Kanie or Kaniew or Kaniewo," or some similar place name.

Unfortunately, there are a number of places in Poland that would fit. There are a couple of villages named Kaniewo in the former (1975-1998) province of Wloclawek, including one about 25-30 km. south-southwest of Torun, and another farther south, near Lubraniec. Either of these could plausibly be the place the surname refers to in your specific case. But only genealogical research might uncover facts that would allow you to say for sure "This is the one." Without that kind of detailed info, I can only suggest possible candidates. I think chances are good one of those Kaniewo's is the one the surname refers to, but I don't have enough information to be certain.

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KASPRZYCKI

To: Hugh W. Baxter, h.w.baxter@att.net

> Do you have any idea what the name Kasprzycki means, if there is a meaning.

It's pronounced roughly "kosp-ZHIT-skee" (with the -a- in the first syllable sounding halfway between a short o and "ah"). It means more or less "son of little Casper" or "kin of Casper's son." In Polish Casper is either Kacper or Kasper. Add the diminutive suffix -yk to Kasper and it becomes Kasprzyk, "little Casper, son of Casper." Kasprzycki is literally an adjective meaning "of Kasprzyk," but in practical terms the name would usually mean what I indicated above.

Scholars are not positive what that name Kasper comes from, but they think it might be from Persian kansbar, "treasurer, keeper of the treasure." This name caught on among Christians because medieval tradition said it was the name of one of the three Wise Men or Magi who visited the infant Jesus, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (the other two were Melchior and Balthazar).

Kasprzycki could also conceivably mean "one from Kasprzyce" or some such place name, which in turn would have meant "[place] of Casper's son." But offhand I couldn't find any place with a name that fits, so I'm inclined to think it began as a reference to a person rather than a place. I should say, however, that there are many surnames derived from names of places that are too small to show up on most maps, or that have disappeared or been renamed. But even if the name does refer to a place called Kasprzyce or something similar, that name in turn started as a reference to a Casper or son of Casper who owned or founded the place at some point centuries ago. So one way or another, it all comes back to Casper.

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 2,949 Polish citizens by this name. They lived all over the country, with no particular concentration in any one area.

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KRUK

To: Harry Kruk, HKruk@webtv.net

> My research states it [Kruk] means "those who live at the sign of the raven."  What does that mean? What is the sign of the Raven? where is it?

Who knows? All we can say about a name like Kruk (pronounced much like the English word "crook") is that it means literally "raven." It could refer to one who lived at the sign of the raven, which could be an inn or the name of a specific house -- in some towns and villages individual houses were given names, and Raven could be one of them. It could refer to one who had coarse dark hair that reminded people of a raven. It could refer to one who was full of gloom and doom, so that people considered "raven" a good nickname for him because ravens were associated with bad omens. It could refer to almost any association people might make between a person and a raven -- and people are very ingenious with nicknames.

Names like this started centuries ago, and there's no way to know exactly what they referred to. All you can do is find out what the name means literally and then make intelligent speculations on how such a name developed. If you're really lucky, genealogical research might eventually turn up a record that refers to a person's name and why he was called that. That happens very rarely, but you never know -- if you do good research, you just might get lucky.

As of 1990 there were 19,923 Polish citizens named Kruk, living all over the country. There was no significant concentration in any one area to the point you could say "Here is where Kruks came from." They could come from anywhere in Poland -- much like ravens!

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KRUKOWSKI - POGORZELSKI

To: Karen Pogorzelski, Kapogo2001@cs.com

> I have just started looking into my family history, and would appreciate your research, as your schedule permits, into the surnames, Pogorzelski & Krukowski(a).

> Unfortunately, there is no one left on this side of my family to help with detail, so I was hoping your research may guide me to a starting point on a possible town.

I can certainly understand your hope, and it's worth a try! But surnames very seldom offer any useful clue whatever as to where a specific family came from. Polish surnames are no different from English surname -- most are too general in nature, or too common, or too rare. Even when they come from place names, as these two probably do, the problem is there are too many places with names that fit. With most Polish surnames you're very lucky if you find a concentration in a specific province or region; a specific town is usually too much to hope for. Still, it can't hurt to take a look at the data.

Pogorzelski is pronounced roughly "po-go-ZHEL-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 5,620 Polish citizens by this name. They lived all over Poland, with some concentration in the northeastern part of country, near Bialystok and Ostroleka and Warsaw.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. It comes ultimately from the root pogorzal~y, "one who's lost his property in a fire, one who's been burned out," from the root gorz-, "burn, fire." So it could just mean "kin of the one whose home burned down." But it can also refer to a family's connection with any of a number of places with names beginning Pogorzal- or Pogorzel-, which probably got that name because they burned down at some time or another centuries ago. There's no way to tell which particular village is relevant in a given case without detailed research into that specific family's history. About the most we can say is that the name usually means "one from Pogorzal~ka, one from Pogorzel, one from Pogorzelec," etc.

As for Krukowski (of which Krukowska is the feminine form), it is pronounced roughly "kroo-KOFF-skee," or in everyday speech "kroo-KOSS-kee" (don't be surprised if you sometimes see it misspelled Krukoski or Krukosky).

Surnames in the form X-owski mean literally "of the X's _," where the blank is to be filled in with something so obvious it didn't need to be spelled out -- usually "kin" or "place." So in some cases X-owski can mean "kin of [the] X." But most often it refers to the name of a place where the family lived at some point centuries ago, a place name beginning with the X part, which may have various suffixes that were detached before the -owski was added. If the family was noble, they owned an estate there; if not, they lived and worked there. So while X-owski can just mean "kin of X," it generally means "one from the place of X."

So we'd expect Krukowski to mean "one from Krukowo" or some similar place name. Rymut also mentions in his book that this surname has been found to be connected in some instances to a place named Kroko~w in the eastern part of the Commonwealth, i. e., in the lands now in Belarus and Ukraine. Another expert has documented a connection of some Krukowskis to places with names beginning Kruch-. So we can't even count on the place name's beginning Kruk-; Krok- and Kruch- must also be considered. Thus there are quite a few different villages this surname could refer to.

Most of the time analysis of the surname itself can only tell you so much -- to get any really useful info, you have to integrate surname analysis with the results of research into the specific family's history. This Krukowski may have come from this village here, that one from that village over there. The most a generalist such as myself can say is "The name most likely refers to a place name, which could begin Kruk- or Krok- or Kruch-." Learning more than that is up to you.

I wish I could tell you more, but I find it cruel to mislead people with false hopes that will inevitably be dashed. Best to tell you what I can, hope it helps you a bit, and let you proceed from there.

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KUCHARSKI

To: PureAngel1901@aol.com

> Surname is Kucharska

Kucharska is the feminine form of Kucharski, pronounced roughly "koo-HAR-skee." Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it appears in records as early as 1395, and usually refers to a family's origin in or connection with any of a number of villages named Kuchary. The basic root kuchar- means "cook," so that Kucharski could mean simply "kin of the cook." But in most instances it would refer to a family's coming from one of those villages named Kuchary, which in turn presumably got that name because of some connection with cooks. The only one to find out which one your particular family came from would be through genealogical research, tracing the family generation by generation till you find documents that tell exactly where they come from. At that point it may be possible to identify a nearby village Kuchary, which would probably be the one the surname referred to.

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 30,949 Polish citizens named Kucharski. They lived all over Poland, with no significant concentration in any one area.

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MASTALERZ - MASZTALERZ

To: Elaine Mastalisz, oakencroft@aol.com

> Hi. My name is Elaine Mastalisz. My father is Stanley John Mastalisz.

> All he knows is that his surname was changed, he thinks, from Mastalerz or some other such spelling. I do have some living relatives in Poland still.

> They would be on my father's mother's side. Can you give me any info?

Mastalerz is probably the right spelling. Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it comes from the noun masztalerz, "court master of the horse." So it was a ceremonial position of honor held by a noble in the court of a king or lord; he was theoretically responsible for seeing to the state of the lord's stable. Of course, he had peasants who did all the actual work -- but that's what the word means.

Mastalerz is pronounced roughly "mos-TALL-esh." It is a variant of that noun masztalerz, which sounds more like "mosh-TALL-esh."

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 3,897 Polish citizens named Mastalerz. There wasn't any one area in which they were concentrated; a Mastalerz family could come from practically anywhere in Poland. (There were another 1,203 Poles who used the form Masztalerz.)

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MIELCAREK - MIELCZAREK

To: Stephanie Mielcarek, Steffers27@aol.com

>I'm a high school student at Resurrection H.S. in Chicago. My U.S. History class was given the assignment of researching our family history, including name origin, if possible. While the paper is due within the next week, I would appreciate it greatly if you could forward any information you might have on the Mielcarek family name, simply to satisfy my family's own curiosity.

In Polish the name Mielcarek is pronounced roughly "m'yell-TSAR-eck." Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions it in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles], saying that names beginning Mielcar-, Mielczar-, and Milczar- come from an archaic noun, mielcarz, "maltster, brewer." The suffix -ek is a diminutive, so Mielcarek would mean literally "little maltster." It might have begun as an affectionate nickname for one who produced or sold malt, or it might simply have meant "son of the maltster." Many X-ek names do just mean "son of X." Either way, the name clearly indicates that an ancestor was associated with malt in some way.

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 5,723 Polish citizens named Mielcarek. They lived all over Poland, with particularly large numbers in the following provinces: Bydgoszcz 520, Kalisz 1,112; Konin 348; Leszno 319; and Poznan 1,144. This name was most common in the western part of the country.

Even more common was the form Mielczarek (11,379) ("m'yell-CHAW-reck"), meaning the same thing; it's just a slightly different form of the same name. If you researched the family you might find the name spelled Mielcarek one time, Mielczarek the next -- such variations are very common in the records.

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(MODJESKA) - MODRZEJEWSKI - MODRZEWSKI - (MOJESKA)

To: Shelley Modrak, shelley@wmol.com

> Would the surnames Modrzejewski and Modrzewski be the same regarding origin and meaning? If not can you tell me about Modrzejewski please?

The answer "by the book" is that these aren't the same surnames. Modrzewski sounds like "mo-JEFF-skee," whereas Modrzejewski sounds like "mo-jay-EFF-skee." I should add that in everyday talk there's a tendency to drop the "ff" sound spelled W in names with the endings -ewski and -owski, so that Modrzewski would often sound more like "mo-JESS-kee" (which Poles would spell phonetically Modrzeski), and Modrzejewski would sound more like "mo-jay-ESS-kee" (Modrzejeski). Both would almost certainly refer to the name of a place the family came from at some point centuries ago. Modrzewski would point toward a place with a name Modrze or Modrzew or Modrzewek or Modrzewie; Modrzejewski would point toward a Modrzejewo or Modrzejowice.

Unfortunately, there are a number of places by all those names I mentioned, so only research into a specific family might uncover info that will clarify exactly which place they came from. Just from the surname there's no way to tell whether a given Modrzewski family came from this village or that village (there are at least 8 with names Modrzew, Modrzewo, Modrzewie, etc.). And there are at least two places Modrejewski could refer to, Modrzejewo and Modrzejowice. That's not counting smaller places that may exist but don't show up on my maps.

But as I say, if we go by the book, the names are distinct, referring to different places of origin, and in theory should not be confused.

The way things are on planet Earth, however, people don't always go by the book. Obviously these two names sound similar and are related semantically. It's not at all unlikely that people might slur the pronunciation of Modrzejewski to where it was easily confused with Modrzewski. A good illustration is the fact the famous Polish actress Helena Modrzejewska spelled her name Mojeska and Modjeska when she came to the United States. She realized Americans had trouble spelling and pronouncing it, so she changed to a form that more closely resembled the way it sounded, in terms of English phonetics. Strictly speaking "Mojeska" would be spelled phonetically Modrzeska (or properly, Modrzewska) by Poles, which is not the same as her real name. But the point is, the way people pronounced her name, it sounded a lot like Mojeska or Modrze[w]ska.

So the two names should be distinct. But in plain everyday talk, they are easily confused.

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 4,873 Polish citizens named Modrzejewski (which includes females named Modrzejewska). They lived all over the country, with the largest numbers in the following provinces: Bydgoszcz 553, Gdansk 282, Lodz 341, Poznan 275, and Wloclawek 586. This indicates the name is most common in central to western 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.

As of 1990 there were 880 Poles named Modrzewski (and Modrzewska), so it's a less common name. The largest numbers lived in these provinces: Warsaw 110, Biala Podlaska 89, Elblag 65, and Olsztyn 103. So it's more common in northeastern and eastern Poland. But both names are found all over the country.

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MOTOWIDLAK - MOTOWIDL~O

To: Joemoto94@cs.com

> I was wondering if you can give me some history on my last name, Motovidlak. I'm curious how old it is and the nationality of it.

> Also, how many Motovidlak's there are. Thank you.

In Polish this name is spelled Motowidlak, pronounced roughly "mo-to-VEED-lock." 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 10 Polish citizens by this name. They lived in the following provinces: Katowice 4, Rzeszow 6. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses.

There's one thing you might try. In the July 2000 issue of the Polish-American Journal, 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, and it's of no help if a name is scattered all over the country. But in instances where a name is highly concentrated in one area, I pass the info along, because if this Central Address Office does succeed in providing you with addresses, chances are very good those addresses belong to relatives. It's worth a try.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. It comes from the noun motowidl~o, "a reeling-machine, spool." An ancestor presumably got that name because he made or sold or worked with such a machine. The suffix -ak in surnames generally means "kin of, son of, one associated with," so it seems likely this surname began as a way of referring to the son or kin of one called Motowidl~o because of a connection with reeling or spooling. The name Motowidl~o is more common, borne by 361 Poles as of 1990; a diminutive, Motowidel~ko, "little reel, little spool," was borne by 59 Polish citizens as of 1990.

I am assuming this name is Polish. It could develop in other Slavic languages; I don't know. I deal mainly with Polish names, so that's all I can talk about. Thinking about it, though, it's certainly possible the same name, spelled with a V instead of a W, could develop in other languages, too, such as Czech. It would presumably mean more or less the same thing, however.

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MOZ~DZIERZ

To: Pat Johnson, pussnboots@lvcm.com

> My grandmother was from Szarwark, Poland, and her maiden name was Mozdzierz. I am doing my genealogy and would like to know what this name means or where it came from.

In Polish Mozdzierz is usually spelled with an accent over the first Z. Online I use the tilde to represent the accent 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 it's worth. So this name would be spelled Moz~dzierz, and is pronounced roughly "MOZH-jesh."

You might also sometimes see it spelled with that first Z having a dot over it instead of an accent. This reflects a subtle difference in pronunciation, and to be honest, it's not significant for our purposes. Just remember it might be spelled with a dotted Z instead of an accented one, and this is just a minor spelling variation. As of 1990 there were 37 Poles who spelled it that way, scattered in small numbers all over the country.

Polish name experts say Moz~dzierz derives from the noun moz~dzierz, which means "mortar." Thus it probably began as a nickname for an ancestor whom people associated with mortar. Perhaps he made or sold mortar, or used it extensively in his work. That's typically how such names get started, although one can never be sure of the exact meaning of a nickname without detailed research into the specific family that came to bear the name. Still, it makes sense that a family wouldn't have come to be called "Mortar" unless an ancestor had some clear, obvious connection with the making, sale, or use of mortar.

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 952 Polish citizens named Moz~dzierz. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Katowice 69, Krakow 46, Tarnow 491, and Wroclaw 91. 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 makes it clear the name is found all over Poland but tends to be concentrated primarily in southwestern to southeastern Poland, especially near the city of Tarnow in southeastern Poland. This is consistent with your info, since the only place I can find named Szarwark was in Tarnow province under the setup in force 1975-1998; it's northeast of Tarnow. So the Tarnow area is where you need to concentrate your research.

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MSZAN~SKI

To: MMszanski@aol.com

> I believe there is a town named Mszana in Poland which means Mass???

There is a town in Poland named Mszana, but it doesn't mean "Mass" (although that's a reasonable guess). The name of that town comes from mszany, which, believe it or not, is the adjectival form of mech, "moss." So Mszana was called that because it was the "mossy" place. (The adjectival form of Msza, "Mass," is mszalny).

> Does my name (Mszanski) mean I am from Mszana??

Mszana is a good candidate, but unfortunately it's not the only one. There are quite a few places in Poland with names from that root meaning "mossy," places called Mszana, Mszanka, Mszanna, Mszano, etc. This surname could refer to any of them. Suffixes were often dropped before adding -ski, so that Mszan~ski could mean "one from Mszanko" or any of the other places mentioned. I think the Mszana in Nowy Sacz province (which actually consists of Mszana Dolna, "Lower Mszana," and Mszana Go~rna ("Upper Mszana") may be the place the surname is most likely to refer to. But you can't rule out the other possibilities without detailed research into a specific family's past.

In Polish the name is spelled with an accent over the N, and is pronounced roughly "M'SHINE-skee." It's not 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 85 Polish citizens by this name. They lived in the following provinces: Gdansk 3, Jelenia Gora 10, Katowice 7, Konin 21, Krakow 8, Krosno 3, Lublin 6, and Nowy Sacz 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 data indicates the name is scattered all over Poland, with some concentration near the towns of Nowy Sacz and Konin. The ones near Nowy Sacz, obviously, would be especially likely to refer to Mszana Dolna and Go~rna, since they are fairly near Nowy Sacz.

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NIEMCZYK

To: Robert Niemczyk, niemczyk@communicomm.com

> Have been trying to locate the origin of my last name for some time to no avail. Any info you might have would be greatly appreciated.

The name Niemczyk is pronounced roughly "NYEM-chick." Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles], saying it appears in records as far back as 1376. He says it comes from the term niemiec, "German." Niemczyk would mean simply "son of the German," and as such, we'd expect it to be found pretty much all over Poland, since Germans came to resettle all over that country -- especially in the western parts, but not exclusively.

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 7,453 Polish citizens named Niemczyk. They lived all over the country, with particularly large numbers in the following provinces: Bielsko-Biala 830, Bydgoszcz 402, Gdansk 471, Katowice 1,736, Krosno 511, Rzeszow 295. 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 confirms the surname is found throughout Poland, so we can't pin down where a particular Niemczyk family might have come from just from the surname alone. Only genealogical research might establish that, by tracing the family back, generation by generation, till you find a document that tells exactly what part of Poland they came from.

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PAJA~KIEWICZ

To: Adrián Pajakiewicz, pajakiewicz@yahoo.com

> Today I was reading PolishRoots and I found that you could tell me something brief about my surname... As you could see, my surname is Pajakiewicz and my grandfather was born in (for what I know) in Kurowice around 1901. I was trying to find some reference of Kurowice, but I couldn't.

In Polish the second A in this name is usually the nasal vowel Poles write as an A with a tail (ogonek) under it, pronounced somewhat like "on" in French bon, sometimes even like "on" in English "on." I use A~ to stand for that vowel -- I use the tilde to represent the accent 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. So I write the name online as Paja~kiewicz, pronounced roughly "pah-yonk-YEAH-veech," but of course in Polish that second A would have a tail under it, not a tilde after it.

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 60 Polish citizens by this name. They lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 8, Jelenia Gora 3, Katowice 4, Opole 3, Poznan 6, Walbrzych 15, and Wroclaw 21. 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 Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. The first part of the name comes from the noun paja~k, "spider," and the -ewicz part means "son of." So the name means literally "son of the spider," and probably began as referring to the son of one nicknamed "spider," perhaps because he reminded people of a spider, perhaps because he was associated with spiders in some other way.

As for Kurowice, there are several places by that name in Poland. I'm afraid your only hope is to find some document that specifies which one is the one your ancestors came from -- maybe a letter with an address, or a form that asks for place of birth. By itself, Kurowice just doesn't tell you enough to go on.

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 "Kurowic" 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 Kurowic-. For each, 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.

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PAWLISZYN - PAWL~YSZYN

To: Maggie, Li1yOfTheWest@aol.com

> Pawlyszyn is the name I am researching.........late of Przemysl. Poland.

Pawlyszyn is actually a Ukrainian name -- which is not at all unusual. Przemysl is near the border with Ukraine, and we see a lot of mixing of Polish and Ukrainian names in that area. But the -yszyn suffix is distinctively Ukrainian (except that's a Polish way of spelling it).

This name is formed by taking the Ukrainian first name Pavlo (Paul), adding the suffix -ykha (woman of, wife of) and the suffix -yn (son of). The guttural -kh- turns into an "sh" sound when the -yn suffix is added. So it breaks down to "son of Paul's wife." Names ending in -ishyn or -ishin or -yshyn or -yshin (or as Poles spell it, -iszyn or -yszyn) are quite common in Ukrainian, whereas there is nothing quite like this in Polish. So while the family may have come from an area within the borders of Poland, and the spelling of the "sh" sound as -sz- is definitely Polish, there was at least some Ukrainian blood somewhere along the line, or this name would not have taken this form.

In Polish Pawlyszyn would be spelled not with plain L but rather with the L with a slash or crossbar, which I indicate online as L~ and which is pronounced much like our W. So Pawl~yszyn would sound like "pahv-WISH-inn." 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 43 Polish citizens by that name. They lived in the following provinces: Elblag 3, Jelenia Gora 2, Lublin 1, Lodz 2, Olsztyn 14, Ostroleka 2, Slupsk 19. 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.

No Pawl~yszyns were listed as living in Przemysl province as of 1990. This could be due to missing data -- data was lacking for about 6% of the population -- or it could be due to post-World War II forced relocations of many, many Ukrainians from east to west. In other words, most Pawl~yszyns may have lived in the east and southeast before 1939, but by 1946 many of them had been forced to pack up and move west. Which makes tracing families these days that much harder.

A name meaning the same thing is Pawliszyn, pronounced "pahv-LEE-shin." The only difference is that the L is pronounced like L, not W, and the vowel after it sounds like "ee" instead of the short "i" spelled Y by Poles. In effect, this is the same name, just pronounced and spelled a little different. As of 1990 there were 643 Polish citizens by that name, living all over the country, but with 18 of them in Przemysl province. As I said, I have no data such as first names or addresses; but it proves this name, at least, still survives in the Przemysl area.

Since Ukrainian names developed a little differently, and are usually spelled in the Cyrillic alphabet, any Ukrainian name is essentially being written in a foreign alphabet when spelled by Poles or others who use the Roman alphabet. Thus Polish Pawl~yszyn and Pawliszyn might be two different ways of spelling the same Ukrainian name, which would look kind of like this in the Cyrillic alphabet:

II A B JI N III N H

or perhaps, less often:

II A B JI I III N H

The first letter looks like Greek pi, or two II's joined at the top. The 4th letter is like JI joined at the top, and represents the L sound. The letter N is actually backwards, and in Ukrainian sounds like short i (which Poles spell Y); but in Russian it sounds like "ee" (which Poles spell I). This causes a lot of spelling confusion. The 6th letter looks like III joined at the bottom.

My point is simply that as you do your research, keep an eye open for Pawl~yszyn and Pawliszyn. The spelling difference doesn't necessarily mean much. It could be nothing more than a slight difference in how Poles tried to represent in the Roman alphabet a name originally written in the Cyrillic alphabet -- and when that happened, there was room for variation in spelling. So you might see it spelled Pawl~yszyn one time, Pawliszyn another.

So to sum up, whichever way it's spelled, this is a name of Ukrainian linguistic origin meaning "son of Paul's wife." As such, it offers little in the way of specifics on where a given family came from.

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PIA~TEK - PIONTEK

To: Hazel Piontek, fridaydesign@appleonline.net

Hi,

> Would it be possible to receive any information on the origination/meaning/history of the name Piontek.

> I live in Yorkshire, England, and only know of family members with this name. I know that my paternal grandfather came across from Poland, via Germany in WW2, but unfortunately, I am no longer in contact with him to ask him such questions.

Piontek is pronounced roughly "P'YON-teck" in Polish, and is an alternate spelling of the name I represent as Pia~tek online. I use A~ to stand for the Polish nasal vowel written as an A with a tail under it and pronounced much like "on" in French bon; similarly, E~ stands for the nasal E written as an E with a tail under it and pronounced much like "en". (I use the tilde online because you can't see the actual Polish letters without reconfiguring your browser, which is more trouble than most folks want to take). So Piontek is a reasonable phonetic spelling of Pia~tek, and in fact one may see the name spelled either way, even in Poland. But the form with the nasal vowel is the standard one.

The name comes ultimately from the root pia~ty, "fifth." At one time Poles counted the days of the week starting with Monday, so that Friday was the "fifth day," and pia~tek means literally "little fifth one," so that's the name they gave Friday. As a surname Pia~tek began as a sort of nickname for one associated with Friday -- he might have had some particular duty to perform on Fridays, or was born on a Friday, something along those lines. I can't rule a connection with the meaning "fifth," so that Pia~tek might have been a name given the fifth child of his parents; but generally we'd expect the primary association to be with the word for Friday.

This is a rather common name in Poland. 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 19,796 Polish citizens named Pia~tek. They lived all over the country, so a family by that name could have come from anywhere.

There were 2,018 who used the spelling Piontek, with particularly large numbers in the region of Silesia in southwestern Poland, mainly the provinces of Katowice, 971, and Opole, 409. I suspect the spelling is common there because that region has a particularly strong German influence, and Germans can make no sense of the Polish nasal vowels, so they usually spell them phonetically as ON (for A~) and EN (for E~). This spelling is, however, found in other parts of the country as well, just not so frequently.

In a specific family's case one might find the name spelled either way. In other words, you may find your ancestors listed as Piontek or Pia~tek, and the difference would not necessarily suggest anything reliable in terms of family connections. Not all Pionteks would necessarily be related, and many whose name was spelled that way in the past probably go by Pia~tek today. Pia~tek and Piontek are simply two different ways of spelling the same name, and spellings in the records were often inconsistent.

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STACHOWIAK

To: Mary Stachowiak, marey@care2.com

> ... I have recently become extremely interested in researching my family history and the history/meaning of my surname.

> At this time I do not know anything about my surnames other than -owiak possibly means "son of".

Stachowiak would sound roughly like "stah-HOVE-yock," except the Polish CH is a bit more guttural than English h -- closer to the guttural "ch" in German "Bach."

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polakow [The Surnames of Poles]. He says the suffix -owicz means "son of," and Stach is an ancient nickname that developed from various Polish names beginning Sta-, especially the first name Stanisl~aw; so the name means basically "son of Stach" or "one of the kin of Stach." 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 Sta- from Stanisl~aw, drop the rest, and add the -ch to form Stach. Once that name existed, it was only a matter of time before people began referring to the sons or kin of a fellow named Stach as Stachowiak, and eventually that name "stuck" as a surname.

Incidentally, Stanislaw is the name with which Stach is most likely to be connected, but there are others, especially the first name Eustachy, the Polish equivalent of "Eustace."

As of 1990 there were 13,372 Polish citizens named Stachowiak. They lived all over the country, with some concentration in the western provinces of Bydgoszcz, 848, Kalisz, 765, and Poznan, 5,200. So while people named Stachowiak live everywhere in Poland, they are especially common in the western part of the country.

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Z*EBROWSKI

To: David Zebrowski, David.Zebrowski@exelonservices.com

> Do you have any info on the meaning and origin of the name Zebrowski?

> My family is from the northeast near Bialystok. A village called Grabowo

In Polish this name is usually spelled with the first Z dotted, or as I indicate it online for those whose browsers aren't set up to handle the Polish letters, Z*. Z*ebrowski is pronounced roughly "zheb-ROFF-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 10,150 Polish citizens by that name. They lived all over the country, with particularly large numbers in the following provinces: and Lomza 973, Olsztyn 551, Ostroleka 1,637. There were 147 by this name in the province of Bialystok. So the name is concentrated to a significant extent in the northeastern part of 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.

There were also 109 Poles who spelled it Zebrowski, no dot over the Z, pronounced more like "zeh-BROFF-skee." However, it's not clear how many of them really spelled it that way, and how many of those 109 were really Z*ebrowskis, but the name was keyed in wrong. There are, however, some parts of Poland where people tend to take Z* in the standard form of the language and turn it into plain Z. So some of those Zebrowskis may really spell and pronounce it that way. In general, however, we're justified in figuring that the form with plain Z- is probably just a variant of the standard form with Z*-.

Names in the form X-owski usually mean "one from X," that is, from a place with a name beginning with the X part, which may or may not have various endings added. As a rule we'd expect this surname to refer to a family's connection with a place named Z*ebrowo or Z*ebry or something of that sort. If they were noble, they owned an estate there at some point centuries ago; if they were peasants, they lived and worked there at some point.

The problem is, there are several places in Poland with names that qualify. There is a Z*ebro~wka near Siedlce in southeastern Poland, and there are several places named Z*ebry or Z*ebry + a second name in the areas of Ostroleka and Lomza. This is consistent with the large number of Z*ebrowskis in northeastern Poland, near those towns. It all suggests that the surname usually means "one from Z*ebry" -- but the problem is, which Z*ebry? There's no way to tell based on the name alone. Only detailed research into the history of a specific family may uncover information that establishes which Z*ebry your particular Z*ebrowski ancestors took their name from.