PolishRoots - Surnames: Origins & Meanings

> I would like to know if my Polish last name Parada is Jewish.

It could be, but it is not necessarily Jewish. 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 974 Polish citizens by that name. The
largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Bydgoszcz 50, Chelm 128,
Katowice 70, Kielce 141, Lublin 63. Unfortunately I don't have access to
further details such as first names or addresses, so I can't tell you how to
find that info. This data tells us the name is found all over Poland, with no significant concentration in any one area.

The point is, after the Holocaust, there are no exclusively Jewish surnames
borne by more than a few dozen people, at most. If a name is borne by more
than 900 people in modern Poland, it's certain the vast majority are
Christians. If it were a Jewish name, you might find 9 or 90 people still
living with that name in Poland today -- but not 900!

In Polish PARADA is pronounced roughly "pah-RAH-dah" -- or much the same way as if it were a Spanish name. 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 _parada_, "show, exhibition, ceremony,
pomp" -- in other words from the same origin as our word "parade." It is
thought to have come from Old French _parade_, "exhibition," from _parer_,
"to embellish," from Latin _parare_, to "prepare."

There is no reason a specific Jewish family couldn't have gone by this name.
It's one of the many that Christians or Jews could bear -- there's no
particular reason it has to be associated with one religion or another. So
you can't tell the religion from the name. You'd have to research the family
history to find information establishing that. (And, of course, PARADA
doesn't have to be Polish; this particular name can exist in many different
languages. But I assume you have reason to believe it is Polish in your
case.)

> My name is Jennifer Rockwell. My maiden name is
> Adams. I am 3rd generation born in the United
> States. My great grandfather Joseph Adams, moved
> his wife and two kids from Poland to Minnesota
> and there had 4 more children. When he moved here,
> he realized that his last name might be too hard
> for his children to say and spell, so he shortened
> it. There are two of the 6 children still alive
> and neither one of them know how to spell the last
> name my great grandfather shortened. I was hoping
> you might be able to help. This is how we think
> it might be spelled based off of how we know it
> to be said. "Adamachevski"

The most likely form is Adamczewski, which would be pronounced roughly "ah-dahm-CHEFF-skee." According to Polish name expert Kazimierz Rymut's book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles], that name generally means "one from Adamczewice," a village now called Adamki in Blaszki district of Lodz province. It is also possible it might refer in some cases to Adamczowice, in Klimontow district of Swietokrzyskie province. Surnames ending in -ewski can come from place names with -ew- or -ow-, as that vowel can change very easily, especially when further suffixes are added.

So this surname refers to the name of a place with which the family was connected at some point centuries ago. As often happens, there's more than one place this surname could refer to. The only way to find out which one your particular Adamczewskis came from is through detailed research into the family history. Such research might establish whether the family came from near Lodz, in which case the connection with Adamki is more likely, or from the Swietokrzyskie area, in which case Adamczowice is the more likely connection. There might even be some other place I haven't found -- because the Adamczew- or Adamczow- part basically means "[places] of little Adam," and thus could potentially refer to any village or settlement owned or founded by an Adam.

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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 5,955 Polish citizens named Adamczewski. They lived all over the country, with particularly large numbers in the following provinces: Bydgoszcz 312, Konin 411, Lodz 1,177, and Poznan 467. 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.

That's what I consider the best match with the name you mentioned. If you'd like to see other possibilities and evaluate them for yourself, go to this site:

In the box type ADAM*WSKI and press <Enter>. That will bring up all surnames borne by Polish citizens as of 1990 that begin with Adam- and end with -wski, with any combination of letters in between. That should allow you to see the most likely matches and check if any of the others make more sense.

If you need help understanding the data and what the abbreviations mean, I wrote an article on the subject in the latest issue of Gen Dobry!, the free e-zine of PolishRoots (R), available here:

>Would you please give me the meaning of my surname
> Ciesielski..How long has this name existed in
> Poland and are there still Ciesielski's in Poland as there
> are many here in Michigan U.S.A

In Polish this name is pronounced roughly "cheh-SHELL-skee." It's a fairly 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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 24,422 Polish citizens named Ciesielski. They lived all over the country, with no particular concentration in any one area.

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 1393. It comes from the noun cies~la, "carpenter," or from place names derived from that noun, especially Cies~le, of which there are a number in Poland. So the name can be interpreted either "of the carpenter's kin" or "one from Cies~le," which in turn got that name because of a connection with carpenters.

> I am looking for information on only 1 name. Dziegiel is
> how it was written on the baptismal records held in Tarnow.
> My great-grandfather was born in Iwkowa, immigrated in 1903
> and changed our name to Gengle in 1920.

In Polish this name is usually spelled Dzie~giel -- I'm using E~ as an on-line representation of the Polish nasal vowel written as an E with a tail under it and pronounced much like "en." Since that nasal E sounds a lot like "en," and since spelling of surnames has always been inconsistent, it is not unusual to see the name spelled Dziengiel sometimes, even in Poland. Either spelling, Dzie~giel or Dziengiel, is pronounced roughly "JENG-yell."

I should add that in English-speaking countries this name Dzie~giel has often been spelled phonetically as Jingle. If you hear a Pole say it, it does sound quite a bit like our word "jingle." So don't be too surprised if you find relatives who spell it something like Jingle. But that would happen only in English-speaking countries, never in Poland.

Gengle is obviously a slightly different phonetic spelling. Pronounce the Polish word and it's easy to see why an immigrant might say, "Well, these Americans can't seem to spell or pronounce Dzie~giel right, so I'll spell it a way they can handle." Or sometimes they pronounced their names and an official wrote it down the way it sounded to him. That's how these alternate spellings got started.

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 and is now available online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 1,565 Polish citizens named Dzie~giel. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Katowice 119, Kraków 306, and Tarnów 305. The name is found all over Poland, but is most common in the southcentral to southeastern part of the country. Your ancestors come from the area where it is most common, therefore. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, what I've given here is all I have.

If you'd like to see the various spellings of this name still found in Poland (though the variants are quite rare), go to http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html and type in DZI*GIEL in the box, then hit <Enter>. The list that comes up shows all names beginning DZI-, followed by any combination of letters, followed by -GIEL and any endings. It's an interesting list. If you need help reading the data, I wrote an article on the subject in the latest issue of Gen Dobry!, the free e-zine of PolishRoots (R), available here:

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 1570 and comes from the noun dzie~giel, the name of a plant in the parsley family, which is called "angelica" in English.

This name suggests an ancestor was somehow connected with that plant. Perhaps he lived in an area where it was very common, or he/she liked to eat it or use it in cooking, or smelled like it, or wore a bouquet of it -- there must have been some kind of connection that was obvious to people at the time, or the name would never have "stuck." But centuries later it can be difficult to figure out exactly what the connection was. We just know there must have been some reason why it made sense to nickname a guy after this plant.

>My name is Scott Dziengelewski, and I have a great
> deal of curiosity about the origins of my name. I am
> the absolute last person of my known family, so I have
> no relatives to ask.

In Polish this name is usually spelled Dzie~gielewski -- I'm using E~ as an on-line representation of the Polish nasal vowel written as an E with a tail under it and pronounced much like "en." Since that nasal E sounds a lot like "en," and since spelling of surnames has always been inconsistent, it is not unusual to see the name spelled Dziengielewski sometimes, even in Poland. Either spelling, Dzie~gielewski or Dziengielewski, is pronounced roughly "jeng-yell-EFF-skee."

(Polish spelling rules say -ge- is wrong, it must always be -gie-, so that's why I'm spelling the name that way. But even in Poland you sometimes see Dziengelewski and Dzie~gelewski. These days, however, it's almost always spelled with the I because most of the population is literate and has learned the rules of "correct" spelling.)

I should add that in this country the names beginning Dzie~giel- have often been spelled phonetically as Jingle-. So don't be too surprised if you find relatives who spell it something like Jinglewski. But that would happen only in English-speaking countries, never 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 and is now available online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 4,099 Polish citizens named Dzie~gielewski. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 441, Bialystok 219, Lodz 300, Plock 455, Wloclawek 165. The name is found all over Poland, but is more common in the central part of the country. Unfortunately I don't have access to further details such as first names or addresses, what I've given here is all I have.

If you'd like to see the various spellings of this name still found in Poland (though the variants are quite rare), go to http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html and type in DZI*GIELEWSKI in the box, then hit <Enter>. The list that comes up shows all names beginning Dzi- and ending in -gielewski, whatever letters come between. It's an interesting list. If you need help reading the data, I wrote an article on the subject in the latest issue of Gen Dobry!, the free e-zine of PolishRoots (R), available here:

Names in the form X-ewski usually refer to the name of a place with which the family was connected at one time; if they were noble, they owned it, and if not, they lived and worked there. The place name would begin with whatever the X is, so that in this case the surname would mean "one from Dzie~gielewo or Dzie~giele" or some similar name. Unfortunately there are quite a few places in Poland and the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with names this surname could refer to. Without further details on a specific family's history there's no way to know which one is relevant.

This is often the case with Polish surnames. Many refer to the name of a place the family came from, but there are many places with names that fit. It's pointless saying "I'm Dzie~gielewski, where is my family from?" You have to do the research that indicates they came from a specific area, and at that point it may become possible to hook them up with a place nearby with a name beginning Dzie~giel-.

> Been doing some research on family - not sure if Gorniak is Polish
> - the website you reference only list 54 or so with that name in Poland
> - of course, I can't read Polish, so I am assuming that's what it was
> telling me. Is that website available in English?? Appreciate it!!

No, it's not available in English. If you need help using it, I wrote an article on the subject in the latest issue of Gen Dobry!, the free e-zine of PolishRoots (R), available here:

The name Górniak is Polish, spelled with an accent over the O, pronounced roughly "GOORN-yock." As of 1990 there were 8,205 Polish citizens by that name (the 54 you found were with plain O, which was probably a misspelling -- the name would usually be spelled with the accented Ó). The Górniaks lived all over the country, with the largest numbers in the provinces of Warsaw, 751; Czestochowa, 555; Katowice, 556; Konin 477; Lublin, 542; and Wroclaw, 454. This just tells us the name is common all over the country, so one cannot tell from the name what part of Poland a given Górniak might have come from.

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 górniak, a dialect term that can mean "mountain men" or "miner." The root górn- means "of the mountain," but names beginning with that root often refer to mines. So a Górniak ancestor was probably either a miner or a person who lived in the hills or mountains.

> Our family names are Gorzalkowski, Borkowski and Korzenewski
> [Borkowski and Korzeniewski are dealt with in separate notes.]

Gorzalkowski in Polish is spelled with a slash through the L, which means it is pronounced like our W. Online we use L~ to stand for that letter because you can't see the actual letter unless you install support for the Central European character set, which is more trouble than it's worth. So just remember, wherever I type L~ the actual Polish is an L with a slash or crossbar. Gorzal~kowski is pronounced roughly "go-zhaw-KOFF-skee."

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." There are, however, exceptions.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions Gorzal~kowski in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles], Vol. 1, Institut Jezyka Polskiego PAN, Kraków 1999, ISBN 83-87623-18-0. It comes from the noun gorzal~ka, "booze, hard liquor, vodka." So this surname could mean "of the kin of the liquor guys," or it could mean "from the place of liquor."

I cannot find any place in Poland with a name such as Gorzal~ki or Gorzal~kowo, however; so I suspect this particular name probably indicates that the family was involved in distilling hard liquor -- "of the kin of the vodka guys," rather than "of the place of vodka." It suggests ancestors were related to people who distilled hard liquor, especially vodka.

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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 48 Polish citizens named Gorzal~kowski. They lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 11, Jelenia Gora 4, Opole 5, Pila 1, Piotrkow 19, Poznan 2, Szczecin 5, and Wloclawek 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.

If you need help using it, I wrote an article on the subject in the latest issue of Gen Dobry!, the free e-zine of PolishRoots (R), available here:

This data indicates that the name is scattered in small numbers all over the country. You can't look at the name and say, "Oh, the Gorzal~kowskis came from this area right here." They could have come from anywhere. Incidentally, that's how it is with most Polish surnames; very few point you to a specific place of family origin. Even if the name refers to a place, there's usually more than one place with a name that fits. The only way to determine exactly where a family came from is to trace their history as far back as possible, in hopes of uncovering info that sheds light on the matter. The surname, by itself, usually won't tell you.

> In the subject field is my last name [Grzenda]. My relatives have
> always believed it meant something akin to farmer. A
> recent immigrant, however, stated a grzenda is the
> ramp leading to and from a hen house. Do you know
> the correct meaning?

Grzenda is a variation of the name Poles spell Grze~da, using E~ to stand for the Polish nasal vowel written as an E with a tail under it and pronounced usually like "en." The name can be spelled Grzenda as well as Grze~da because that's what it sounds like -- roughly like "G'ZHEN-dah."

In Poland these days the spelling Grze~da is much more common; as of 1990 there were 2,509 Poles by that name, with the largest numbers in the following provinces: Warsaw 375, Kalisz 360, Kielce 234, and Lublin 259. There were only 299 who spelled it Grzenda, with the largest numbers in the provinces of Warsaw (97) and Suwalki (49).

Surnames originated centuries ago, and the modern meanings of the words they came from are not necessarily relevant. Many words mean the same thing now that they meant centuries ago; but you can never assume the modern meaning applies until you've looked into the matter a little more closely.

The name Grze~da/Grzenda is mentioned in the book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles] by Polish name expert Kazimierz Rymut. He says it appears in records as early as 1439, and come an archaic noun grze~da, "bed (as for flowers); a bar for hanging something on (compare a chicken's roost); a patch for chickens." Presumably it started as a nickname, perhaps for one who had and was always tending a flower-bed, or one somehow associated with a bar or lever, or one always working in the area where chickens were kept (the diminutive noun grza~dka can mean "hen-house").

People are sometimes puzzled by names that can have several meanings, but if you think about it, English does the same thing. Was the ancestor of a family named Woods known for working with lumber, or did he live near woods, or was this a nickname that referred to his wooden personality, or what? Many words have several meanings, and thus names coming from them can have several meanings.

So there's no way to say what the "correct" meaning was. A Grzenda could have been associated with a flower bed, the area where chickens were kept, or a rod for hanging things on (perhaps because he was long and thin). The only way one might be able to say more is by tracing a specific family back in the records as far as possible. Sometimes that will uncover documents that shed light on exactly how and why a specific name came to be associated with a specific family. Of course, I cannot do that kind of research; but perhaps you can. If so, you will become far more of an expert on what Grzenda means (at least for your family) than I can ever hope to be.

> I am searching for any information on my late mother's maiden name
> Her name was Kapral and she came from Katowice.

Kapral is pronounced in Polish much as one might expect: roughly "KAH-prall," with the vowel in both syllables much like the "a" in "father."

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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 967 Polish citizens named Kapral. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Czestochowa 163, Katowice 149, Kielce 91, and Legnica 86. 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 that the name is found all over the country but is most common in southcentral Poland, especially near the towns of Czestochowa and Katowice. So your mother came from the area where this name appears most often.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says the name comes from the noun kapral, which is Polish for "corporal." The word is thought to have come into Polish from Italian caporale, which came -- depending on which expert you check -- either from Latin caput, "head," or from Latin corporalis, "leader, head man," which is, of course, the source of the English word "corporal." Presumably it began as a nickname for an ancestor who was a corporal in the military at some point.

> Our family names are Gorzalkowski, Borkowski and Korzenewski [Gorzalkowski and Borkowski are dealt with in separate notes]

Korzeniewski is pronounced roughly "ko-zhen-YEFF-skee." As of 1990 there were 5,638 Polish citizens by this name, as well as another 6,553 who bore the similar name Korzeniowski. These are essentially the same name, except in some areas they preferred the ending -ewski, in others -owski. Both names are common all over the country, but Korzeniewski is more common in the north, Korzeniowski in the south.

Names in the form X-ewski usually mean "one from X." In his book on Polish surnames Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles] Kazimierz Rymut says Korzeniewski would mean "one from Korzeniew or Korzeniów," and again, there are quite a few places with names that fit. They come from the noun korzen~, "root," so that you could interpret the surname as "one from the place of roots." But basically, it just means "one from Korzeniew, Korzeniewo, Korzeniów, etc." Only research into the family history might establish which of those places that particular family came from.

> Just wanted to see if you have any information on the origin or meaning
> of my ancestry surnames: Wojda and Lapinski
[Wojda is covered in a separate note.]

Lapinski in Polish is usually spelled with a slash through the L and an accent over the N. Online we use the tilde ~ to stand for those special diacritical letters, since the only way to see the actual Polish characters is to configure your system to use the Central European character set, which is more trouble than it's worth. So when I type L~apin~ski, just remember that the name doesn't really have any tildes -- that's just a way to mark the L as slash-L rather than plain L, and the accented N rather than plain N.

L~apin~ski is pronounced roughly "wah-PEEN-skee." As of 1990 there were 8,410 Polish citizens by this name. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Warsaw 899, Bialystok 2,731, Lomza 505, and Suwalki 460. This data indicates the name is found all over the country but is concentrated to a significant extent in northeastern Poland.

Polish name expert Kazimierz Rymut mentions this surname in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles], saying it can have two derivations. It can refer to the name of a village or settlement or other place the family was connected with at some point centuries ago, with a name beginning L~apin- or something similar. He specifically mentions L~apino in Kolbudy district of former Gdansk province as one place that some L~apin~skis are known to have come from. But there are other places with similar names that this surname could refer to.

Also this surname can come directly from the root seen in the noun l~apa, "paw," and in the verb l~apac~, "to grab, paw." L~apin~ski could be interpreted literally as "[kin] of the paw" or "[kin] of the one who grabs." So there are at least two possible derivations.

I would add this: since this surname is especially common in northeastern Poland, it is worthwhile checking to see if there is a specific place it might refer to in that area. There are several villages with the name L~apy plus a second part near Bialystok -- L~apy-De~bowizna, L~apy-Plus~niaki, L~apy-Szol~ajdy -- as well as a village with the simple name L~apy. Since they're very close to each other, chances are at one time they were all part of one big settlement or estate, but later were subdivided and distinguished by adding a second part to the name.

I must say that if a given L~apin~ski family does turn out to have roots in northeastern Poland, "one from L~apy" is a very plausible origin for this surname. But if a family turned out to come from the Gdansk area, a connection with that village of L~apino becomes more likely. And you never know when the name may simply have referred to the kin of a guy with big hands, or one who tended to grab for everything. As I said, only research into a specific family's history might clear that up... But if your research leads you back to northeastern Poland, I'd say "one from L~apy" is a very good possibility.

If you'd like to see a map of where L~apy is, go to www.pilot.pl and enter LAPINO and then click on "Pokaz miasto." It will show links to L~apy and L~apy-Kol~paki, another nearby village. They all are right together, so just click on the first one. You'll get a map showing the L~apy area, as well as a smaller map showing where it is located in terms of Poland as a whole. You can print the map, save it, zoom in, etc.

If the L~apino near Gdansk turns out to be relevant to your name, you can get a map of it, too, at wwww.pilot.pl, by searching for LAPINO. It actually shows up as both LAPINO and LAPINO KARTUSKIE ("the Lapino near Kartuzy"). Click on either one and you'll get a map.

> I am just interested in what the name Mazur
> means for my child's project at school.

Mazur (pronounced roughly "MAH-zoor") is a very old and common Polish surname. Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions it in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles], saying that it appears in records as far back as 1425 and comes from the noun Mazur, which means "one from Mazovia" (also sometimes spelled "Masovia"). This region, which Poles call "Mazowsze," is in northeastern Poland. Mazur is especially likely to refer to someone from Masuria (in Polish Mazury), which is a subdivision of northern Mazovia. Strictly speaking, we'd expect Mazur to mean "one from Masuria," in the far northeastern corner of Poland. But the noun Mazur was originally a kind of nickname for one from Mazovia in general, and only later did it come to be associated with the specific area now called Masuria.

This name is not a whole lot of help to family researchers because it's too common. 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 59,069 Polish citizens named Mazur, and these days they have spread all over the country. So even though the name indicates origin centuries ago in northeastern Poland, for some time now Mazurs have lived all over Poland.

It's pronounced roughly "NO-vock," and it's the most common name in Poland, borne by over 220,000 Polish citizens as of 1990. It comes from the root seen in the adjective nowy, "new." Names in the form X-ak usually mean "the X guy, son of X." In this case Nowak is the Polish equivalent of the English surname Newman -- it just means "new guy." It could have referred to a person who had recently moved into the area, one who had begun a new life by converting to Christianity, one who had set up on a new farm, or something like that. One of the reasons it's so common may be that it can mean so many things. (It's also extremely common among Czechs, although they spell it with a v instead of a w).

> I have searched and searched to find some info on my mother’s
> family name...her name is Lydia Wierzejewski...she was born in
> Hindenburg in 1931 (Hindenburg OS is now called Zabrze) and
> moved into Nothern Germany doing the Blitzkrieg.

In Polish Wierzejewski is pronounced roughly "v'yeah-zhay-EFF-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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 219 Polish citizens by that name. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Leszno 44, Poznan 53, and Zielona Gora 50. 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 shows up most often in western Poland, in the region formerly ruled by Germany. However you don't need that information, since you know where your mother came from.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says that, like most names in the form X-ewski, this one generally refers to a family connection at some point centuries ago with a place beginning with the X part. In other words, we'd expect this name to mean "one from Wierzeje or Wierzejewo" or some place with a similar name.

Rymut specifically mentions Wierzeja, in Duszniki district of Wielkopolskie province, not too far from the city of Poznan (called Posen by Germans). I don't think we can conclude the name Wierzejewski always must mean "one from Wierzeja"; it means there is research that indicates some Wierzejewskis came from there. Perhaps all of them did, but only detailed research into the history of all Wierzejewskis could prove that.

If you'd like to see a map showing where Wierzeja is, go to www.pilot.pl and key in WIERZEJA in the box; then click on "Pokaz miasto." You'll get a map with a red circle showing where Wierzeja is, as well as a smaller map showing where that area is in relation to Poland as a whole.

To sum up, this surname is not particularly common, and appears mostly in west-central Poland. It probably refers to the name of a village or settlement the family was connected with; if noble, they owned an estate there, and if peasant, they lived and worked there. The name is especially likely to refer to the village of Wierzeja, not too far from Poznan; but in a given instance it might refer to some other place with a name beginning Wierzej-. The only way to prove the matter for sure is through tracing the family history as far back as possible, which may uncover information that sheds light on exactly when and how this name came to be associated with that family.

> Just wanted to see if you have any information on the origin
> or meaning of my ancestry surnames:Wojda and Lapinski
[Lapinski is covered in a separate note.]

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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 5,923 Polish citizens named Wojda, pronounced roughly "VOY-dah." They lived all over the country, with the largest numbers in the following provinces: Warsaw 1,559, Kielce 352, Siedlce 351, and Skierniewice 595. 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 found most often in the central to east-central part of the country.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions Wojda in his book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles]. He says it appears in records as far back as 1478. As with many names, there are several possible derivations. One is from Hungarian wojda, which derives from Polish wojewoda," literally "war-leader," a term used for the ruler of a large area, also sometimes used as a Slavic equivalent of the Latin-based term "palatine" -- in Polish the term województwo, "province," originally meant "territory of a wojewoda." In fact we have the English term voivode from that word, although it's not used very often. In any case, a number of Polish surnames actually turn out to have been influenced by Hungarian, since there was a lot of contact between Hungary and Poland over the centuries. Wojda can come from the Hungarian adaptation of the Polish term for a palatine or war-leader.

But Rymut says Wojda can also come from first names beginning Woj-, such as Wojciech or Wojsl~aw, which ultimately come from the noun woj, "warrior." Thus Wojda could have developed as a nickname or affectionate short form of Wojciech or Wojsl~aw, much as Eddie developed from Edward in English.

Both derivations, from Hungarian wojda and from old given names beginning Woj-, are plausible. The only way to determine whether that derivation, or the one from place names, is more correct would be by tracing the family history as far back as possible. At some point you might uncover information that sheds light on the matter. Without more details of that sort, it is impossible to tell from the name alone which derivation applies in a given case.

> I'm searching for information about my ancestors whose
> family's name is : Wojtasik.
> They were born in Poland in 1906 and 1915, and I have no
> information left about their ancestors there.

I'm afraid I have no access to information on your ancestors. All I can tell you is what the name Wojtasik means. The ending -ik means "son of, kin of," so Wojtasik would mean "son of Wojtas, kin of Wojtas."

According to Polish surname expert Kazimierz Rymut's book Nazwiska Polaków [The Surnames of Poles], names beginning Wojt- can come either from the noun wójt, "local official, executive officer of a gmina," or from short forms of the first name Wojciech. Thus Wojtas could mean "kin of the wójt" or it could mean "kin of Wojciech."

So your ancestors may have been related to the local administrative official, or they may have been related to a man named Wojciech. There is no way to tell which is true -- only research into the family history might shed light on that.

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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 6,267 Polish citizens named Wojtasik. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Kielce 625, Katowice 562, Czestochowa 461, Kalisz 429, Warszawa 428, Lodz 337, Wroclaw 304, and Bydgoszcz 300. 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 found all over the country. It is particularly common in southcentral to southeastern Poland, but not to the extent that one can conclude a given Wojtasik family came from there. The truth is, a Wojtasik family could come from just about anywhere in Poland. Again, only by tracing the family's history in records might one determine where a particular Wojtasik family came from.

> Could you please tell me the origin and meaning of the name Krasecki.

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 and is now online as a searchable database at http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html), there were 80 Polish citizens named KRASECKI. The largest numbers lived in the following provinces: Koszalin 16, and Pila 25. 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.

If the family you're researching was Jewish, of course, it's unlikely very many of the Kraseckis living in Poland as of 1990 were Jewish; much more valuable would be data from before the Holocaust. But I know of no source for data from that period. I like to include the 1990 data on surname frequency and distribution because sometimes it does tell us something useful -- but in many cases it is irrelevant or of no great value.

Polish name expert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions KRASECKI in his book _Nazwiska Polakow_ [The Surnames of Poles]. He says the name refers to a family connection with any of several villages named Kraska and Kraski; in other words, it can mean "one from Kraska" or "one from Kraski." From the name alone it is impossible to tell which of those places the surname refers to in a given family's case; only research into the family history might uncover facts that would shed light on the matter.

Enter "Krask" as the place you're looking for, select "All Central/Eastern European Countries" as the where to search (unless you're certain the family came from territory now in Poland), and select "Search using 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 that region with names starting Krask-. 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.

Incidentally, you might find it useful to search for this name in Avotaynu's Consolidated Jewish Surname Index [CJSI], a database of some 370,000 surnames, mostly Jewish, found in 31 different databases. The surnames are presented in Soundex order; for each surname, it identifies in which of the databases the name can be found, with a link to additional information about each database. CJSI is located at:

I suggest finding the box that says "Enter the surname to be searched." Type in [KRAS]ECKI. The brackets restrict matches to names that begin KRAS-, and thus avoid the confusion of dealing with the many other names that are phonetically similar. Even using the brackets, you will see a great many names beginning Kras-, and most will not be relevant to your research. But some might be, and it may be helpful to see them. For instance, the surnames KRASIECKI and KRASICKI are very similar to KRASECKI and could easily be confused with it. When studying surnames, it is advisable to take note of other names that sound similar, because such names were often confused.

If you wish to restrict the matches even further, search for [KRASECK]. That will produce only KRASECKA and KRASECKI (the version with -cka is the feminine form).

==========

To: Hunter Wroblewski <huntman_h@yahoo.com>

> i am having trouble on finding the meaning of my surname.
> it is Wroblewski

In Polish this name is normally spelled with an accent over the O,
WRÓBLEWSKI, pronounced roughly "v'roob-LEFF-skee." It's one of the more common surnames -- according to a Polish government agency database, as of 1990 there were over 36,000 Polish citizens by this name. People by this
name lived all over the country, with no particular concentration in any one
area.

The name comes ultimately from the noun _wróbel_, "sparrow." But as Polish
name expert Kazimierz Rymut notes in his book _Nazwiska Polakow_ [The
Surnames of Poles], this surname, which appears in records as early as 1394,
usually refers to a family connection with a place named Wróblewo or
Wróblowice or something similar. Those names would mean "[place] of
sparrows" or "[place] of the sons of the Sparrow," perhaps referring to an
owner or founder of a settlement or estate nicknamed Wróbel. There also
places in Poland named Wróble and Wróblew and Wróblowa. All in all there are more than a dozen villages and settlements this surname could refer to, all
bearing names that indicate some connection with sparrows, or with an owner
or founder nicknamed "Sparrow" for some reason.

Since there are a number of places this surname can refer to, there's no way
to tell from the name alone which village or settlement a given family came
from. Your Wróblewskis might come from one place, someone else's from
another. The only way to establish which place the name refers to is by
tracing the family history as far back as possible. If you can determine
exactly where your ancestors came from, it might then become possible to
connect them with a specific place named Wróblewo or Wróblowice or Wróble or Wróblew or something similar.