PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Meaning of Slapinski and Wabnitz

Slav — Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:32 pm

Author: Slav

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:32 pm

You're welcome, Henry!
Gilberto, it hasn't occurred to me. There is actually a place called Wąbnice, in the region that belonged to Germany before 1945: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C4%85bnice

And, according to Prof. Rymut in his 1991 book Nazwiska Polaków (Polish Surnames), the name Wabnic (pronounced practically the same as Wabnitz) is related to names such as Wabich, Wabik, Wabiszewski, which are derived from wabić meaning "to lure".

Re: Meaning of Slapinski and Wabnitz

Henry1949 — Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:04 am

Author: Henry1949

Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:04 am

Hello Slav & Gilberto,

Wow - you guys are quick.

I will check out the web sites - this should keep me busy for a few days.

Thank you so very much for this information - it' very much appreciated.

Regards,
Henry

Re: Meaning of Slapinski and Wabnitz

Anonymous — Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:07 pm

Author: Anonymous

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:07 pm

Slav,

Could Wabnitz be the germanized form for Wabnice or Wabniec?

Gilberto

slapinski and Wabnitz

Slav — Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:56 pm

Author: Slav

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2012 4:56 pm

Wabnitz is definitely of German origin - no wonder that 18 people with this surname lived in south-western Poland around the year 2000:
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Wabnitz

As for Slapinski, I believe that the exact spelling is Słapiński/Słapińska or Szłapiński/Szłapińska,
where -ski is the male ending and -ska is female, as you surely know.

Szłapczyński/Szłapczyńska amd Słapczyński/Słapczyńska are also related forms.

According to William F. Hoffman, they originate from the word szłapa meaning "hat, head-covering" or szłapać, "to walk, tread" - both are rather outdated words, not used in standard modern-day Poluish.

Here is the geography of the Słapiński/Słapińska surname:
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/S%C5%82api%C5%84ski

And Szłapiński/Szłapińska:
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Sz%C5%82api%C5%84ski

You can read a bit more about the Moikrewni (My Relatives) database here: http://forum.polishorigins.com/viewtopic.php?t=1551

I wrote there that the Moikrewni surname search does not support wildcards, and you have to type the exact spelling, including diacritic marks (so-called Polish letters). This applies to two letters in your case: the L and N, which can be spelled as Ł and Ń.

If your keyboard does not have these "Polish letters", you can use the virtual keyboard of the PolishOrigins Databases tool.

Here is a search for Słapiński:
http://polishorigins.com/databases/index?s=S%C5%82api%C5%84ski

If you would like to hear how the surnames are pronounced, you can use this website
Listen to Słapiński: http://www.ivona.com/pl/?tk=jZOBxt2Xeq
and Szłapczyński: http://www.ivona.com/pl/?tk=7kdellLOV0

By the way, there is an excellent French harmonica player - Greg Zlap, born in Warsaw as Grzegorz Szłapczyński - here is an article about him in French
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Szlapczynski

I hope you will find this information useful.

Sources

Slapinski and Wabnitz - Family Surnames

Henry1949 — Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:51 pm

Author: Henry1949

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:51 pm

Good afternoon,

I have exhausted all my avenues regarding the origins and meaning of family names of 'SLAPINSKI' and 'WABNITZ'.

It would be very much appreciated if anyone can provide me with some information.

Thank you and regards,
Henry