PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Surnames - what is the correct Polish spelling??

megsiek86 — Mon May 26, 2014 11:17 pm

Author: megsiek86

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 11:17 pm

Elzbieta and Dave,

Thank you both so much for your help!!

Megan.

Re: Skorska, Skurski: what is the correct Polish spelling??

Elzbieta Porteneuve — Mon May 26, 2014 5:08 pm

Author: Elzbieta Porteneuve

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 5:08 pm

Megan,

Dave's advise is very good.

I looked on your records, and indeed, it's Skórska and Skurski.

The distribution of these names is:
393 Skurski
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Skurski
1246 Skórski
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Sk%C3%B3rski
13164 Sikorski
https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Sikorski

Best,
Elzbieta

Surnames - what is the correct Polish spelling??

megsiek86 — Mon May 26, 2014 12:33 pm

Author: megsiek86

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 12:33 pm

Hi Dave,

Thank you very much for your input. I will do as you suggest in offering my explanation for "best fit" in my genealogy for future generations. At the moment, I am leaning towards Skórski as the most likely. Skurski sounds much the same to my ear and Sikorski sounds way too different and only occurs on one record. However, as I do more research (I'm yet to hit the marriages or deaths), I may find a more definitive answer.

Megan.

Re: Skorska, Skurski: what is the correct Polish spelling??

dnowicki — Mon May 26, 2014 12:16 pm

Author: dnowicki

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 12:16 pm

Megan,

Once you eliminate the ending variations required by Polish grammar there are three variations of the surname, Skorski, Skurski and Sikorski. As Elzbieta wrote, Skorski and Skurski sound very much the same. In my opinion, Sikorski probably is a variant which has it origin in enunciation. If one clearly enunciates, "Si" is pronounced as a separate syllable. If it is not clearly enunciated, it can be heard not as a distinct syllable, but it sort of slides together with the rest of the name. So what is the "correct" version of the name. If your ancestors were illiterate as so many peasants were at that time, they did not know how to spell their surname so either Skorski or Skurski could have been the "correct" version of the surname in the 19th Century.
My suggestion to handle your confusion would be to employ some of the methodology used to analyze manuscripts to determine the"best" reading. In determining a "critical" text, an editor examines the various manuscript copies of a text, chooses what he or she determines to be the "best" reading of the variations found in the manuscripts and lists the variations and the reasons for the choice of the "best" reading in a critical apparatus. In the case of determining your 4th great grandmother's surname you would make your choice based on the reasons you find most compelling. As a note you would explain the reasons for your choice and then list the variations found in the various records with whatever explanatory notes you would consider important. Using this methodology will not provide a definitive spelling of the surname, but it will provide useful information for anyone who uses your family genealogy work in the future and giving future researchers a clear explanation the variations as well as the reasons you determined one version to be the "best" variant.

Hope you may find some part of this post useful.

Dave

Surnames - what is the correct Polish spelling??

megsiek86 — Mon May 26, 2014 8:34 am

Author: megsiek86

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 8:34 am

Dear Elzbieta,

Thank you for a quick reply! I have attached two files for you. The records are from Poland - they are church records primarily in Latin. However, I want to be authentic to what their names are in Polish. The first time I came across Franciszka was in her grandson Łukasz's birth record (the first attached below). This spells her surname as Skorska, with no accent on the o. Her son Bartłomiej's birth record offers her name Francisca de patre Skurski - Franciszka of father Skurski, which as a female would make her surname Skurska. Franciszka's own birth record uses the o, her sister's uses the u, and her brother's birth record is the only one that lists the surname as Sikorski. You can see why I am confused!
Thank you for your help. It is much appreciated.

Megan.

Re: Surnames - what is the correct Polish spelling??

Elzbieta Porteneuve — Mon May 26, 2014 5:10 am

Author: Elzbieta Porteneuve

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 5:10 am

megsiek86 wrote:

Hello everybody!! I haven't visited the site in such a long time (life gets in the way ) However, my Polish research has been progressing slowly. There is one thing I am stuck on, so I thought I would ask those more knowledgeable out there for help!
I have been trawling through records from my grandfather's town and have discovered my 4th-great grandmother Franciszka's birth record. However, on every record I find with her and her family's surname, it is spelt differently every time. I know that this is on the part of the priest who writes it down. I would like to know what the correct spelling is in Polish. I have seen it spelt Skorska, Skorski, Skurska, Skurski and Sikorski. My mother says the only spelling she recognises is the last one - but I've only seen it spelt that way once.
Thanks in advance for any assistance,
Megan.

Megan,

Polish names have a meaning. Your list, besides gender (-a) and (-i) version [yes, we have gender in Polish, and declensions], has 3 names with different meaning:

1. Sikorski (male) or Sikorska (female) - comes from sikorka, which is a small bird, parus in Latin (I guess), titmouse in English, mésange in French
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufted_Titmouse
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9sange

2. Skórski (male) or Skórska (female) - comes from skóra, which is a skin

3. Skurski (male) or Skurski (female) - have no idea, that version looks suspect for me. It could be orthography ("u" and "ó" spells identically, but once you are outside of Poland, it is different), it could be anything else, stankiewicze.com http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=825 says it could be from the name of village Skursko, today Kursko, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kursko

Unless you show me original Polish records (not scribed in the US, but in Poland), I cannot demonstrate anything.
However I do believe that emigrants know their origin, and I give great value to your mother advice.

Best,
Elzbieta

Surnames - what is the correct Polish spelling??

megsiek86 — Mon May 26, 2014 2:12 am

Author: megsiek86

Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 2:12 am

Hello everybody!! I haven't visited the site in such a long time (life gets in the way ) However, my Polish research has been progressing slowly. There is one thing I am stuck on, so I thought I would ask those more knowledgeable out there for help!
I have been trawling through records from my grandfather's town and have discovered my 4th-great grandmother Franciszka's birth record. However, on every record I find with her and her family's surname, it is spelt differently every time. I know that this is on the part of the priest who writes it down. I would like to know what the correct spelling is in Polish. I have seen it spelt Skorska, Skorski, Skurska, Skurski and Sikorski. My mother says the only spelling she recognises is the last one - but I've only seen it spelt that way once.
Thanks in advance for any assistance,
Megan.