PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: can someone help me find any info on the surname Hejnowski?

Elzbieta Porteneuve — Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:46 am

Author: Elzbieta Porteneuve

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:46 am

May I add to Gilberto:

https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Hejnowski

190 persons today, and yes indeed, Gdansk area (in a large sens).

https://nazwiska-polskie.pl/Chejnowski

30 Chejnowski

Concerning the meaning of Hejnowski: my first association is with hejnał, and the most famous Polish one, hejnał mariacki, the one we have been listening to for years, at radio, at 12:00. The English translation is "bugle call".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Trumpet_Call

http://pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/hejna%C5%82

John,

"normally "owski" are toponyms" - That is not true.
Toponym is the general term for any place or geographical entity, while the Polish suffix -ski or -ska is mostly related to personal names.

Best,
Elzbieta

Re: can someone help me find any info on the surname Hejnowski?

Anonymous — Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:34 am

Author: Anonymous

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 6:34 am

John,

According to http://www.stankiewicz.e.pl/index.php?kat=44&sub=776
Hejnowski - od niemieckich nazw osobowych Hein, Hin, te od germańskich imion na Hagan .

As far as I know, CH and H sound the same in Polish, so there is a chance your surname could be Hejnowski or Chejnowski (as it is, for instance, in Hojnacki and Chojnacki).

Get to know about the old country is, to say the least, a fascinating experience. If you haven't done it yet, I would recommend you read Norman Davies' book God's playground vol. I and II.

As to the place of origin, we would need to know the first name of your ancestors, in order to make a search.

Gilberto

can someone help me find any info on the surname Hejnowski?

johnx0138 — Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:18 pm

Author: johnx0138

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 10:18 pm

Hi there, I'm a 3rd generation American who knows basically nothing of the old country. I've been recently trying to find out more about my Polish heritage. The oldest living relative on my father's side is my grandfather, 88 years old, he was born here but his parents were from Poland. He basically knows nothing about what our name means or even what part of Poland his parents were from because he was the youngest of 10 kids and his parents ended up dying off when he was a rather young man right around the same time he was serving in the US Army during WWII. Anyway, my last name is Hejnowski and as far as we know it wasn't changed upon my family's arrival to the United States in the early 1900's. So far the only information i could find is that it may have originated in Gdansk and might come from Germanic names like Hagen and Hagar, but I find that idea rather confusing because normally "owski" are toponyms. Any further insight about its origin and what it may be would be awesome.

thanks.