Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 1:38 pm
Post subject: Last name spelling variations on parish records
Is it common for last names to be spelled wrong on parish records? I am researching the surname Wrzos, which I see a lot of references to in the parish records for my ancestral hometown. But every now and then, I see a reference to Wrosz. I am not familiar enough with how Polish sounds to tell if these are very similar.
Was there any record of how last names were spelled except for how they were listed in the parish records? Is it possible that the priest just misheard the last name or transcribed it incorrectly? What do you think?
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BasiaD
Joined: 26 May 2013
Replies: 4
Location: PolandBack to top |
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 4:16 pm
Post subject:
Hi GinaDana,
yes, it is quite common, especially for farmers or peasants. Priests wrote their names as they heard them. They didn't bring much attention to them (unlike to nobles' last names). Peasants' last names were commonly misspelled until the beginning of 20th century.
Wrzos sounds like [Vshoss]
Wrosz sounds like [Vrosh]
Greetings from Poland,
Barbara
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Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:14 pm
Post subject:
Thanks for the info, Barbara! There's a whole set of ancestors I ignored because I thought they were a different family, but know it seems they're one and the same.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:25 am
Post subject:
Gina,
If you are talking about records issued on parishes outside Poland, I agree.
If you are talking about polish church records, a bit of caution would be recommended.
I have about 2,000 polish records of my ancestors, who were peasants, and only three of them the name Magrowski was misspelled as Magroski.
More, in a small village a Magrowski family lived, there were also the Magierowski family and the Majerowicz family. These two families had nothing to do with mine, though the spellings are pretty much close.
I don't know of possible variations to Wrosz but rather than believe that a Worsz is the same family, I would check if the family members' names match.
Gilberto
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BasiaD
Joined: 26 May 2013
Replies: 4
Location: PolandBack to top |
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:51 am
Post subject:
Hi Gilberto,
firstly congratulations on your family records collection! It's quite impressing.
Back to the topic - you were very lucky that your family name wasn't misspelled. The problem intensified especially in following situations:
Migration - one travelled to new place, his last name wasn't known to the local priest. Peasants usually couldn't write, so they couldn't tell him how to write their last name.
Time - the earlier times, the more peasants' last names were rather nicknames. So it was very common that Barańczak was a son of Baran and Majchrzyk was a son of Majcher.
Difficult pronounciation - it is just like with Magrowski, it sounds almost like Magroski.
Prestige - surnames ending with -ski were characteristic for nobles, so sometimes people just presented themselves as Sosnowski instead of Sosna.
New priest in the parish - he didn't know local last names so he wrote them as he thought.
Jews - this is very complicated because till the beginning of 19th century their surnames weren't hereditary. The most popular (in Poland) was a patronimical surname system, where one had last name built from one's father's name. So if grandfather was e.g. Mosze Abrahamowicz, then the father was e.g. Herszek Moszkowicz (last name Moszkowicz from father's first name Mosze) and the son could be Izaak Herszkowicz (Herszkowicz from Herszek).
Other reasons - sometimes people just changed their last names for various reasons. I have once researched the Jerzak family that turned out to be a Dobosz family originally. Totally different! Grandfather was a Dobosz, father was a Dobosz vel Jerzak, son was a Jerzak vel Dobosz and his children were either Jerzak or Dobosz. That is quite confusing 
There could also be some other reasons, but describing all of them will make this reply too long.
The most ridiculous case I had was about a woman who appeared in records with following surnames: Jamroch, Ambroh, Ambrożyk and even Miros. Yes, for sure it was one woman! I have all the documents that prove it.
So I'd say that it really was common, but dependable on the time, place and other circumstances. Yet, before treating someone as a family member, the relation should be proved with records.
Greetings,
Barbara
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Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 6:40 am
Post subject: Surname Wrzos
GinaDana:
There were many Wrzos immigrants who settled in Minnesota. See the pgsa.org website. Look under databases and scan for the databases Minnesota baptisms and marriages. Try the PWEA Insurance record database also for Wrzos or variations of that surname.
Rys-Lynx
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