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starshadow
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:50 am Post subject: Opinions about these Polish surnames?

Here are some surnames from my tree, from the part of my family which hails from Southern Poland, close to the border with Slovakia. Do they represent any specific Polish dialect? Are they all basically Polish? Or do any appear to be Slovakian, or anything other than Polish? I've tried to add all the diacritics correctly, but I may have missed a few.

I'm also interested in what some of them might mean in Polish, and why they were given to certain people as surnames. Thanks.

Skaradek, Kuczała, Polan, Baran, Ptak, Kowalik, Zaczyk, Klimczak, Skoczen, Cieslak, Piętka, Potoczni, Jazefiak, Kosciołek, Skolniak, Warchol, Maciuskowna, Frączek, Kruchanonka, Cępa

Last edited by starshadow on Wed Jul 29, 2015 11:00 am; edited 1 time in total

Magroski49
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:47 am Post subject: Re: Opinions about these Polish surnames?

starshadow wrote:

Here are some surnames from my tree, from the part of my family which hails from Southern Poland, close to the border with Slovakia. Do they represent any specific Polish dialect? Are they all basically Polish? Or do any appear to be Slovakian, or anything other than Polish? I've tried to add all the diacritics correctly, but I may have missed a few.

I'm also interested in what some of them might mean in Polish, and why they were given to certain people as surnames. Thanks.

Skaradek, Kuczała, Polan, Baran, Ptak, Kowalik, Zaczyk, Klimczak, Skoczen, Cieslak, Piętka, Potoczni, Jazefiak, Kosciołek, Skolniak, Warchol, Macius-(ending unclear?), Frączek, Kruchan-(ending unclear?), Cępa

I don't have an answer to your question but would like to suggest you two websites:
http://www.polishroots.org/Research/SurnameSearch/SurnameOrigins/tabid/117/Default.aspx
and
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44

Gilberto

starshadow
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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:07 am Post subject:

Thanks Gilberto!

The reason why I ask, is because I've been getting so many DNA matches from just over the border into Slovakia, the Stara Lubovna area. I'm wondering if any of the surnames in my tree might sound Slovakian, and might be the reason for my Slovakian matches. Or maybe Slovakian names aren't so different from Polish, and there's no real way to tell?

Elzbieta Porteneuve
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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 4:16 am Post subject:

starshadow wrote:

Jumping into conversation.

Slovak and Polish languages have common roots, you do not easily understand each other, but sometimes you spot the known meaning.

I took all your names, here it is.
Best,
Elzbieta
==

Skaradek: = in Polish Szkaradek, etymology szkarada= eyesore, szkaradek is a little szkarada

Kuczała: = etymology old Polish, siedzieć w kucki=sit in a squatting
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=811
Kuczała - 1548 w grupie nazwisk pochodzących od podstawy kucz-, por. staropolskie kuczeć ‘siedzieć w kucki’, staropolskie kucza, kuczka ‘chata, szałas, buda’.

Polan: = obvious Poland, etymology pole=land planted with crops or pasture

Baran: = sheep

Ptak: = bird

Kowalik: = a small songbird, etymology kowal=smith

Zaczyk: = etymology żak=student, pupil; curiously no reference to French, żak=Jacques
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=558
Zaczyk - od żak ‘student, uczeń’, dawniej też ‘duchowny mający niższe święcenia’.

Klimczak: = Czech (Klíma) and southeastern German: from a vernacular form of the personal name Kliment or Klemens

Skoczeń: = diacritic added; etymology skok=jump

Cieślak: = etymology cieśla=carpenter

Piętka: = etymology pięta=heel

Potoczni: = etymology potok=stream, all Slavic languages

Jazefiak: = should be Józefiak, from Józef=Joseph

Kosciołek: = etymology kosciół=church, kosciółek=small church

Skolniak: = etymology szkoła=school, similar for Slavic languages
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=825
Skolnik - w grupie nazwisk pochodzących od szkoła ‘instytucja oświatowa’.

Warchol: = etymology (old word) wichrzyciel=disputes maker; wichura=storm
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=555
Warchol - od warchoł ‘wichrzyciel’, dawniej też ‘zamęt’, warcholić ‘wywoływać spory’, może też od imienia złożonego Warcisław.

Maciuskowna: = suffix –owna, daughter of Maciuś; Maciuś is one of variants of Maciej=Mathias

Frączek: =etymology Francesco, St. Francis of Assisi; it comes from Francs, French ancestors
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=770
Frączek - 1411 od imienia Franciszek. Imię, znane w Polsce od XIII wieku, wywodzi się od nazwania Jana Bernardone, Francesco, znanego później jako św. Franciszek z Asyzu. Nazwanie pochodzi od franciscus ‘pochodzący z plemienia Franków’.

Kruchanonka: = suffix –onka, wife of Kruchon; etymology kruchy=brittle

Cępa: =etymology old Polish, siedzieć w kucki=sit in a squatting
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=532
Cępa - w grupie nazwisk pochodzących od staropolskiego czępieć ‘siedzieć w kucki’

==

starshadow
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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 10:58 am Post subject:

Thanks Elzbieta! This is some great information. Exactly what I needed.

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