Steve’s Genealogy Blog

In grade school I always enjoyed the day that came every year when our teachers would ask what our mothers’ maiden names were. My mother’s maiden surname - Niedziałkowski - always got everyone’s attention because it was so unusual. My own surname - Dańko - hardly raised an eyebrow.

Not until I began studying my family history in the late 1990s did I begin to realize that those names might have some meaning behind them. After all, a name is a name right? Fairly soon after I started researching my ancestry seriously, the second edition of Fred Hoffman’s book on Polish surnames was published, and boy, was this a godsend!

Categories of Polish Surnames

In his book on Polish surnames, Fred Hoffman divides and discusses the surnames according to five general categories:

1. Personal Names and Coats of Arms
2. Toponyms (Place Names)
3. Occupations
4. Features or Objects (including verbs, animals, trees, plants, food, drink)
5. Foreign Names

Polish Surnames in My Family Tree 

The surnames in my family tree span all of these five groups. Here is a list of some of them with their origins and meanings:

Bal: bal- “to tell tales”, first name Baltazar, Hungarian personal name Bal
Bonislawski: village Bonisław, altered name Będzisław
Chmielewski: chmiel “hops”
Chotkowski: place names Chotków, Chotkowo
Chruścicki: chrust “dry twigs”
Dańko: dan- “given” or name element from Daniel
Dymek: dym “smoke” or name element from Dymitr
Dziura / Dziurzyński: dziura “hole”
Głowacz: głowa “head”
Goliński: goły “bare, naked”, golić “to shave”, or place name Golina
Grabowski: grab “hornbeam”, grabić “to rob”, grabie “rake”, old first name Grab, or toponym
Iwaniec: Ukrainian name Ivan = Polish name Jan (John)
Izbicki: izba “hut, chamber”
Jach: name element from Jan, Jakub, Jachym, etc.
Jara: jar- “sharp, strict”, jary “of the spring, robust, young”
Jedliński: jodła “fir tree”
Kolarowira: kolarz “wheelwright”
Malon: mały “small”, or a name root as in Małomir, also popular in toponyms
Marcinkiewicz: first name Marcin from the Latin Martinus (of or relating to Mars)
Markiewicz: first name Marek from the Latin Marcus (Mark)
Milewski: ancient names Miłobor, Miłosław with the root miły “dear, beloved”
Mossakowski: name Mojsław or Mojżesz (Moses)
Muszynski: mucha “housefly”
Niedziałkowski: nie działać “to do nothing”, niedziela “Sunday” (day of doing nothing)
Nosarzewski: nos “nose”
Panowski: pan “master, bridegroom”, names Pankracy, Pantelejmon, Opanas
Pomaski: village of Pomaski
Pszczółkowski: pszczoła “bee”
Ranow: rana “wound”, rano “early”, or name Ranimir
Skowroński: skowronek “lark’ (a kind of bird)
Ślimak: ślimak “snail, slug” or “slow fellow”
Sowa: sowa “owl”
Szymański: name Szymon (Simon) (Hebrew), meaning “Hear my affliction”
Tropiło / Trupiło: trop “trace, trail, scent”, tropić “to track”
Wojnowski: wojna “war, struggle”
Zygmuntowicz: name Zygmunt, Germanic *sigis “victory” + *mundo “protect, guard”

SOURCE: Hoffman, William F. 1998. Polish surnames: origins and meanings. Chicago: Polish Genealogical Society of America.

Evolution of Polish Surnames 

I am often amazed at the number of different surnames used in Poland. Because fixed surnames are a rather recent phenomenon in Poland (and elsewhere), most not being fixed until the 18th century, many surnames have developed through something of a divergent evolution, where a surname such as Markowicz might diverge into Markowicz and Markiewicz over time.

In fact, in addition to Markowicz and Markiewicz, a large number of names derive from the given name Marek and the numbers of individuals with these surnames in Poland in 1990 varied greatly, with only 1 person using the surname Marec, but with 16,202 people using the surname Marek. And, of course, not all the people in Poland with the same or similar surnames are related to each other. Many surnames arose independently all over Poland, resulting in a convergent evolution of surnames.

Many of these Polish surnames present some difficulty for native speakers of English. I’m often asked “How is that name pronounced?” The short answer a native speaker of Polish would give is “Just the way it’s spelled”, but that’s little comfort to most people. My mother’s maiden name, Niedziałkowski, is mispronounced by nearly all native speakers of English.

These difficulties of pronouncing the surname Niedziałkowski has led to a divergent evolution of the surname among my relatives in the United States, resulting in the surnames Niedzialkowski, Niedzialkoski, Niedzial, and even Newman, all in one family line.

My own mother, while in her teens, briefly changed her surname to Nigel.

But that’s another story.

Copyright © 2007 Stephen J. Danko

Józefa Skowroński (Josephine Skowronski) married Czesław Pszczółkowski (Chester Pszczolkowski).  They are buried in St. John’s Cemetery in Gardner, Worcester County, Massachusetts with James Paul Carlberg.

The Monument for Chester Pszczolkowski, Josephine Skowronski, and James Paul Carlberg - Front

Photograph copyright 2007 by Louise Gagnon. Used with permission.

The Monument for Chester Pszczolkowski, Josephine Skowronski, and James Paul Carlberg - Back

Photograph copyright 2007 by Louise Gagnon. Used with permission.

SOURCE: Chester Pszczolkowski, Josephine Skowronski, and James Paul Carlberg grave marker, St. John’s Cemetery, Section Unknown (Gardner, Worcester County), Massachusetts, photographed by Louise Gagnon, 12 Mar 2007.

The front of the monument reads:

PSZCZOLSKOWSKI

The back of the monument reads:

CHESTER PSZCZOLKOWSKI
1887-1959

HIS WIFE
JOSEPHINE SKOWRONSKI
1891-1989

JAMES PAUL CARLBERG
AUG 7, 1971

With this monument, I’ve published photographs of the monuments of all the children of Małgorzata (Margaret) Podeszwa.

Józefa Skowrońska, the daughter of Franciszek Skowroński and Małgorzata Podeszwa, married Czesław Pszczółkowski in 1908 in Gardner, Massachusetts.

The Marriage Record for Józefa Skowrońska and Czesław Pszczółkowski

SOURCE: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Marriages Registered in the Town of Gardner for the Year 1908. Volume 580, Page 311, No. 90. Czesław Pszczółkowski and Józefa Skowrońska. http://www.newenglandancestors.org.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the Marriage Record for Józefa Skowrońska and Czesław Pszczółkowski.  The record states that:

• The marriage was recorded in Volume 580, Page 311, Number 90 of the marriage registers for the town of Gardner, Massachusetts in 1908
• Azislaw Psczilkowski, age 21, residing in Gardner and working as a Sander, was born in Russia, the son of John Psczilkowski and Julija Korder
• Jozefa Skoweronska, age 17 residing in Gardner and working as a Weaver, was born in Russia, the daughter of Kazimierz Skoweronska and Adela Podeska
• The couple was married on 26 Oct 1908 by John F. McDermott, a Roman Catholic Clergyman in Gardner
• This was the first marriage for each of them
• The marriage was recorded on 27 Oct 1908

As I’ve often found in these hundred-year-old vital records from Massachusetts, this record includes a number of errors:

• Azislaw Psczilkowski should be spelled Czesław Pszczółkowski
• Jozefa Skoweronska should be spelled Józefa Skowrońska
• John Psczilkowski should be spelled Jan Pszczółkowski
• Julija Korder should be spelled Julianna [Kordek?]
• Kazmierz Skoweronska should be Franciszek Skowroński
• Adela Podeska should be [Małgorzata?] Podeszwa

All other records I have for the Skowroński family indicate that the given name of Józefa’s father should be Franciszek, not Kazmierz.  Józefa’s mother should probably be Małgorzata, not Adela, although most records show her name anglicized to Margrette.

Why would the names of Józefa’s parents be so far off?  Perhaps one reason is that both of her parents were deceased at the time of her marriage.  Her father died when she was very young and her mother died earlier in 1908.  In addition, Józefa was only 17 years old when she was married.  Perhaps Józefa simply didn’t know the correct names of her parents.