The BEST Guide to POLAND
Unanswered  |  Archives 
 
 
User: Guest

Home / Genealogy  % width posts: 85

Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?)


jon357 74 | 21,747
16 Jan 2014 #31
No. It didn't really happen like that and in any case you'd have known already.
theguythatstart
16 Jan 2014 #32
Would you say what year they moved to poland?
jon357 74 | 21,747
16 Jan 2014 #33
Are you sure they're Armenian?

If there's an Armenian connection at all, and that's far from certain, one of your ancestors could have moved there any time from the 17th Century onwards. And for a big chunk of that time, Poland wasn't on the map. You'd need parish records, and even then, it could have been just one guy who moved. And not necessarily directly to PL.

Do you use ancestry.com?
theguythatstart
16 Jan 2014 #34
No I don't look earlier, a guy did a research and found out my surname is Armenian
jon357 74 | 21,747
16 Jan 2014 #35
A quick look on the internet suggests it may once have been Peŕnat'enc. Though you'd have to go back many centuries since they stopped being Armenian.
theguythatstart
16 Jan 2014 #36
Pernatenc?
jon357 74 | 21,747
16 Jan 2014 #37
Yes. Just google 'bernatowicz armenian'. It comes up on the first page.
theguythatstart
26 Jan 2014 #38
Merged: Bernatowicz surname (Lithuanian?)

Is Bernatowicz Lithuanian?
Snowflake - | 71
26 Jan 2014 #39
May be but may be not. It can be Czech. Lithuanian surnames have -ys ending.
theguythatstart
27 Jan 2014 #40
Really? Tell me more
theguythatstart
27 Jan 2014 #42
It could be Czech
lunacy - | 73
27 Jan 2014 #43
Well - sources?
It could be "Czech" if some of them moved to Bohemia at some point.

Most reliable sources show that Bernatowicz was the surname of one of the oldest merchant clans that lived in the area that is western Ukraine now - they moved there from Armenia in the medieval times and "polonized" their surname with time. The source I found before dates it back even to the year 1400 (when two brothers of Bernatowicz surname funded a chapel in Lviv).
Someonerandom - | 6
28 Jan 2014 #44
Well I got the surname of my granddad. He was either belarusian or Lithuanian or maybe Ukrainian.
theguythatstart
2 Feb 2014 #45
So its armenian? Cool!
lunacy - | 73
2 Feb 2014 #46
Yes, seems that the origins of that name are Armenian. Here's one text in English according to which the original form was Peŕnat'enc: lehahayer.com/uploads/Lehahayer%20en.pdf (on p.4)

I only found other sources in Polish (but I suppose you could write to any Polish-Armenian community for more documents if you're interested).

Here's a bulletin from 1998, a whole page there is dedicated to the Bernatowicz coat of arms:
otk.armenia.pl/new/biuletyn-pdf/Biuletyn-11.pdf[/url] (on p.18)

Besides that I stumbled across an article (two-part) from a "Kurier Galicyjski" newspaper, where Bernatowicz surname is mentioned among funders of some Armenian churches in Lviv/Lwów:

part 1: dziedzictwo.ormianie.pl/images/stories/KG_14_2010_koscioly_orm.pdf
part 2: dziedzictwo.ormianie.pl/images/stories/KG_15_2010_24-25.pdf (there's an old inscription with Bernatowicz surname in the stone!)

edit: the inscription in better quality:
dziennikpolski24.pl/files/common/filesone/gmer_Bernatowicza.jpg
Someonerandom - | 6
3 Feb 2014 #47
Merged: Is my surname a Polonized Russian surname?

Hi I know this is the third thread of mine about my surname but it's a quickie I need a quick answer, is my surname Bernatowicz Polonized Russian surname? I know that my grandad was born in Belarus and that I am 1/8 Belorussian but can it be Russian or Belorussian? Russian would be Bernat-ovich Belorussian would be Bernat-ovic.

Please reply quickly
gask7 - | 50
3 Feb 2014 #48
Is my surname Bernatowicz Polonized Russian surname? I know that my grandad was born in Belarus and that I am 1/8 Belorussian but can it be Russian or Belorussian? Russian would be Bernat-ovich Belorussian would be Bernat-ovic.

If your grandad was born in Belarus, whatever it means, maybe you think about nowadays borders, that is not proof he was Belorussian. He can be as well Russian, Polish or Jew.

But if your parents said your grandad was Belorussian it doesn't matter where he was born.

Below some links about Barnatowicz in Poland.

According to same of them surname Bernatowicz become from first name Bernat ( Bernat - Bernatowic - Bernatowicz ). It was known even in the XII Century.

But there was as well the Armenian families with this surname.

And there are more then 1 000 people in Poland now with such surname.

genealodzy.pl/PNphpBB2-printview-t-18944-start-15.phtml
bernatowicz.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2&Itemid=1
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/bernatowicz.html
Someonerandom - | 6
3 Feb 2014 #49
Belarus a country located in eastern Europe. Official language is Russian and Belorussian (Same as Russian) I am 1/8 Belorussian my gran dad was half and my dad was 1/4

I heard it was Armenia but the community on Yahoo thinks otherwise.
HolyDUCK
4 Jan 2015 #50
My great grandfather was born in Western Ukraine before WW1. He was born in Galicia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Perhaps, my family does originate from Armenia?
Veles - | 201
4 Jan 2015 #51
Surnames, HolyDuck. Surnames. Now you act like someone who says: "My ancestors were from Bergen, Norway. Perhaps, my family does originate from Greenland?". If you know geography and demography of Ukraine during Habsburg's reign, you should know the possibility. Do you have ancestors with surname's suffix "-an"?
HolyDUCK
4 Jan 2015 #52
No, Bernatowicz. Which is of Armenian origin.
Veles - | 201
4 Jan 2015 #53
Could be. But you need to have in mind, that Armenians were never Muslims - as Christians they were able to be involved in mixed marriages. They settled in Western Ukraine and most probably they were marrying Ruthenians and Poles. So it is difficult to admit that you have more than 20% of Armenian blood. This surname however, was used not only by the Armenians. Its "scheme" suggest... or at least suffix... Ruthenian influence. The root "Bernat-" was mostly present in Czechia, Silesia and Lesser Poland. Bernat is a name.
HolyDUCK
4 Jan 2015 #54
Perhaps one of my ancestor's name was Bernat and his son got granted the name Bernatowicz?
Veles - | 201
4 Jan 2015 #55
It also may have happened. My own surname was created this way.
HolyDUCK
4 Jan 2015 #56
Is it possible that his surname could've been Bernat? And his son got Bernatowicz as the son of Mr. Bernat?
Veles - | 201
4 Jan 2015 #57
Yes. Bernat is actually the equivalent of Bernard (used in Poland). Suffixes -icz or -uk (as in my case) are mostly meaning something like "Petersen" or "Palsdottir" in Scandinavia. "Petersen" means "son of Peter" and "Palsdottir" means "daughter of Pals". Your surname may simply mean "son of Bernat".
HolyDUCK
4 Jan 2015 #58
Is Bernat a surname? If so, could my ancestor's last name could have been just that and his son got Bernatowicz as stated previously?
Veles - | 201
4 Jan 2015 #59
Bernat may be a surname, but in Slovakia and Hungary it is also a first name.

It is possible that your ancestor was just "Bernat" without surname, and his son was named... for example Sviatoslav Bernatowicz. The suffix "-icz" is common in Eastern Slavic countries, as patronymic. So I assume, that simply your surname comes from the name of first Bernatowicz father - Bernat.
Magdalena 3 | 1,837
4 Jan 2015 #60
If so, could my ancestor's last name could have been just that and his son got Bernatowicz as stated previously?

The way this would work, one of your distant ancestors would have the given name or nickname of Bernat (Bernard), and then he had a kid, and to differentiate between them, someone would call the child Bernatowicz (at this point it would still have been simply a nickname). Then, as the family multiplied, the nickname would become a surname.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_name#Poland


Home / Genealogy / Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?)