THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME?

Thank you, Polonius!

What about Cybert?

Bumber

My granfather's last name was Bumber. I know his family came here from Warsaw Poland in the early 1920s I believe. Most of that family died before I was born so I don't know too much about them. I'm interested in where they come from.

Cybert and Bumber are not Polish surnames.

There are 4 people in Poland with surname Cybert, and all of them live in £ask (£ódź Voivodeship).
And there are none of people with surname Bumber.

Maybe you should check also a first names, or surnames were changed (made to sound/look more English) but formerly they were different.

Yeah but my dad's family is full Polish and living in Poland, it has been kept in it's original form.

Isn't it Zybert?

Certainly not, perhaps it was polonised from Seabert as seeing that Sea- and Cy- are pronounced the same by an English speaker. Or maybe you are right, a distant German ancestor pronounced it Zybert and he thought that it was Cybert as C and Z are pronounced the same in German and Polish.

"C" and "Z" are not pronunced the same in Polish. There are more than 400 people in Poland with surname Zybert, which is a surname of German origin and comes frome "Sieber" or "Siber".

@Ctorsak7

Hi, maybe I'm not telling you anything new, but maybe my information is helping you?

My surname is Torz and my family is from Romania.

My grandfather is from Transilvania and actually his name was Torţ (spelled Torts). We're living in Germany now and they changed our name, as Torz here is spelled Torts.

Torţă is a Romanian word für torch.

Funny thing: The German word for the Castle Bran in Transilvania is Törzburg. Burg means Castle and I don't know a German word, which is similar to Torz or Törz, could be an old word? Castle Bran is the Castle which is told the tourists to be the Dracula Castle.

The origin of Kriefski ? Is it more popular in specific areas of poland?

How many places in Poland named Rutki?

dozens

My maiden name was Brosky was told it was shortened from Brzozowski Can you tell me where it originated from in Poland?

BRZOZOWSKI: originated as a toponmyic tag to identify a native of Brzozowo, Brzozów, Brzozowa, Brzozówka and similar. Such villages are found all over Poland.

I forgot to mention there were 10 separate szlachta (gentry) lines amongst the bearers of the Brzozowski surname including an own-name clan called -- you guessed it! -- Brzozowski.

Can anyone tell me anything about Kociołek (dziadek name) and Pach (babczi name)? Sorry I don't know if Pach should be spelled with an ą

Thanks for all your help
Michele

KOCIO£EK: cookpot; hence possibly an occupational nick for a pot & pan maker (copper smith) or cook.

PACH: pet form of such first names as Pakosław or Paweł.

Family surname Litwin. Grandfather born in Vienna, Austria in 1886. No indication that family is jewish. However, when my brother visited Poland and what he thought was family village, locals all apologetic and acted as if he was Jewish.

Would Catholics have surname Litwin in same village as Polish Jews? Could we originally be Jewish as name means Lithuanian and many were Jewish? Any relevance to fact he was born in Vienna?

LITWIN: could have originated to identify: 1) an ethnic Lithuanian; 2) anyone from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania regardless of ethnicity; 3) a Litvak -- Jew from the Pale; 4) a native of such villages as Litwa Stara, Litewka, Litwinki or Litwinowicze (all in Podlasie bordering Lithuania).

Vienna was the capital of the sprawling multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire which included many Poles and Jews but not too many ethnic Lithuanians.

No such name in Poland, in fact that isn't even a Polish spelling. There is a surname KREWSKI which is quite rare. The most live up on the Baltic coast in and around the town of Koszalin (one of the reclaimed territories) and in and eastern Poland's Lublin area. The root so the name is the word "krew" (blood).

BUMBER? Maybe it had originally been BAMBER, a nick for a German colonist who settled Wielkopolska (from the German city of Bamberg). In the days of widespread illiteracy it is not inconceivable that someone's shaky hand failed to bring the two prongs of the letter "a" together, leaving a gap which the next copyist down the line took to be a "u" and we get: instant Bumber!

The correct spelling is probably Krajewski not Kriefski. Is this correct. Are there any in southeast Poland?

Krajewski is a very popular surname in Poland. It originated as a topo nick from some one dozen localities in Poland called Krajewo.The major concentrations are found in the northern half of the county -- chiefly in Wielkopolska,Kujawy, Mazowsze, Mazury and Podlasie. But others make their homes across the country's southland.

Does anyone know the meaning/origin of the name "Butowski"??

When I google it, it gives me lots of information for "Bukowski", but not "Butowski"! I don't know if that one letter makes a lot of difference!!

Thanks
Sara

It makes a great difference. The root of Bukowski is buk (beech tree) and of Butowski -- but (boot, shoe). But in both cases the toponymic origin is the most likely. Butowski was used to indicate an inhabitant of the North Polish village of Butowo. In a minority of cases it might have been traced to the word buta (arrogance, haughtiness).

Southern Poland's single biggest Krajewski concentration is found in the Katowice area. Smaller but not insignificant clusters may also be encountered in SE Poland in and around Kraków, Kielce, Tarnów, Krosno, Rzeszów, Tarnobrzeg, Zamość and Lublin.

What is the meaning of Brudzienski? Thanks.
Has been shortened to Bruzinski since.

My maiden last name is Buczyna. I would love any information about it.

BUCZYNA: root-word buk (beech tree); buczyna is a beech grove, a little wood comprising mainly beech trees.
English surname equivalent: Beechwood. Some Buczyna descendants appear to have made it into the gentry with coats of arms to prove it.

PĄCH has been recorded as a surname but no-one uses it at present. It's root would be the archaic verb pąchać (to smell, sniff, catch the scent).

BRUDZIEŃSKI: alternate spelling of Brudziński; traceable to the root brud (dirt, grime) or the verb brudzić (to soil, sully, dirty); or a topo tag from places like Brudzice, Brudzew, etc.

The Brudzińskis held membership in three different szlachta (gentry) clans.
For more info please contact me.

From what I have learned it derived from the word for student or studious. Even as slang for boy (student). Seems as though it was not shortened necessarily but was always Zak. Although many names have it incorporated into it. There are apparently many Zak branches in Poland as well as the U.S. and I'm guessing many other countries as well.Hopes this helps.

That is basically correct although incomplete. but the name is Żak. not Zak!

What is the correct version of John in Polish?

Equivalent of English name John is Jan in Polish.

I've posted before but I would love to know the locale of my last name.

Szenk

My dziadek was born in Przychody, a small village near Krakow I believe, but most of our family hails from Lomza.

Wouldn't Eastern Prussia be a more fitting area for our name considering our Germanic root of the name. Or were there a few Germans near Krakow many moons ago?

Several dozen people in Poland spell their name the original German way -- Schenk -- which incidentally means publican or innkeeper. Their largest concentrations are in the Gdańsk and Opole areas. Six times as many use the Polonised Szenk spelling and their single biggest bastion is in and around Katowice. Significant clusters are also found in Greater Warsaw as well as in the Gdańsk and Opole areas.