The last name is Krzywoszyja. Help? Am I polish?

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Apr 30, 10, 16:42 #1

My family migrated to Australia from "Poland" (so they say). During their time they lived in italy and germany and my grandfather also had lived in poland. However, they do not resemble polish people at all. They have extreamly olive skin, the blackest hair and the darkest eyes. The grandmother was born in ukraine whilst my grandfather was born in poland. Their names are not the slightest bit polish (maria, bruno, antonio etc). They do not speak about their past nor share any of the family history with us because they are too "suspicious". they suffered from the war badly and lost basically everything but their lifes.

Growing up in the polish community, i always questioned their polish-ness due to we don't look anything like the other pol's.

The last name is Krzywoszyja.

Can anyone please explain this?! Why does the last name end in A and not ski? Why are we so dark? Could their be other heritage in their mix like turkish or middle eastern etc because thats how we look.

Thanks

♂

Edited by: MareGaea Apr 30, 10, 16:49 #2

Ask yourself a few questions:

1) do I have a natural tendency to complain?
2) do I have a natural tendency to blame everybody else except myself?
3) do I have a natural disliking towards Jews?
4) am I rabiately Catholic?
5) am I inclined to keep on whinging and whining about the past?

If you can answer "yes" to at least three of the above questions, there is a very big chance that you are indeed Polish.

>^..^<

M-G (if I were Catholic or Protestant, I would have made a cross sign for you now)

LenkaThreads: - Posts: 241 Joined: Nov 17, 09 ♀	Apr 30, 10, 16:53 #3
Not every Polish last name ends with ski.Your last name really points to Polish roots.As for the rest I don't know.Maybe there's really some other nation in your heritage.

♂ [Suspended]

Edited by: Sokrates Apr 30, 10, 17:02 #4

julina:

The last name is Krzywoszyja.

Krzywoszyja is a 100% polish name, it originates from the region of Lesser Poland and is about 250 years old.

MareGaea:

1) do I have a natural tendency to complain?
2) do I have a natural tendency to blame everybody else except myself?
3) do I have a natural disliking towards Jews?
4) am I rabiately Catholic?
5) am I inclined to keep on whinging and whining about the past?

Anti-polish racist strikes again, lucky for us Poles you're such an idiot which makes you completely harmless:))

julina:

Why are we so dark?

You might have Tartars or people from Balkans somewhere into your ancestry, also some ruthenian ethnicities were of darker complexion.

♂

Edited by: skysoulmate Apr 30, 10, 17:15 #5

julina:

My family migrated to Australia from "Poland" (so they say). During their time they lived in italy and germany and my grandfather also had lived in poland. However, they do not resemble polish people at all. They have extreamly olive skin, the blackest hair and the darkest eyes. The grandmother was born in ukraine whilst my grandfather was born in poland. Their names are not the slightest bit polish (maria, bruno, antonio etc). They do not speak about their past nor share any of the family history with us because they are too "suspicious". they suffered from the war badly and lost basically everything but their lifes.

Growing up in the polish community, i always questioned their polish-ness due to we don't look anything like the other pol's.

The last name is Krzywoszyja.

Can anyone please explain this?! Why does the last name end in A and not ski? Why are we so dark? Could their be other heritage in their mix like turkish or middle eastern etc because thats how we look.

Thanks

It's definitelly a Polish last name. It means ~crooked neck (hope I got it right?).

As far as the "a" at the end - Polish names often have a male and a female version; for example Kowalski and Kowalska

In this case however it's simply because szyja (neck) ends with an a.

There are blond, light-skinned Poles and there are olive-skinned and dark-haired Poles. Throuhout the history the Polish territory has been moved many times and also many people from other lands have settled in Poland in the past.

Your name definitely sounds Polish to us - congratulations and we're glad to have you here in our club. :)

PS. Lots of strange posts here, just disregard them. If you have any questions about Poland, traditions, etc., just bring it on...

♀

Apr 30, 10, 20:32 #6

hi:)

this website gives you regions where people with you name live:
http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/krzywoszyja.html

In the list of names, you can find yours:
http://www.stankiewicze.com/index.php?kat=44&sub=541

Krzywoszej
Krzywoszeja
Krzywoszek
Krzywoszewski
Krzywoszonek
Krzywoszyj
Krzywoszyja
Krzywoszyn
Krzywoszyński

About dark features - not all of us are fair skinned. This is a land without natural borders, we mix a lot. You can have Jewish, Tatar, Gypsy ancestors. Ormian, Bulgarian even. They like to call us bigoted racists, but looking at the gene pool, it's a land where anything goes. That's why people are so handsome in this land - mongrels usually mendel out very well.

pgtxThreads: 49 Posts: 6,327 Joined: Feb 14, 09 MEMBER ♀	Apr 30, 10, 21:33 #7
julina: Am I polish? only if your neck is not straight... ;)

Drac90Threads: 2 Posts: 120 Joined: Apr 23, 10 ♂	Apr 30, 10, 22:38 #8
surnames with ski ska were reserved for nobles in old times ^^ so you are not from "szlachta" but if it will cheer you up im not noble too :(

♂

May 1, 10, 01:14 #9

Drac90:

surnames with ski ska were reserved for nobles in old times ^^ so you are not from "szlachta"
but if it will cheer you up im not noble too :(

Really? I've never heard that. I found this explanation online which corresponds to what I always heard:

"Not every Polish surname ends in "-ski". Siudek, for example, is Polish, but there's no "-ski" involved. Jankowicz is Polish as well. Lots of Polish surnames don't end in "-ski", but a lot of them to. It's very common.

It indicates where you're from, or "who" you're from - or at least it did, back in the olden days, when they were coming up with surnames. In Polish names, the "-ski" serves that purpose. It means "of", or "connected with," or "from". So, for example, the surname Piekarski means "of the baker (piekarz)". Lipinski means "one from the place of the lindens," as lipa means linden, lipiny means "place of the lindens", and add the "-ski" to the end, and it means "a person from..." or "a person somehow connected to the place with the linden trees."

It sort of is like the English use of "son" in surnames. Thompson, Branson, Simpson, Bakerson, etc. Or the Irish usage of "O'" in names like "O'Neill". Forming surnames in that way is very common in many languages, and often indicates the place where a certain ancestor was from, or the trade they were in, or their first name, etc."

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081009100239AA6s1SM

My own comment: so it's also similar to the German "von", Dutch "van" and Swedish "af" - however i'm not sure...

Chicago PollockThreads: 10 Posts: 638 Joined: Apr 10, 10 ♂	May 1, 10, 05:34 #10
Racist is an often misused term on this board. Racist means that a person believes that he or she is superior to another solely due to their race. A Caucasian cannot be racist towards another Caucasian.

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May 1, 10, 06:58 #11

Chicago Pollock:

Racist is an often misused term on this board. Racist means that a person believes that he or she is superior to another solely due to their race. A Caucasian cannot be racist towards another Caucasian.

Sort of unrelated but I've also heard numerous times that blacks cannot be racist simply because of their past as being oppressed. One person who said that was a university professor.. Yeah, right...

IronsideThreads: 59 Posts: 6,783 Joined: Feb 26, 09 ♂	May 1, 10, 13:06 #12
Sokrates: Anti-polish racist strikes again, lucky for us Poles you're such an idiot which makes you completely harmless:)) I found that musicians are often not quite right in the head ...:)

AdamKadmonThreads: 38 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Apr 23, 10 ♂	Edited by: Moderator May 1, 10, 13:59 #13
If your polish name has anything to do with your look, then you should look like this:

♂

May 3, 10, 01:06 #14

MareGaea:

Ask yourself a few questions:

1) do I have a natural tendency to complain?
2) do I have a natural tendency to blame everybody else except myself?
3) do I have a natural disliking towards Jews?
4) am I rabiately Catholic?
5) am I inclined to keep on whinging and whining about the past?

If you can answer "yes" to at least three of the above questions, there is a very big chance that you are indeed Polish.

LOL! This is SO true. Thanks MG for bringing a smile to my face.

♂

Edited by: skysoulmate May 3, 10, 01:42 #15

Julina - as you can tell this forum is overflowing with sarcasm. Your last name is unusual but there's nothing wrong with it. It reminds me of the way the Native Americans (Indians) used to have very descriptive names:

CATORI: Hopi: "Spirit."

CHA'KWAINA: Hopi : "One Who Cries."

CHA'RISA: Hopi : "Elk."

CHAPAWEE: Sioux: "Industrious, Busy"

INOLA: Cherokee: "Black Fox"

ISI: Choctaw : "Deer."

ITUHA: "Sturdy Oak or White Stone"

KACHINA: Hopi : "Spirit, Sacred Dancer."

KAI: Navajo : "Willow Tree."

KAKAWANGWA: Hopi : "Bitter."

KALISKA: Miwok : " Coyote Chasing Deer."

KOLENYA: Miwok : " Coughing Fish."

KOSA: Cheyenne: "Sheep"

NITA: Choctaw : "Bear."

NITTAWOSEW: Algonquin : "She Is Not Sterile."

NITUNA: "Daughter"

NIYOL: Navajo: "Wind"

OHCUMGACHE: Cheyenne: "Little Wolf"

TSIISHCH'ILI: Navajo: "Curly Haired"

TACI: Zuni: "Washtub"

At least your name isn't Coughing Fish, or She Is Not Sterile! LOL

So be proud of being Polish and having an unusual name.

Ps. That's a very long name though, I'm sure you see all kind of spelling errors? You could always shorten it to Krzywo or Szyja ;)

You could even "correct" it to Prostoszyja - Straight Neck... LOL

♀

May 3, 10, 06:48 #16

skysoulmate:

Julina - as you can tell this forum is overflowing with sarcasm. Your last name is unusual but there's nothing wrong with it.

Exactly, some poster's mind works in a mysterious ways and it might be because their brain being contaminated with all the additives in the food...please forgive them. There is nothing wrong with your last name. It means a 'skewed-neck'. Is it so bad? Not really.

vetalaThreads: - Posts: 512 Joined: Jul 10, 09 ♀	May 3, 10, 12:23 #17
scottie1113: LOL! This is SO true. I beg to differ...

ovcharenko

May 18, 10, 17:22 #18

It sounds to me like a classic Ukrainian (Ruthenian) Cossack name -- Kryvoshyia. Western Ukrainian territories were under Polish (and Austro-Hungarian) rule at the time your family emigrated, and so their identity and travel documents would have been issued with the Polish transcription. The Ukrainian churches follow the Byzantine rite, so if your Krzywoszyja family in previous generations was Orthodox or Greek-Catholic, that would confirm a Ukrainian rather than Polish nationality -- or possibly a converted identity ... there are known and respected long-standing Armenian, Greek, and Italian minorities in Ukraine. Good on you for being curious about your heritage, and your family story, though undoubtedly frustrating to you, is not surprising.

♂

May 19, 10, 08:42 #19

ovcharenko:

It sounds to me like a classic Ukrainian (Ruthenian) Cossack name -- Kryvoshyia. Western Ukrainian territories were under Polish (and Austro-Hungarian) rule at the time your family emigrated, and so their identity and travel documents would have been issued with the Polish transcription. The Ukrainian churches follow the Byzantine rite, so if your Krzywoszyja family in previous generations was Orthodox or Greek-Catholic, that would confirm a Ukrainian rather than Polish nationality -- or possibly a converted identity ... there are known and respected long-standing Armenian, Greek, and Italian minorities in Ukraine. Good on you for being curious about your heritage, and your family story, though undoubtedly frustrating to you, is not surprising.

This is a very logical and a possible explanation. So you're either Polish or Ukrainian. Both are great nationalities with very rich histories - congrats.

♂

Edited by: richasis May 19, 10, 17:59 #20

MareGaea:

Ask yourself a few questions:

1) do I have a natural tendency to complain?
2) do I have a natural tendency to blame everybody else except myself?
3) do I have a natural disliking towards Jews?
4) am I rabiately Catholic?
5) am I inclined to keep on whinging and whining about the past?

If you can answer "yes" to at least three of the above questions, there is a very big chance that you are indeed Polish.

As discussed in another thread, this just may prove to be accurate. BTW, I am indeed Polish. :)

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