Stanisław-derived last names

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Apr 22, 11, 14:37 #1

If you are a Pole or a person of Polish ancestry, live in Poland or in or near a Polonian communtiy abroad or have ever been to Poland, chanches are you have encountered some of the following surnames.

STANISŁAW, derived from two Slavonic roots meaning 'glory of the camp' is not related to Stanley except for its similar sound (in Middle English the latter meant 'stoney meadow').
Stanisław has genrated various patronymic nicknames including Stanisławczak, Stanisławiak, Stanisławek and Stanisławski (from the standard form) and even more numerously from its hypocoristic (endearing, pet) versions. These inlcude Stachowiak, Stachniak, Stachowicz, Stachura and Stachacz (from Stach), Stańczak, Stankiewicz, Stańczyk, Stanecki, Staniewicz and Stanasiuk (from Stanek) and Stasiak, Stasiecki, Staśkiewicz Staszczak, Stasik, Stasiuk and Staśkowiak (from Staś).

For more information on the above and other Polish surnames please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl

convexThreads: 46 Posts: 7,185 Joined: Nov 25, 09 ♂	Apr 22, 11, 15:43 #2
Is there any reason that some Polish last names (like Stanisław) often end up as given names as well? Is there any kind of background to why some surnames ended up at the front of the chain as well?

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Apr 22, 11, 19:22 #3

One explanation is that if a single person had a first name in a given hamlet, it sometimes began fucntioning as a patronymic nick passed down to his descendants as is without any special ending.
These were less common than typical patronymics. So there are surnames in Poland such as Ignac, Andrzej, Zygmunt, Wojtek, Urban, etc. but they are greatly outnumbered by their traditonal equivalents -- Ignasiak, Andzrejczak, Zygmuntowicz, Wojtczak and Urbański.

chichimeraThreads: 3 Posts: 356 Joined: Feb 4, 11 ♀	Apr 22, 11, 20:09 #4
convex: Is there any reason that some Polish last names (like Stanisław) often end up as given names as well? I think Stanisław was a given name first, then it became last name in various forms. I can't think of any last names which became given names

Polonius3Threads: 1,005 Posts: 4,833 Joined: Apr 11, 08 ♂	Apr 22, 11, 21:20 #5
If one really scrounged about, probably some exception could be fdug up to prove the rule, but yes -- ordinarily it was the Chrsitian name that evolved into a surname.

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