It is not possible to translate names into English or Polish!

I work with some people who have Polish-sounding names. Why do they ask me to translate their names? They don't get that it's not possible to translate first and last names into Polish or English because it would not be accurate translation? I hope some of them read this forum and will get my message :).

I'm asked the same question quite often too. Common names are sometimes possible to translate (like "John" - Jan), but other first and last names are not. One time a guy asked me about the meaning of the last name "Kolinski" --- I had no idea how to translate it.

Well, you can translate my ast name :). In English it means doughnut. :)

I'm a little crazy
Some of them is false but most of them is good

I've got it in Exel if you want

from

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odpowiedniki_imion_w_różnych_językach

I rather think it would be Francesca that Franciszka would be more alike

Hi, Bobik!

Occasionally, some Polish names, full names mind you, can be translated into English e.g. "Jan Kowalski" (John Smith), to give a most basic example.

Other times, the names cannot be translated,or if so, only one part of the name. Take my name Marek Pajdo. "Marek" is clearly "Mark", but "Pajdo"????

Marek

I'm Jewish and my original last name is Polish. It's already been mutilated and has been used for two generations as a Welsh sounding name, representing who I am even less. I want to translate it for its original form to Hebrew... seems possible, right?

but first: what does it mean, exactly?
"Paskowitz"

in Polish it would be: Paskowicz
Pasek meaning belt

You can get very thorough lists of names in the back of good dictionaries to convert from one language o another. It is unusual to translate names from one language to another though. Who would call Alexander Solzenitsin Alex, for example. Juri Gagarin is always Juri NEVER George. Iljich Lenin is always Iljich. How can you change such proper names to another language? John Major would never be Jan Major in Poland!! At least Albert Eistein can get away with his name, though.

Does anybody know the meaning of the last name Jaszczak? I found "ak" means son of, but the rest of the name is not very common. Thanks

Jaszczak sounds bad. I hope I'm wrong, but it might have something to do with pi$$ing.
I also think that just about every Polish last name has originated from some recognizable word.
Go ahead, hit me up. Give me a POLISH last name and I will translate it for you!

one more thing about Jaszczak, the "szcz" is the polish letter "Ш" or "Щ". just in case that changes anything. I hope my name doesnt involve pi$$ing

Because, you see...there is something like "untraslability".

During my translatology classes at univeristy we had it clearly stated NOT TO translate personal names, surnames, cities in sworn translation. That's the rule. I like it very much, must say. My name is Urszula and I don't like being called Ursule nor Ursula. Just one letter difference makes the whole difference to me. I don't understand why all those people ask you to translate their names... weird...

I was joking... sorry.
Jaszcz might have been some kind of waggon.
Or the beginning of lizard - jaszczurka

There's also a village "Jaszcz" in north-west Poland. I also heard this word to mean 'bushes' (more often 'chaszcze')

Cinek

PAJDO: Mark Slice? (as in pajda chleba)

PASKOWICZ: Well, in Yiddish the -witz is a patrnymic indicator just as -wicz is in Polish and -вич in Russian etc. The root pask- must therefore be deciphred. Could a leatherworker been called Pasek (belt) and his son was referred to as Paskowitz? Or maybe it was actually Pasch- (Jewish Pejsach, Polish Pascha)?

Though here in PL, people say Michał Anioł, Wolter, Jerzy Waszyngton, Karol Marks and (this one really makes me fume) Szekspir.

Though a Pole in UK would probably be just as annoyed if they read Mitskieyvitch or Showpan.

KOLlIŃSKI -toponymic nick from Kolin, a village in the Baltic coastal region.
NOTE: Perhaps as many as 90% of all Polish surnames ending in -ski are of toponymic origin, so the first thing to do is to trot out your atlas.

JASZCZAK: The archaic Polish word jaszcz once meant a wooden box, chest or other container for butter, powidła, curd cheese, etc. Someone who produced these could have

The preceding entry somehow got cut off...
Someone who produced the wooden food chests known as jaszcz could himself have been nicknamed Jaszcz, and when he fathered a son -- Jaszczak would have been the offspring's patronymic nick.

Jazscz is also a regional name for a small trash fish (no eating value) of the perch family known as a jazgarz in standard modern Polish.

Is it possible for anyone to translate a letter which may be partly in polish and partly in yiddish? It is very old from World War 2 and in handwriting.

Some you can translate and some you can't, it depends on their origin.

I believe Jaszczak way back when was a cabinet maker or a furniture maker.

Gary Barlow - Saucepans Barniski ;D

How about Starkavich? Starkevich? I may not have the exact spelling. Ellis Island changed it to Starkey...

Why to translate in first place...?
Your name is your name and you should be recognized by it. I've been living abroad for long, long time and my friends always called me Marcin even if Martin is much easier to remember but they respect it even it takes some time to get used to pronounce it...:-)

Let's keep our names our parents have given us and let's be proud of them.

Marcin

so your name is martin gardener ? right or wrong?

WRONG!!! His name is Marcin Ogrodnik

My name is Paul and there are some Polish guys named Pawel. But it isn't a translation, it is a different version of the name!

Marcin is right, the name given to you by your parents is your name. If you yourself don't like your name you are free to change it, if not.......

What if it takes too long to get used to pronounce it by an English speaker?

I have a mate called Marcin and all the English call him Martin cause non of them is even close to say Marcin correctly. And he wouldn't tolerate someone mispronouncing his name in some awkward way which is fair enough, especially when you can translate it to English that is nice and easy.


What if you like your name but you don't like the way that English speakers mispronounce it?

in english this translates as martin gardener. sometimes there is a direct translation for names, eg, jacek ( jack ), lukasz ( lucas ), beata ( betty ).other polish names have no translation,eg wieslaw. i think marcin is the equivalent of martin. ogrodnik po angielsku is a gardener.

Beata translates better as Beatrice (Ela is closer to Betty) and Jacek, believe it or not, translates as Hyacinth.

A few names - especially better known Biblical ones have a clear translation - as do many surnames.