How Many Family Names Do You Have? Naming Customs and Surname Diversity

[rothaer]

Here[/URL] one can also see which percentage of the population possesses the most common surnames in a few countries. Some countries do have more diversity of surname than others. I know that in Italy some family names can be almost exclusive to a small number of neighboring villages.

Thanks, this is very interesting info.

[thatoneton]

In Poland surnames most often come from places or occupations that someone had or from animals - probably because of someone's physical characteristics making someone resemble one in some way.

An interesting thing is that many surnames are adjectives, which can be easily recognized by their ending: Kowalski, Wiśniewski, Kamiński etc. which change depending on a gender i.e. for women this would be Kowalska (instead of Kowalski), Wiśniewska, Kamińska etc.

Because many Americans are of Polish origin many of them have Polish surnames but it proved too hard for US officials to understand it and therefore women in the USA typically keeps their surnames in masculine form i.e. Susan Kowalski.

[rothaer]

Here's some info I found online: Sweden passed the Names Adoption Act in December 1901, requiring all citizens to adopt heritable surnames—names that would pass down intact instead of changing every generation.

I guess they will have changed it later because I know it from some decades ago where you could choose in Sweden between your regular surname and a traditional (real) patronym. The latter is extremely rarely chosen. But I know a case where the name ended up as (figuratively) Magnusdotter for a girl and a heritable surname is never a -dotter name.

[João da Silva]

Maternal surname and paternal surname, both portuguese.

[rothaer]

In Poland surnames most often come from places or occupations that someone had or from animals - probably because of someone's physical characteristics making someone resemble one in some way.

An interesting thing is that many surnames are adjectives, which can be easily recognized by their ending: Kowalski, Wiśniewski, Kamiński etc. which change depending on a gender i.e. for women this would be Kowalska (instead of Kowalski), Wiśniewska, Kamińska etc.

Because many Americans are of Polish origin many of them have Polish surnames but it proved too hard for US officials to understand it and therefore women in the USA typically keeps their surnames in masculine form i.e. Susan Kowalski.

I heard that originally only Polish nobles had this ending -ski and it later became popular among Polish commoners. When I made ancestry research among Poles I found that a Wosiński (in Pabianice) was written Wozikow when I came back in the 18th century (1797).

In another case I had a Gostynski (in Jezów) but he kept this name as far as I could come back (1758). There comes up a woman called Marianna Cerusiowna. Do you have any clue what that could be in "modern" Polish? I add the pic of the record entry (a baptism from 1758) in case I misinterpreted the text.

[thatoneton]

I heard that originally only Polish nobles had this ending -ski and it later became popular among Polish commoners.

Generally speaking this was the case. Typically in such cases someone's surname came from a place name i.e. an owner or a lord of a certain village/town written in adjective.

Notice that this is clearly not the case with, for example, the most popular one - Kowalski which comes from kowal (a smith) meaning in this case "syn kowalski" - a son of a smith, literally "Smithy son" of which Smithy (Kowalski) became a surname.

When I made ancestry research among Poles I found that a Wosiński (in Pabianice) was written Wozikow when I came back in the 18th century (1797).

In another case I had a Gostynski (in Jezów) but he kept this name as far as I could come back (1758). There comes up a woman called Marianna Cerusiowna. Do you have any clue what that could be in "modern" Polish? I add the pic of the record entry (a baptism from 1758) in case I misinterpreted the text.

I read it the same way as you did, but I'm hardly an expert. When it comes to how surnames were changing in documents there was typically no exact rule (or rather it depended on many factors like the exact time and place, an offical in charge of making official documents, a person who was writting or rewritting it etc.) so it would be more of a guess work on my part in this case.


Edit: it could be Gostyrski not Gostynski if it matters at all.

[~Elizabeth~]

My father named me when I was a baby. I was raised by my Mom with her surname. I went to school with my mother's surname. When I was about 12 years old I found out from a substitute teacher who wasn't returning my papers that my mother's surname was NOT my legal surname. Legally I had my father's surname and had to use that in school from then on. When I was 34 I legally changed my full name in court. I took my maternal grandmother's maiden name.

Doing genealogy I discovered that my father's surname was spelled different ways in previous generations, and there were two other surnames used instead.

[Etelfrido]

I heard that originally only Polish nobles had this ending -ski and it later became popular among Polish commoners. When I made ancestry research among Poles I found that a Wosiński (in Pabianice) was written Wozikow when I came back in the 18th century (1797).

In another case I had a Gostynski (in Jezów) but he kept this name as far as I could come back (1758). There comes up a woman called Marianna Cerusiowna. Do you have any clue what that could be in "modern" Polish? I add the pic of the record entry (a baptism from 1758) in case I misinterpreted the text.

You've probably analysed it countless times and I'm not of much help because I don't speak Polish, but are you sure it's Gostynski? I don't see the letter s twice in it and what should be the second s seems to be the same letter as the s of Cerusiowna.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

There are less than 300 people with my surname.

[rothaer]

You've probably analysed it countless times and I'm not of much help because I don't speak Polish, but are you sure it's Gostynski? I don't see the letter s twice in it and what should be the second s seems to be the same letter as the s of Cerusiowna.

The second s is a so called long s. Gostynski is documented a number of times and sure.