Often our Polish ancestors changed their surnames or name
changes were forced upon them by employers or schoolteachers. Surnames were "americanized,"
letters were dropped or names were translated into English.
Here are some examples of common types of changes:
Americanization:
Letters dropped for "ease of pronunciation"
- CZERNISZ TO CERN
Often, some "americanization"
occurs while the rest of the name remains
in tact ... in same name, such as
CZAJKOWSKI
to CHAJKOWSKI
Polish pronunciation
with the English alphabet:
CZAJKOWSKI
to CHAYKOFSKI
Truncation:
Parts of the name were eliminated and anglicized
- ADAMCZYK
to ADAMS
LUKASZEWICZ
to LUKAS
Orthographic
or phonetic adjustments due to Polish diacritical
marks:
DABROWSKI
to either DOMBROWSKI
or DAMBROSKI
DRZAŁA
to DRZATA
or
BIAŁEK
to
BIATEK
Translation:
MŁYNARZ to
MILLER
or KRÓL
to KING
or
MYŚLIWIEC
to
HUNTER
Tenuous and vague resemblance
to original name: At times,
only the first or first few letters were
the same.
MOŚCICKI
to MARSON
or
PROTOPOWICZ
to
PRESCOTT
Totally "new"
name: No linguistic, lexical
or phonetic connection to the chosen name.
ZIEZIULEWICZ to FOX
or
MALINOWSKI
to HERMAN
Special Note: It
is a common myth that names were changed
at Ellis Island by the immigration officials.
This is
NOT TRUE! U.S. immigration
officials usually worked from passenger
lists that were initially created on board
during the journey. Furthermore, the
names were written down from passports or
other written documents.
Today one needs
to go through official court proceedings
to have one's name changed. However,
earlier in the last century, people often
changed their own names without any official
paperwork. One day, the person simply
started writing his or her name down differently.
We have created a database of changed
surnames submitted to us by our members
or taken from obituaries and gravestones.
If you have having difficulty finding information
on your Polish ancestor, maybe you have
been searching for the "wrong"
name.
The database consists of the
original surname, the changed
surname and the location from which
the information was taken. If
you know of any additional altered surnames,
please send them to us with documentary
evidence of the change.
