Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 847

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 847

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/847

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Later research turned up additional information relevant to this report. See the end of the letter for details.

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked us for help in finding a Polish name, or about sources on Polish names, especially for the 14th & 15th centuries:

You are right that it is difficult to find information on Polish names, especially on the Internet, and in fact none of our members have good resources. You would be mistaken, though, if you felt that people weren't interested in Polish names, since several reasonably good books were recently published on Polish names. The bad news is that these were mostly published in Poland, in Polish.

However, the books are organized so that you don't need to read Polish to use them, and you may be able to find copies of these two books at a major university library or through interlibrary loan. The books are:

Kazimierz Rymut, _Nazwiska Polakow_
(Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich - Wydawnictwo, 1991).

Aleksandra Cieslikowa, _Staropolskie Odapelatywne Nazwy Osobowe: Proces Onimizacji_ (Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich - Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1990).

Both of these books contain extensive lists of dated last names for the 13th through 18th centuries. The one by Rymut includes a number of patronymic bynames, that is, last names formed from the father's name. The organization of the book makes these easy to spot, and the original form of one of these would be usable as a first name. In fact, some of our members are currently creating just such a list of given names from this book. You might watch for this article to appear at the Medieval Naming Guides website within the next month:
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/

We also found the following six-volume work on Polish names, which seems to be an encyclopedic listing of early Polish names; many full names are given and most entries are dated.

Taszycki, Witold, _S{l/}ownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych. Vols. I-VI_ (Wroc{l/}aw: Zak{l/}ad Norodowy Imienia Ossoli{n'}skich Wydawnictwo Polskeij Akademii Nauk, 1965-1982).

Finally, we did locate one possible source in English for general information on Polish names. It doesn't appear to have many dated names, but may help you get started, and should provide interpretive material for using the books in Polish. It should still be in print.

William F. Hoffman, _Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings_ (Chicago: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1993)

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

Elsbeth Anne Roth, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin contributed to this letter.

In service,
--Walraven van Nijmegen
Academy of S. Gabriel


Correction, Arval, 26 Feb 2005: Corrected the author's name in note [2].