Polish name
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A Polish personal name, like names in most European cultures, consists of two main elements: imię, or the given name, followed by nazwisko, or the family name. The usage of personal names in Poland is generally governed (in addition to personal taste or family custom) by three major factors: civil law, Church law, and tradition.
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[edit] Imię (given name)
A child in Poland is usually given one or two given names and it is illegal to officially use more than two given names. Parents normally choose a name or names for their child from a long list of traditional names which may be:
- a Christian name, i.e., a Biblical name or a saint's name, or
- a Slavic name of pre-Christian origin.
Note that names of Slavic saints, such as Wojciech (St Adalbert), Stanisław (St Stanislaus), or Kazimierz (St Casimir), belong to both groups. Additionally, a few names of Lithuanian origin, such as Olgierd (Algirdas), Witold (Vytautas) or Grażyna are also quite popular in Poland.
Traditionally, the names are given at a child's baptism. Non-Christian but traditional Slavic names are usually accepted, but the priest may encourage the parents to pick at least one Christian name. In the past two Christian names were given to a child so that he or she had two patron saints instead of just one. Nowadays, this is more because of tradition, and the second given name is rarely used in everyday situations, the use of a middle name being considered pretentious. At confirmation people usually adopt yet another (second or third) Christian name; however, it is never used outside Church documents.
In Eastern Poland, as in many other Catholic countries, people celebrate name days (imieniny) on the day of their patron saint. On the other hand, in Western Poland birthdays are more popular. Today, in Eastern Poland birthdays remain relatively intimate celebrations, as often only relatives and close friends know a person's date of birth. Name days, on the other hand, are often celebrated together with co-workers, etc. Information about whose name day it is, can be found in most Polish calendars, web portals, etc.
It is required by law for a given name to clearly indicate the person's sex. Almost all Polish female names end in the vowel -a, while most male names end in a consonant or a vowel other than a. There are, however, a few male names, such as Barnaba and Bonawentura, which end in -a. Maria is an exceptional name as it can be used both as a female and as a male name; the latter usage, however, is very uncommon and practically restricted to the second (middle) name.
The choice of a given name is largely influenced by fashion. Many parents may name their child after a national hero or heroine, some otherwise famous person, or a character from a book, film, or TV show. In spite of this, a great number of names used in today's Poland have been in use since the Middle Ages.
Diminutives are very popular in everyday usage, and are by no means reserved for children. The Polish language allows for a great deal of creativity in this field. Most diminutives are formed by adding a suffix. For male names it may be -ek or the more affectionate -uś; for female names it may be -ka, or -nia / -dzia / -sia respectively. Maria, a name whose standard form was once reserved to refer to Virgin Mary has a particularly great number of possible diminutives, which include: Marysia, Maryśka, Marysieńka, Marychna, Mania, Mańka, Maniusia, Maja, Majka, Marusia, Maryla, Maryna, Marianna, Mariola, Marzena, Marlena, Marietta, Marita, Marika, Marisa. Some of those have eventually become treated as standard names of their own.
Also, as in many other cultures, a person may informally use a nickname (przezwisko, ksywa) in addition to or instead of a given name.
As of 2003, the most popular female names in Poland are Anna, Maria, and Katarzyna. The most popular male names are Piotr, Jan, and Andrzej.
[edit] Nazwisko (surname)
Polish surnames, like those in most of Europe, are hereditary and generally patrilineal, i.e., passed from the father on to his children.
A married woman usually adopts her husband's name. However, other combinations are legally possible. The wife may keep her maiden name (nazwisko panieńskie) or add her husband's surname to hers, thus creating a double-barrelled name (nazwisko złożone). However, if she already has a double-barrelled name, she must leave one of the parts out—it is illegal to use a triple- or more-barrelled name. It is also possible, though rare, for the husband to adopt his wife's surname or to add his wife's surname to his family name.
A person may also legally change his or her surname if:
- it is offensive or funny;
- it is of foreign origin;
- it is identical with a given name;
- that person has effectively used a different surname for a long time.
The most widespread Polish surnames are Nowak, Kowalski, and Wiśniewski.
[edit] History
| This article is part of the Polish Heraldry series  History of Poland |
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Family names first appeared in Poland ca. 15th century and were only used by the nobility (szlachta). Originally the nobles belonged to warrior clans whose names survived in the names of their coats of arms. Eventually, members of one clan would split into separate families with different surnames, usually derived from the name of the village they owned. Sometimes the family name and the clan name (associated with the arms) would be used together and form a double-barrelled name.
The most striking peculiarity of the Polish heraldic system is that a coat of arms does not belong to a single family. A number of unrelated families (sometimes hundreds of them), usually with a number of different family names, may use a coat of arms, and each coat of arms has its own name. The total number of coats of arms in this system was relatively low—ca. 200 in the late Middle Ages.
One side-effect of this unique arrangement was that it became customary to refer to noblemen by both their family name and their coat of arms/clan name. For example: Jan Zamoyski herbu Jelita means Jan Zamoyski of the Jelita coat of arms (though it is often translated as ...of the clan Jelita).
From the 15th to 17th centuries, the formula seems to copy the ancient Roman naming convention with the classic tria nomina used by the Patricians: praenomen (or given name), nomen gentile (or gens/Clan name) and cognomen (surname), following the Renaissance fashion, thus: Jan Jelita Zamoyski, forming a double-barrelled name (nazwisko złożone). Later, the double-barrelled name would be joined with a hyphen: Jan Jelita-Zamoyski.
The use of family names gradually spread to other social groups: the townsfolk by the end of the 17th century, then the peasantry, and finally the Jews. The process finally ended only in the mid-19th century.
After the First and Second World Wars some resistance fighters added their wartime noms de guerre to their original family names. This was yet another reason for creating double-barrelled names. Examples include Edward Rydz-Śmigły, Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, and Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski. Some artists, such as Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, also added their noms de plume to their surnames.
[edit] Polonia
When Poles emigrate to countries with different languages and cultures, the often-difficult spelling and pronunciation of Polish names commonly cause them to be misspelled or changed; sometimes indirectly by transliteration into, e.g., Cyrillic.
For example, in German, ski and cki are often replaced by sky and tzky, sz by sch, and so on; English often changes w to v and sz to sh. Similar changes sometimes occur in French, as well as the addition to aristocratic names of de (la particule[1]).
Changes in Spanish may be even extreme. A Spiczynski may become simply Spika, for example. Hyphenated double-barrelled names are often rearranged: Erasmus Bogorya-Skotnicki becomes Erasmo Bogorya de Skotnicki or Erasmo Skotnicki de Bogorya.
[edit] Classification
Based on grammatical features, Polish surnames may be divided into:
Adjectival names very often end in the suffixes -ski, -cki and -dzki (feminine -ska, -cka and -dzka), and are considered to be either typically Polish or typical for the Polish nobility. However, this is not exactly true: the adjectival suffix -ski, -skii or -sky is found in many other Slavic languages, and in Poland, the adjectival form of a name was not reserved to the szlachta.
Based on origin, Polish family names may be generally divided into three groups: cognominal, toponymic and patronymic.
[edit] Cognominal
A cognominal surname (nazwisko przezwiskowe) derives from a person's nickname, usually based on his occupation, or a physical or character trait.
Examples:
- Kowal, Kowalski, Kowalczyk, Kowalewski — from kowal, or "blacksmith";
- Młynarz, Młynarski, Młynarczyk — from młynarz, or "miller";
- Nowak, Nowakowski, Nowicki — from nowy, or "new one";
- Lis, Lisiewicz, Lisowski — from lis, or "fox".
[edit] Toponymic
A toponymic surname (nazwisko odmiejscowe) usually derives from the name of a village or town, or the name of a topographic feature. These names are almost always of the adjectival form.
Examples:
- Tarnowski — from Tarnów;
- Zaleski — from across the forest (za lasem);
- Górski — from the mountains (góry).
[edit] Patronymic
A patronymic surname (nazwisko odimienne) derives from a given name of a person and usually ends in a suffix suggesting a family relation.
Examples:
- Jan, Jachowicz, Janicki, Jankowski, Janowski — derived from Jan (John);
- Adamczewski, Adamczyk, Adamowski, Adamski — derived from Adam;
- Łukasiński, Łukaszewicz — derived from Łukasz (Luke).
[edit] Feminine forms
Adjectival surnames, like all Polish adjectives, have masculine and feminine forms. While a masculine surname usually ends in -i or -y, its feminine equivalent ends in -a. Examples:
| Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|
| Malinowski | Malinowska |
| Zawadzki | Zawadzka |
| Podgórny | Podgórna |
| Biały | Biała |
Nominal surnames may or may not change with gender. Like other Slavic languages, Polish used to have special feminine suffixes which were added to a woman's surname. A woman who was never married used her father's surname with the suffix -ówna or -'anka. A married woman or a widow used her husband's surname with the suffix -owa or -'ina / -'yna (the apostrophe means that the last consonant in the base form of the surname is softened). Although these suffixes are still used by some people, mostly elderly and in rural areas, they are now becoming outdated and there is a tendency to use the same form of a nominal surname for both a man and a woman.
| Father / husband | Unmarried woman | Married woman or widow |
|---|---|---|
| ending in a consonant (except g) | -ówna | -owa |
| ending in a vowel or in -g | -'anka | -'ina or -'yna |
Examples:
| Father / husband | Unmarried woman | Married woman or widow |
|---|---|---|
| Nowak | Nowakówna | Nowakowa |
| Madej | Madejówna | Madejowa |
| Konopka | Konopczanka | Konopczyna |
| Zaręba | Zarębianka | Zarębina |
| Pług | Płużanka | Płużyna |
[edit] Formal and informal use
Poles pay great attention to the correct way of referring to or addressing other people depending on the level of social distance, familiarity and politeness. The differences between formal and informal language include:
- using surnames vs. given names;
- using vs. not using honorific titles such as Pan / Pani;
- using the third person singular forms vs. second person singular.
[edit] Formal language
[edit] Pan / Pani
Pan and Pani are the basic honorific styles used in Polish to refer to a man or woman, respectively. In the past, these styles were reserved to members of the szlachta and played more or less the same roles as "Lord" or "Sir" and "Lady" or "Madame" in English. Since the 19th century, they have come to be used in all strata of society and may be considered equivalent to the English "Mr." and "Ms." There used to be a separate style, Panna ("Miss"), applied to an unmarried woman, but this is outdated and replaced by Pani.
[edit] Given name / surname order
The given name(s) normally comes before the surname. However, in a list of people sorted alphabetically by surname, the surname usually comes first. Hence some people may also use this order in spoken language (e.g. introducing themselves as Kowalski Jan instead of Jan Kowalski), but this is generally considered incorrect. In many formal situations the given name is omitted altogether.
Examples:
- Pan Włodzimierz Malinowski
- Pani Jadwiga Kwiatkowska
[edit] Informal language
Informal forms of address are normally used only by relatives, close friends and co-workers. In such situations diminutives are generally preferred to the standard forms of given names. At an intermediate level of familiarity (e.g. among co-workers) a diminutive given name may be preceded by Pan or Pani.
Examples:
- Pan Włodek
- Pani Jadzia
[edit] See also
- Name of Poland
- Polish clans
- Polish heraldry
- Names in Russian Empire, Soviet Union and CIS countries
- T-V distinction
