Polish surnames

Polish names, have two main elements: the imię, the first name, or given name; and the nazwisko, the last name, surname or family name.

The usage of personal names in Poland is generally governed by civil law, church law, personal taste and family custom.

The law requires a given name (imię) to indicate the person's gender. Almost all Polish female names end in a vowel -a, and most male names end in a consonant or a vowel other than a. There are, however, a few male names that end in a, which are very old and uncommon, such as Barnaba, Bonawentura, Boryna, Jarema, Kosma, Kuba (a diminutive of Jakub) and Saba. Maria is a female name that can be used also as a middle (second) name for males.

Since the High Middle Ages, Polish-sounding surnames ending with the masculine -ski suffix, including -cki and -dzki, and the corresponding feminine suffix -ska/-cka/-dzka were associated with the nobility (Polish szlachta), which alone, in the early years, had such suffix distinctions. They are widely popular today.

Minor regional spelling differences also exist depending on whether the surname originated in Polish, Czech or Slovak (-sky/-ský).

A child in Poland is usually given one or two names; Polish registry offices do not register more than two. Among Catholics, who form the vast majority of the population, it is customary to adopt the name of a saint as an informal, third given name at confirmation, however, this does not have any legal effect. (This is reminiscent of the pre-Christian rite of the "first haircut" (postrzyżyny), which also involved giving the child a new name.)

Parents normally choose from a long list of traditional names which may come from:

The names of Slavic saints, such as Wojciech (St Adalbert), Stanisław (St Stanislaus), or Kazimierz (St Casimir), belong to both of these groups. Slavic names used by historical Polish monarchs, e.g. Bolesław, Lech, , Władysław, are common as well. Additionally, a few names of Lithuanian origin, such as Olgierd (Algirdas), Witold (Vytautas) or , are quite popular in Poland.

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