Sypniewski

The surname Sypniewski is of Polish origin and centered on the Oder region where families bearing this surname are still found today. Sypniewskis can also be found all over the world, particularly in the United States, Brazil, and Germany.

"Sypniewski" roughly translates as "one who originates from Sypniewo' - (that is from Sypien's settlement). There are several manorial estates which bear the name of Sypniewo or a similar spelling as in the German "Zippnow".

The etymology of 'Sypien' suggests the use of water in association with the making or use of a clay vessel or fortification and the breeding or capture of fish. In short, the origins suggest a clan that lived either in a fortified place on or near water (rivers/lakes) or who kept game and fisheries. In all likelihood both options apply. Most of the old manorial estates bearing the name Sypniewo are located near or on a lake or river (i.e. Lake Margonin). In German the name is translated as 'Seeort' (place on the lake).

The Sypniewskis belong to Pomeranian nobility, Polish Szlachta (nobility), Prussian nobility, and later to German and Austrian nobilities (after partition of Poland), and, although mentioned already c. 1390 and earlier (as Siebnitz and/or Zipniv Pomeranian nobility), obtained a formal Polish nobility patent in writing from the king Casimir IV Jagiellon, who granted them the right to keep and use the Odrowąż coat of arms in 1480. Zlota Ksiega Szlachty Polskiej ("Golden Book of Polish Nobility") states that the Sypniewski - Odrowaz arms are said to have come from the Podgórze region, recorded around 1190 (there are still few Sypniewski families owning land and living in this area today). Their further nobility confirmations through Bonifacius Sypniewski is dated in 1483 and confirmed in German Nobility Book. A Jan Sypniewski resettled in the Brzesko-Litewskie province (presently part of Lithuania, back then center of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), and branches are found in Poznań, Nowy Sącz, and Prussia. Around the 16th century, the Sypniewski family is found living in Greater Poland owning large manorial estates there, and later we find them in West Prussia on the estate of Zmijewie (Kojalowicz, Niesiecki, Goluchowski).

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