Origin/Meaning of Surnames

[Mr. Dustin]

. . . continued from above . . .

> Kuzenko - Кузенко

This one's not so easy, because it could plausibly come from a diminutive of кузен, "cousin"; but I wonder if in some cases it might also be connected with кузня (kuznia), "blacksmith's forge, smithy." Still, Rymut's book on Polish surnames suggests the Ukrainian term for "cousin" is the probable origin, and I'm inclined to go along with that.

> Nicolai - Ніколай - if coming from Western Ukraine, name would be
> Микола = Mykola/Mykolaj. Greek rooted. Means PEOPLE'S VICTORY.

Yes, basically this is right. Nikolai is the Russian version of the name we know as Nicholas. In Ukrainian it has several forms, including Микола (Mykola) or Никола (Nykola); compare the Polish form Mikołaj ("mee-KO-why"). Any way you cut it, it simply indicates an ancestor was named Nikolai = Nicholas. You can see a little info on the given name here:

Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Nikolai

It does indeed come from Greek roots meaning "victory" and "people." Exactly how the combination should be interpreted is open to question, but I note that Behindthename interprets it the same way Hannia did. I have no problem with that.

> Koroway - Коровай - special holiday/wedding bread that is braided.

As far as I know, that's correct; that's the derivation Rymut gives in his book, and he specifies that it refers to this special bread in the area of Rus and Ukraine. It probably began as a nickname for an ancestor who was the "korovai person." Maybe he or she made or sold this bread, or something along those lines.

> Pushka - Пушка. I had been told previous that this is just a deriviative of Pushkar,
> which means "gunner", and Hannia added that her father called a METAL CAN, PUSHKA

Rymut says it comes from the noun puszka, which can be a cannon or a tin box. The same noun exists in Ukrainian as пушка (pushka), meaning the same thing. It probably was a nickname for an ancestor who was "the pushka guy," perhaps from a connection with guns or cannons, perhaps from a connection with cans or boxes.

> Obshyra - Обшира - Means around/on the perimeter/border. There's humor
> attached to this surname, leading me to believe the surname might be Cossack???

I image it comes from the Ukrainian noun обшир (obshyr), "space, extension, expanse." Maybe it was a nickname referring to an ancestor's size? If there's humor involved, maybe it was kind of an imaginative way to refer to a really big guy!? I don't know whether it's connected to Cossacks.

> Y(J)aremchuk - Япемчук - Яремчук. Root, Ярема - equivalent to Jerome in English.
> CHUK is the suffix. This is the most common form surname in Ukrainian. It is based
> on masculine given name.

I didn't know this is the most common surname in Ukrainian, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised if that proves true. It means "son of Yarema" (Poles and Germans would spell that first letter as J, not Y), which is a Ukranian version of the name we know as Jeremiah or Jeremy. Yarema developed from the standard Ukrainian version of this name, Єремія (Ieremiya). That's not the same name as Jerome (= Ukrainian Іеронім), but the names are similar enough that they could be easily confused. Yarema/Jeremiah is a Biblical name, of Hebrew origin, whereas Jerome is of Greek origin (originally Hieronymos, "sacred name").

I think that covers everything, and I hope the info is some help to you.

Fred Hoffman
Author, Polish Surnames: Origins & Meanings
Fredhoff Home Page

[Mr. Dustin]

I forgot to add, I replied to him and in that reply asked if he knew anything about why one would use "-ishyn"/"son of ___'s woman" instead of just "-chuk"/"son of ____" and below is his response:

I've often thought about this, and I've never found a satisfactory reply. This formulation of "son of X's woman" seems to be uniquely Ukrainian, or at least they're the only Slavic people I've heard of who use names formed that way. (I do know metronymics are not uncommon among other peoples, for instance, Ashkenazic Jews.) I have read that in some cases, names in the form X-chuk developed by adding -uk to a name in the form X-ek or X-ko. In other words, if a Belarusian or Ukrainian was the son of a man named Savko, "little Sava," addition of -uk would cause the -o to drop off and the -k- to modify to the sound we spell "ch" (Poles spell it "cz") = Savchuk. So sometimes X-chuk developed from an intermediate form, where a given name such as Sava formed a diminutive Savko, and then "son of Savko" produced SAVCHUK (Polish spelling SAWCZUK). That is one specific that may be applicable sometimes to X-chuk names. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be out of the question for -chuk to be added directly to the given name, so that SAVCHUK could also have formed from Sava + -chuk. From what I understand, you really can't jump to conclusions as to which process produced such a name in a given case. X-chuk names are distinctively Belarusian/Ukrainian, but they use a basic method of formulation that is typical of the Slavic languages. That's why we see Poles with names such as JANCZAK (from either Jan + -czak or Janek/Janko + -ak), Czechs with names such as NOVAC^EK (Novak + -ek) and so on. There must have been some added social dimension that caused the formulation of X-ishyn names. Maybe the Slavs in general tended to be patriarchal, whereas there was an element in Ukrainian society that gave a little more recognition to women. Perhaps that's why you have Ukrainian names that stress, not just the father, but also descent from father and mother. I say this because surnames deriving from feminine given names tend to be a bit more common among Ukrainians than among Poles. But really, that's just my speculation. I've never read anything that addressed this question and answered it to my satisfaction. I strongly suspect there have been Slavic linguists and onomasticians who have written on the subject, and I just haven't come across them yet. With all possible respect for scholars, however, they tend to focus on specific, quantifiable phenomena, and leave the "big picture" aside (precisely because it's controversial and hard to prove one way or the other). There are probaly all kinds of studies documenting the incidence of X-chuk names and X-ishyn names in this place or among that class -- but perhaps nothing that pulls it all together and explains the reason for the phenomena. Rest assured, if I ever do run across a compelling explanation, I will not keep it secret! I'd love to be able to answer your question, because I have the same question. For now, however, the best I can offer is my own speculation on the matter. Which, frankly, is worth exactly what you paid for it.... Fred Hoffman

[Mx7]

Hello people,

I noticed that someone wanted to know about the "григоришин" family (I sent an email...but NO response) IF anyone knows anything about my family, give us a yell.

Mx7

[Hannia]

Hryhoryszyn/Hryhoryshyn (transliteration/sounds like variant) is definitely a Ukrainian surname, It is a metronymic/matronymic , originally formed from mother's or other female ancestor's name. Hryhorij translates to Gregory in English Today there are 750+ individuals that carry this surname in Ukraine.

[Mx7]

Not sure if it is Metronymic. It was actually Austrian......as much as we can tell. It ONLY became Ukrainian when Western Ukraine came under the Austrian Empire. We actually have/had documentation from those times...and how the name was spelt then. Those days it was "Hreoresen" this got translated first to "гриоришин" then "григоришин" we have relatives in Ukraine with the later name....who seemed to have stayed behind.

I know григорi is Gregory (as we are Ukrainian)....however as the name was Austrian before it was Ukrainian.....it might be something else.....perhaps even non-continental Scandinavian. I know some of the family history.......the parts I know indicate it wasn't originally Ukrainian. I personally want to work out where exactly the name came from and a more complete family history.

[Hannia]

I take it you are only clowning around. If not, following article may just help you get unconfused.
______________________________________________________________________________

"Did Your Baba Come from Austria?"

by Orysia Tracz

"Did your mother come from Ireland?" asks the Irish-American song. I have another, more relevant question. If you are of Ukrainian descent, and your grandparents or great-grandparents came from Ukraine to Canada [and the U.S.] in the last part of the 19th century or early part of this century, did your baba or dido come from Austria?

What a silly question, you may think. But is it? Almost every day, in the obituaries of the Winnipeg newspapers, we read about a 70- or 90-year-old individual, with a Ukrainian name, member of a Ukrainian church and Ukrainian organizations, and yet, "born in selo [village] such-and-such, pvit such-and-such, Austria." Why? That baba and dido most probably never even saw Austria. When they lived in Ukraine, they would have had to travel completely through Poland, Czechoslovakia, or Hungary to get to the borders of Austria itself. So how could they have been born in selo Dolyna, povit Zelenyi, AUSTRIA? They weren't. Your baba and dido were still Ukrainian, but everything around them was changing every so many years. The western portion of Ukraine was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1722 to 1918, and under Polish rule within that empire, and later, for a good portion of that time.

The pioneers and later immigrants to Canada arrived with documents and papers in German, Polish, Rumanian, or Russian, because the language used on the documents was the official language of whatever government was ruling Ukraine at the time. From this, some descendants of these immigrants -- and even the immigrants themselves -- thought that because the papers were in German issued by "Austria," they were "Austrian" themselves. How many of our pioneers and their descendants were and are active members of the Polish and Rumanian communities because they thought they belonged there?

It's a long story, and yet it's simple. Ukraine is a very poor rich country -- rich in location, climate, soil, natural resources, and people, to overabundance. But because of these riches, throughout her history, Ukraine has been at the mercy of its greedy neighbours. When one consideres how long the Ukrainian people have existed as an entity, the years of independence [before 1991] were very few indeed.

National identity/ethnic origin and citizenship are two totally different things. Even in this century, your parents or grandparents, while being Ukrainian by nationality or ethnic origin, could have been citizens of Russia, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Austria, or Germany. This does not mean that they changed nationality, if by "nationality" you understand ethnic origin or national identity. They just changed citizenship. Remnants of colonialism and foreign occupations are evident in the Ukrainian language. "Za Avstriyi" and "za Pol'shchi" mean during [the time of] Austria and during [the time of] Poland -- i.e., under the rule of Austria and Poland. "Za nimtsiv" or "za Rossiyi" means during the wartime occupations of the Germans, and of the Russians. Also used was "za bol'shevykiv" -- during [the time of] the Bolsheviks.

The colonists and occupiers came, stayed, and left. The people, and the land, stayed the same -- Ukrainian -- as they had always been. I remember an old wise woman commenting on this topic, patiently explaining again and again: "Just because a kitten is born in the barn, that doesn't make it a calf."

[Mx7]

No not clowning around. I and my immediate family are Ukrainian. My mum's side is Ukrainian. My dad's BECAME Ukrainian (and I was even told that once by my grandmother before she died, she was Ukrainian but she couldn't marry my grandfather until his father died)....So I am Ukrainian. However 1. I'm curious to know if we have more family out threre and how they are related. 2. Trace the roots further back before 1900s. Sounds simple......but not really.