How did Polish surnames develop?

Using first and last names seems obvious today, but until the 19th century, there was no obligation to use a last name. So how did this work for so many centuries? People identified themselves primarily by their first names and various nicknames and aliases. Surnames, which we now consider a natural part of our identity, have evolved over the years, undergoing numerous modifications. For this reason, determining their original origin can be difficult.

How did Polish surnames develop in medieval times?

In the early Middle Ages, identification by surname was not yet commonplace. People used only first names, to which nicknames were sometimes added. As a result of a long process of change, this method of naming was replaced by the two-part system we know today. The social class that first recognized the need for surnames was the nobility. This was due to the fact that they carried out the most formalities, so they wanted to be sure of the accuracy of all transactions, votes, and contracts. First, individual surnames appeared, which over time began to be inherited from generation to generation. After some time, other social classes began to feel a lack of sufficient identification – first the townspeople, and finally the peasants.

How did Polish surnames evolve at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries?

In the early days, surnames were not given permanently. People often took new ones when their status changed or they acquired property, e.g., after purchasing land in another town. Despite their growing popularity over the centuries, the obligation to use surnames was not introduced until the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition, it was then that a ban on changing or modifying them was announced.

Polish surnames derived from places

It is commonly assumed that surnames ending in -ski or -cki are noble surnames. This is only true in the context of surnames that originate from place names, e.g., “Sokołowski” from the town of Sokołów or Sokołowo. The association of surnames with such a suffix with noble status influenced the desire to have them among other social classes. In this way, so-called model surnames began to appear. Townspeople, and eventually peasants, began to shape their surnames in this way. Usually, this simply involved adding the appropriate ending to the existing surname. Therefore, nowadays, a correct suffix is not a guarantee that we are dealing with a surname of noble origin. An additional difficulty in identifying the origin of a surname is the problem of determining whether a given surname comes from the name of a profession or from the name of a village where that profession was dominant.

Polish surnames derived from professions

In the case of townspeople, surnames were usually derived from their profession. The reason for this was largely to communicate to others what a person did for a living. This made it easier to find a specialist in case of a problem – all you had to do was know the names of people in the area. In the case of peasants, however, a large part of the surnames were derived from the natural world. It is worth noting that peasants did not have surnames in the modern sense of the term until the 16th century. They usually used nicknames to distinguish between people with the same first name.

Polish surnames derived from nicknames

It was from nicknames that another group of Polish surnames originated. Physical features were a convenient way to describe someone, especially if that person had a distinctive attribute (usually negative). Examples of features that people paid attention to when creating surnames included unusual height, a large nose, curly hair, or left-handedness.

Polish surnames derived from first names

Another group of surnames are those derived from first names. However, in Poland they are not as popular as among Eastern or Southern Slavs. Polish examples of surnames derived from first names include Pawłowicz, Mikołajczyk, and Szymański.

Soucre:

https://histmag.org/Jak-tworzyly-sie-polskie-nazwiska-19610