In article <[email protected]>, "Tomasz Nowicki" <[email protected]> wrote: > BALKIEWICZ is probably a surname of polish nobilis living in historical > Lativia (Litwa, Wielkie Ksiestwo Litewskie) - it was confederated with > Rzeczpospolita (Republic) Polska (old Poland) about 1365 and it was very > big - today its Lativia, Belorussia and Ukraina. So, Mr. BALKIEWICZ could > make their village people free and give them his surname and sign I believe you mean present-day Lithuania rather than Latvia. Yes, the surname could be Belarusian or Ukrainian - or even belonging to a Polonized ancestor coming originally from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The animal you refer to, in English, is called a "beaver," and in Belarusian "babior" or "babra," with a long "a" sound. -- 1. To reach me take out the tildes (~) in the email address. 2. "It is bad luck to be superstitious." - via Wordsmith 3. A Belarusian in America <http://www.netcom.com/~homan/bielarus.html>