> BUZYCH (as spelled on a NYC Death Certificate) -- wthin one register, I > have found records for a male recorded as BUSZHYK, another recorded as > BUZAK, a female recorded as BUS?HA, and also for a female recorded as > BUSZKOSKA. Are all these possibly the same family name? I think it was Gerald Ortell who proposed the first rule of genealogy: whatever surname you're searching for in the records, there will be at least one other that will confuse you! Don't know if these are all the same surname, but could Buszkoska be read as Buszkonka? Surnames of unmarried daughters often took an -onka/-anka/-owna ending. > RASCKA (also from a NYC Death Certificate) -- I have found a male recorded > as ROSZKA, and another recorded as ROSZAK. Are these different names? > For that matter, are there Polish names for which the masculine form ends > in "-ka?" Yes, surnames for males can end in -ka or -a. But for Roszka and Roszak, if Roszka is used in a Polish sentence or phrase, it might be a declined form of Roszak (genetive or accusative singular). If it's cited on its own, that wouldn't work. > ..should have been PAPROCKI. I have found a records which lists someone's > parents as PAPROCY -- is this a plural form? Yes, that's the plural -- the Paprockis. It works for -ski names too: Kowalscy = the Kowalskis. Joe Armata armata@vms.cis.pitt.edu