In article <5lf1m1$gpp@bcrkh13.bnr.ca>, mvirch@bnr.ca writes... > > >Anybody have a clue as to what the surname suffix "chick", >which I've seen alternately spelled "chek", "chik", "czyk", >"cek", and possibly even "sk", with perhaps a circumflex over >the "s"? Does this have a literal meaning? It's an ending >you see in a lot of Slavic names. >-- I believe that some of the alternative spellings you give do not refer to the same group of name endings. First, I do not believe that "-chick" is a proper Slavic spelling. It looks more like an English corruption. Second, the endings -chek and -chik, I think, should be -ek and -ik, with the "ch" properly being attatched to the preceding syllable. Third, the Polish suffix -czyk is correctly spelled and is patronymic. Thus, Piekarczyk would be "son of the baker". Based on my research, the -czyk ending occurs more frequently in Southern Poland. Some people I had researched who traveled back and forth between Poland and Slovakia used the -czyk ending in Poland and -c'ik ending in Slovakia (hacek over the "c") giving the Polish and Slovak forms the same pronounciation. Hope this helps, Joe