In a message dated 97-03-02 11:43:04 EST, you write: << > Am I correct in seeing a Polish influence in that spelling? Could the > old family stories be true - that although Slovak, we are descenfed > from Polish nobility? I have family connections to JANIK from Nizna, Orava Region less than 20 km to the Polish border. (Grandpa's brother married a Janik). The same family has connections in Pennsylvania who spell the name YANIK, and from another village in the Orava Region which is even closer to Poland. These two villages are not all that far away from Poprad either. Let me know if you want me to e-mail more detailed information to you. I have exchanged correspondance and e-mail with a researcher from Slovak-L whose Janik/Yanik family is from the other village - if I remember >> Maybe I am wrong, but the only difference I see in the spelling of the name is phonics. If I am correct, Janik is pronounced Yanik and somebody just spelled it like it sounded. Annie