At 04:21 AM 4/12/97 GMT, you wrote: >The "chuk" ending of your grandfather's name is typically Ukrainian. Of >course, Ukraine borders Belarus. Is it possible he was Ukrainian? ..... > ................ > >Karl > >> White Russian is now Belarus, I believe at one time part of this area was >> also Poland. >> >> > >Hi, looking for info on my grandfather. Marfian Joseph Zintschuk. > Hi! My "Dictionary of Ukrainian Surnames In Canada", F. Bogdan, shows the following variations: Zenchak, Zenchuk, Zinchuk, and (of course) Zhenchuk. The variations may be the result of an attempt to transliterate the name into English. The root 'zhen-', in Ukrainian (and many other Slavic languages) refers to 'woman, wife, female, etc.'. Perhaps 'zin-. or 'zen-' may be corruptions of 'zhen-', or may have no connection. The spelling 'Zintschuk' is not normal English spelling for Ukrainian names transliterated into English directly, but could be for those transliterated into German first, then to English. I hope this helps a little. Bill W