Kathy- Well, I'm afraid we will have to persuade someone with a sense of adventure to mind-zap back into the past to see just what they were doing back then to screw everything up. Shirley, Monica, Sherry, Diane, Marge and Chris come to mind off hand. I'm sure there are others. The question of course is WHY he changed his name in the first place. That's why we need the mind-zap. Here, I think the odds would favor : 1. He didn't want to cause confusion by adopting the name Stanley, since others used Stanley and he wanted distinction for clarification. 2. Perhaps he had a middle name associated with the English Charles in some way. 3. Someone he respected carried the name Charles, but in a different form (see below). Actually, there is some basis for your continued research towards finality, even the simple word CHARLIE may open tangent doors. There is some established protocol in support. The name CHARLES is totally English, however it's represented in some respect in all European languages. In Polish, it's KAROL and KAZIMIERZ. KAROL initially comes from the Old German word CAROLUS which means "man or husband". Some feel it is better represented with the meaning of "army or people". It became widespread with it's association with CHARLEMAGNE, then the Carolingian king of the Franks, whose English name is a combination of the French-influenced name CHARLES and the Latin MAGNUS. The Polish name KAROL derives from the Latin CAROLUS and the English name CHARLES comes from the French. KAZIMIERZ is an old double rooted Pagan name, KAZI - means "destroy" and MIR - means "peace". It was a name born by Piast and Jagiellonian princes and kings. In America the English version is CASIMIR, formed from the Latin spelling of CASIMIRUS. In the US, several Polish immigrants have used the American deviant of CASIMIR which is CASEY or CHARLES. There is more information available in my reference, the high points I've mentioned above, but you may want to look at the entire entries for further info. First Names of the Polish Commonwealth, Origins and Meanings. Hoffman and Helon. One thing remains unexplained and I was hoping to find it, but I didn't. I cannot find an association, in spelling or phonetics, a connection back to STANISLAW. They're completely different. One thing I would recommend would be to take all these names to someone who is fluid in Polish - a Native Pole would be best, and ask them to pronounce them. I'd record their pronunciation as well. Since dialectal differences in pronunciation widely exist in Poland, ask them If they think that there could be a similarity in these names as spoken in other geographical parts of Poland. The End - Tom On Mar 21, 2011, at 6:46 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Tom, OK..........I'll buy your little explanation, but how did it become Charlie then? KB >