"Dear Tom; I would be VERY interested in any information you could give me on the surname of WARMINSKI/WARMINSKA...Also, Marianas maiden name should have been listed as: MURAWSKA...not WARMINSKI. Her married name was Warminski. According to census records, she came from Russian Poland, he from German Poland.I only know that males used the I on the end, where females used the a on the end. I would be interested in learning more about these names, thanks so much....Jane" - - - - - - - - - - - Hello Jane ... Yes, the Polish language declension patterns are complex. The Polish surname with a SKI suffix generally follows the typical adjectival pattern. Regardless of root or case suffix, and for genealogical reasons, the Masculine Singular, Nominative Case is followed. Once in a great while, the scribe used the Masculine Singular, Genitive case, but not often, and still, in your research, just revert back to SKI in all cases. While searching the records, the ROOT of the surname is the most important, such as WARM or MURAW. That's the portion to key in on. A good explanation of some Polish language suffixes and their use: http://www.polishroots.org/surnames/surnames_endings.htm . WARMINSKI - The name should actually be spelled as WARMIN~SKI (where the letter -N- has a tic above it). I'm sure that this diacritical mark was lost during the emigration and immigration process, which is common enough. WARMIN~SKI-, Formed from a Place, from the Northeast region of Poland called "Warmia" which is the Polish root word of the surname, by Poles. It's called "Ermland" by Germans and it was formerly part of East Prussia. There were 877 citizens named WARMIN~SKI living in Poland as of about 1990. From the "Sl~ownik geograficzny Kro~lestwa Polskiego" as recorded by the linguist and author William F. Hoffman based on input by Professor Kazimierz, from the Instytut Je~zyka Polskiego, Krako~w Poland. The Warmia area in subject was actually once owned by the Catholic Bishop of Warmia. Appropriately enough, Polish surnames with the root BISKUP or a spelling deviant are rampant from this general area. The suffix INSKI in the Polish surname WARMINSKI is a compound suffix! added to the root noun to indicate a connection. More specifically in this case it means "Of the XXXXX's". "Of those from Warmia" would be appropriate. Additionally, the use of the SKI suffix, a few hundred years ago, would be an indicator that this Family could possibly have been a part of the Old Polish Nobility. http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/ is one of many sites where you may enter the surname to see if indeed the Family has been enobbled. If it was, you will see their Coat-Of-Arms. Then all you have to do is research your WARMINSKI Family to show an unbroken line of lineage back to them. MURAWSKI - MURAW-, Formed from a Place. Possibly from the Polish root word "Murawa" which means "lawn, greensward" or possibly in some cases from "Moraw-" which means the same. There were 13,234 MURAWSKI's residing in Poland as of about 1990. The SKI suffix in the surname MURAWSKI is a little different than the suffix identified above. Here SKI means "Of, From, Connected With, Pertaining To". "From MURAW (Where the spelling of MURAW will probably deviate but it will show a location)" or "Connected with an area noted for it's extensive grasslands". There are other possibilities. Tom Lassek Eufaula Alabama