I believe it is referring to the fact 'Estery z Chemiow' and means Estery is from the family of Chemia. Jim On Feb 27, 2011, at 5:54 PM, Rizzotti wrote: > Hello Genners: > I have a question. I have Jewish family from Poland and Ukraine. I > have received Polish BMD documents for the 1860s. In the translations > it appears to me that even female names in these documents reflect the > Patronymic. For example, I have a birth record for one of my great > great grandparent's children that, with wonderful help from another > Poland Roots "member", I transliterated and then translated. However, > I am puzzled that my great great grandmother's name is listed as > Estery z Chemiow. I know for certain that her father was Chemia and > that her name was Ester or Estera not Estery. I do know that Jews did > not have surnames before the Napoleonic mandate and that they used > their father's names as a form of surname that is commonly known as > Patronymic naming. Names ending in -witz, wicz or vich usually > indicate the name is a Patronymic. So, I am puzzled about "z Chemiow". > The person helping me feels that her name was Ester born Chemia (as a > surname) but her maiden name was Teperowitz or Teperowicz--full name > Ester(a) Gitla Teperowicz. Is there a different system for using > Patronymics in Polish Catholic vs Polish Jewish records in the Polish > language or even in Cyrillic? There was another birth record, in > Cyrillic, where the mother of the child, was named Szjena Basia Wolfow > Baranowicz. Her married surname was Slepak. That name seems to have 2 > Patronymics or is it > that in the Russian language a person has the patronymic not only of > the father but of the grandfather. I hope someone out there could give > me some insight. > Thank You, > Meryl Rizzotti > ********************************* > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at [email protected] > ---------------------------------- > Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: researching our Polish roots. > ---------------------------------- > Browse the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots > Search the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Kuba Przedzienkowski