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