Fred, you are the best! Thank you very much! I can't wait to share this information with my friend. I am sure that her mother will be ecstatic. They both are the kind of people who will do anything for anyone (perhaps you are related LOL) She was so puzzled by the name. I am sure this information will help her. Once again, than you Judy In a message dated 5/30/2008 1:21:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time, wmfhoffman@sbcglobal.net writes: > > LENIO, pronounced roughly "LENN-yo," is not in my > book because I only had room for about 30,000 > surnames, and the 1990 database at > http://www.herby.com.pl/indexslo.html has data on > over 800,000 names. So I had to concentrate mostly > on the more common surnames, using 300 as my > arbitrary cut-off point -- and the 1990 data shows > only 135 Polish citizens named LENIO. But that > doesn't mean it isn't a Polish name. There were > obviously hundreds of thousands of legitimate > Polish surnames that I couldn't fit into my book > without making it a 10-ton monster that would sell > for roughly $35,000 a copy. > > By the way, the Moikrewni site uses 2002 data > which is generally more accurate than the 1990 > data. It also generates maps showing the frequency > and distribution of specific surnames. LENIO is > here: > > http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/lenio.html > > It shows as of 2002 there were 167 Polish citizens > by that name, scattered in small numbers all over > the country. As is usually the case, you can't > really look at the data and say "Obviously my > Lenios came from such-and-such a place." Only > research into the family history might uncover > facts that shed light on that question. > > I don't have LENIO in my book, but I do have an > entry on names beginning Len-, and what's said > there applies to LENIO. I quote Polish name expert > Kazimierz Rymut's book _Nazwiska Polakow_ [The > Surnames of Poles], which does include LENIO and > says surnames beginning Len- can come from the > noun _len_, "flax," or from _len'_ with accented > N, meaning "lazybones," or from short forms of the > given names Leonard or Leon. So LENIO could have > started as a nickname for "the flax guy," or "the > lazy guy," or just "Len" as a nickname for a > Leonard or Leon. There's no way to tell from the > surname alone which derivation applies in a given > case; only research into the family history might > clarify that. > > I should add that surnames ending in -IO are not > extremely common among Poles, though you do run > into them. They tend to be a bit more common among > the Rusyns, Lemkos, and other Slavs living in the > area of southeastern Poland, northeastern > Slovakia, and southwestern Ukraine. These people > speak languages that are kind of like a cross > between Polish, Ukrainian, and Slovakian -- many > words and names are very similar to Polish or > Ukrainian or Slovakian words. By and large, they > use the Cyrillic alphabet rather than the Roman, > so that the name LENIO looks kind of like this: > > JI E H I O > > The first letter looks like a J and I joined at > the top, and it stands for the sound of L. The > other letters look like ones we use, and in many > cases the sounds are similar. The biggest source > of confusion is H, which in Cyrillic stands for > the sound we write as N. > > The name might also be spelled in a way that looks > like this: > > JI E H b O > > If you go looking for more info on this family, > you may very well find that you have to deal with > the Cyrillic spellings. I've tried to indicate > them here so that you'll recognize it if you see > it. > > While I know less about Ukrainian and Lemko and > Rusyn names than I do about Polish ones, the best > info I have indicates that the derivation of the > name LENIO in those languages is pretty about the > same as for Poles. The words for "flax" and "lazy" > are similar, and a short form of Leonard or Leon > might also be relevant. Rymut's book usually tries > to include "Polish" names that are borne by Poles > but developed in other Slavic languages, and I > think he did so here. I'd say LENIO is a name that > can be borne by Polish citizens, but chances are > good their roots lie in areas now in eastern > Poland or western Ukraine. Strictly in terms of > ethnic origin, a LENIO is more likely to be > connected with Rusyns, Lemkos, and Ukrainians than > with Poles. But as the data shows, there are > people in Poland who go by this name. > > You may ask, "If names in the form X-io most often > originated in southeastern Poland and the > neighboring areas, why does the 2002 data on the > Moikrewni site show some living in southeastern > Poland, some in southwestern Poland, some in > northwestern Poland, and some in northeastern > Poland?" The answer is, after World War II, in > 1947, there was a campaign called "Operation > Vistula" [Akcja Wisla] that forced large numbers > of people living in southeastern Poland to > relocate to the west and north. This was done > largely to uproot Ukrainians and others who were > putting up violent resistance to the Communist > government of Poland, often murdering ethnic > Poles. There's more than one side to this story, > and I can't do justice to them here; but you can > find plenty of sites online that give you a better > picture of what happened. A Google search for > "Operation Vistula" will point you in the right > direction. > > The point here is that these days, we often see > names that clearly originated in the eastern and > southeastern regions of the old Polish-Lithuanian > Commonwealth scattered all over Poland, especially > in the west. That usually turns out to be due to > Operation Vistula. If we had comparable data from > before 1947, we'd almost certainly see these names > clustered in eastern Poland, western Ukraine, and > so on. But we don't have such data, so we make do > with what we have. In any case, researchers should > not be misled if names they think are Ukrainian > (or Rusyn, or Lemko, etc.) show up a long way from > where you'd expect to see them. That's usually due > to forced relocation after World War II. > > I think I've told you about all I can. I hope it's > some help to your friend's mother. > ************** Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. 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