I want to thank everyone for their help with the name Stepniak--I am so happy I asked the question. I never thought of checking various spellings on this name, although I have on other names.. I have another name I was just plain wondering about Soltyszak that is just one of the variations I have of this name. Donna

Hi, Donna wrote: > I want to thank everyone for their help with the > name Stepniak-- > I am so happy I asked the question. I never > thought of checking > various spellings on this name, although I have > on other names.. It's not something people often think of, until they've had a fair amount of experience and have learned the hard way. But ALWAYS try to think of plausible spelling variations. Historically speaking, names that are always spelled consistently and "correctly" are the exception, not the rule. > I have another name I was just plain wondering > about Soltyszak > that is just one of the variations I have of > this name. In Polish it is spelled with a slash or crossbar through the L, and pronounced roughly "sow-TISH-ock." The first syllable sounds like our word "sow" or "sew," that is, with a long O sound (not short as in "sow," an adult female swine). The name means "son of the soltys" or "kin of the soltys." A _soltys_ is an administrative official of a village or district. There's a little about the term here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So%C5%82ectwo This word actually came from the same German word that produced the German terms _Schultheiss_ and _Schultze_, which produced the surname we know as SCHULTZ. You can see more about the term here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulthei%C3%9F The spelling SOLTYSZAK is rather rare, and no Polish citizens went by that name as of 2002. But in Polish, SZ and SI are both sounds like our "sh," so that the spelling can vary. SOLTYSIAK was the name of 6,914 Polish citizens as of 2002. You can see data and a map here: http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/so%25C5%2582tysiak.html To sum up, SOLTYSZAK is a spelling variation of the name normally spelled SOLTYSIAK (in both cases, with slash-L, pronounced roughly "sow-TISH-ock"). It's a moderately common name in Poland, showing up all over the country, with the largest numbers in west-central Poland. It means "son/kin of the soltys," a local official kind of like a cross between a mayor and a sheriff. We don't have any exact equivalent in our system, but a cross a sort of mayor/sheriff is not too far off the mark. I hope that helps, and good luck with your research. Fred Hoffman Author, _Polish Surnames: Origins & Meanings_ www.fredhoff.com