My apologies to Jonathan Shea. I knew it was a co-authored work, but in my haste, overlooked that. Trish Stumpf Garcia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fred Hoffman" <wmfhoffman@sbcglobal.net> To: <poland-roots@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2008 1:30 PM Subject: Re: [POLAND] Interpreting Polish Records found on FHC - LDS films > Hi, > > I appreciate very much the kind words from Chris > Smolinski and Trish Stumpf Garcia regarding _In > Their Words ... Volume 1: Polish_. It's really > gratifying when researchers are comfortable > recommending to others a book you worked on! I do > want to add one thing, however -- I co-authored > that book with Jonathan Shea, and the book was his > idea in the first place. So it would be kind of > outrageous if I sat back and took all the credit > myself. > > John Ruther's note has received many good answers. > If I may add a couple of ideas, this Web site is > worth consulting for Polish given names: > > http://www.edziecko.pl/ciaza_i_porod/0,79473.html > > "Imiona dla chlopca" selects "Names for a boy," > and I'll bet you can figure out for yourself what > "Imiona dla dziewczynki" means. > > The info on the names is all in Polish, and > includes some blather about what astrologers have > to say about the character of people who bear > these names. So it's not as if I wholly endorse > this site. But if what you need is a reasonably > comprehensive list of Polish first names to > compare against what you see in records, this site > is helpful. I'd say > http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/pol.php is the > best place to start, but if you don't find what > you need there, the Edziecko site is worth a try. > > As for surnames, the 1990 database at > http://www.herby.com.pl/indexslo.html is a big > help because you can input parts of names, using > wild cards, to get a range of surnames that match > the relevant criteria. For instance, if you're > trying to figure out the first letter of a name > that looks like _UKOMSKI, a search for ?UKOMSKI > will quickly tell you the most likely candidate. > Or if you're the first part of the name is SZY- > and the last part is -KOWSKI, a search for > SZY*KOWSKI will give you a list you can study for > the best fit. > > The 1990 data in the Herby database is less > accurate than the 2002 data on the Moikrewni site > (http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/), but the Herby > database is easier to use, in my opinion. There's > a learning curve involved, but when I'm not sure > about a name, I find the Herby site more helpful. > I wrote an article in _Gen Dobry!_ designed to > help people with the tough parts; it's called "The > Slownik nazwisk Is Still Online" and you can find > it here: > > http://www.polishroots.org/gendobry/PDF/GenDobry_VII_11.pdf > > I hope that's some help. > > Fred Hoffman > > ********************************* > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com > ---------------------------------- > 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 POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message