Do Polish Americans have traditional Polish names?

27 comments

1. You can still find a lot of traditionally spelled Polish last names. First names, less common in my experience.

   Where I grew up, Polish ancestry was pretty dominant and so a lot of people has Polish last names. Michiganders with Polish ancestry are also very proud of their background and family culture. I feel like there’s even been an increase in “Polish-American pride” in the last 10 or so years. Lots more cultural events and festivals

2. Yes, Polish Americans will quite often have Polish surnames but usually English given names.

3. In my experience most Central and Eastern European families where I live use English first names by the second generation, while keeping traditionalist names.

4. I don’t think it’s very common. If anything they would use Anglicized versions of Polish names but it’s pretty rare to meet a Kazimierz or Bogdan.

5. Mostly they have standard American first names after around the 2nd generation after immigration, but some of these groups have added names from their cultural heritage into the pool of “standard names”, so for example, you’ll see all kinds of Celtic derived names among Americans.

   I know a guy named Sean Cheng that has no family connection to Ireland, for instance. For his Chinese-immigrant parents Sean was just a standard American name they liked.

6. Do you mean first or last names? I remember a kid in my school who’s name was Joe, but it was actually Josep. And had a very Polish sounding last name.

7. Many of the names were anglicized when they immigrated. If names were very difficult to spell or pronounce, they got simplified.

8. [deleted]

9. A Polish man goes to the eye doctor. The doctor points to an eye chart on the wall and asks the man to read it. The man says “Hey, I know that guy!”.

10. First names or last names?

    Polish last names are fairly common, although sometimes their spellings are changed since Polish spelling looks like alphabet soup to English speakers (e.g. “Nowak” to “Novak”). Sometimes they are spelled the same but pronounced according to English rules, e.g. “Kowalski” is almost always pronounced with an English W, not a V sound.

    First names are much rarer, although most “Biblical” names in Polish have English equivalents, e.g. Jan to John.

11. In my experience people will have an English first name and Polish approximate last name. Something like Paul Kolodziejczyk, even if they go by Paweł Kołodziejczyk when speaking Polish.

    Also, we don’t use ł, ą, ę, ó, ż, and so on since those letters don’t exist in english.

12. Last names, definitely. First names are less common but I wouldn’t be surprised to see more ethnic groups using “ethnic” names. It isn’t uncommon for a third generation Irish or Japanese American to have parents with totally “anglo” names but for his own name to sound completely Irish or Japanese.

    I don’t live in an area with a lot of Polish-Americans, but the ones I know mostly have Anglo first names unless they are from Poland originally. But I think most people would think it’s cool and interesting if Polish-American parents gave their child a traditional Polish first name, so long as it isn’t too difficult for an English speaker to spell and pronounce.

13. My cousin’s wife is first generation Polish and their sons have English first names and Polish first names. Their middle names are the English version of their Polish names. For example : Andrew Peter, they will call him Andrew while speaking English and the Polish version of Peter while speaking Polish.

14. I live in an area with LOTS of recent Polish immigrants. Many of the one I know give their children Polish names. Lots of them are pretty difficult for the American tongue! I think the Poles I know are way more likely to use a traditional name than other country’s immigrants.

    I have a boy on my street named Maciej. I had to google it just now by “Polish name that sounds like Magic”.

15. My college roommate came from a polish family.

    Polish last named with a bit of anglicization just to fit English letters and an American first name (Nicolas).

16. Among born and raised Americans, no one besides South Asian Americans(Indians/Pakistanis) have non-English names.

17. Where I live yes, because 1/2 of my suburb is foreign born with the majority from Europe, so my kids have classmates named Stanislaw, Wojtek, Lukasz, Lorenzo, Gaetano, etc.

    My kids all have their names Anglicized, with the exception of one we gave an Irish name to, that we also will sometimes refer to them by their name in Italian.

18. I know a few poles straight off the boat. Some that are further removed probably do. And given that some are just polish versions of names that exist in English like antoni I’m sure they’re relatively common. Also names like Julia exist lol

19. Some do. I don’t because it was my great-grandmother that was Polish, but her brother came over with her and his descendants still go by Jeszionowski.

20. Most ethnic groups switch to English sounding names after the first generation. Even Chinese are doing this. The exception seems to be South Asians. Indians and Pakistanis still stick with their cultures names even 3+ generations in.

21. I knew a set of sisters in high school and university who immigrated from Poland as small kids and their last name ended in -ska while their father’s ended in -ski.

    They both had Polish legal names but went by shortened versions consistent with shortened English names, if that makes sense. Like if someone named Michał went as “Mike”.

22. I’m not sure I know what a traditional Polish name is. I mean, if you ask me what a stereotypical Russian name is, I’ll say “Ivan”. German? “Hans”. French? “Pierre”. But Polish? I’m drawing a complete blank. I’ve no idea.

23. Two of my grandparents are from Poland and none of their children had traditional Polish first names and none of us do either.

    I didn’t even know my grandparents by their Polish names. We called them Angela and Stanley but their real names were Aniela and Stanislaw.

24. I knew one kid name Zarek.

25. Yes, my mother’s maiden name was Plachinski (Placzynski) and her mother’s maiden name was Kaczmarowski. Their first names weren’t traditionally Polish though, unless Adaline (or Adalina) is. My mother’s father’s name was Alois, which I also don’t think is Polish but he was.

26. I think my last name is from somewhere around there? It’s gone through a few layers of foreign customs, so not the right spelling

27. Polish last names are common but the spelling is usually slightly anglicized

    “Brendanawicz” is common but “Brondanzcwycz” would be uncommon