Surnames – similar or „related”?

Chronology of their appearance

Names, which were recovered from the files of the Polish Archeological Society, initially from the Żelechlinek village alone  (see), later supplemented from reviewing other available recordings of the names of interest to us, which were available in the Internet in the files of the Polish Genealogical Society for the entire Łódż “territory”, provided interesting material for consideration and attempts to study the possibility of the names being “related” – i.e. not only similar, but deriving in the past from the same stem – in our case the name  Wajszczuk.
 

Births – years

Year	Pos.	First Name	Surname	Act	Locality
1648?	8	Paweł	Waszczyk	8	Wąsewo (pow. Ostrów Mazowiecka)
1823	3266	Józefa	Wajszczyk	6	Tobiasze (Tomaszów Mazowiecki)
1826	3450	Julianna	Wajszczyk	13	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1838	5109	Jadwiga	Wajszczyk	80	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1842	9289	Joachim	Wajszczyk	71	Domaniewice (pow. Łowicz)
1845	9733	Kacper	Wajszczyk	2	Domaniewice
1855	5416	Antoni	Wajszczak	24	Żelechlinek (pow. Tomaszow Maz.)
1857	5599	Maryanna	Wajszczak	59	Żelechlinek
1858	5695	Franciszek	Wajszczak	68	Żelechlinek
1858	5710	Szczepan	Wajszczak	83	Żelechlinek
1862	6035	Agnieszka	Wajszczak	5	Żelechlinek

Weddings – years

Year	Pos.	Groom		Bride		Locality
		First name	Surname	First name	Surname
1841	13	Franciszek	Goździk	Józefa	Wajszczyk	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1846	8	Paweł	Kotynia	Agnieszka	Wajszczyk	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1858	70	Paweł	Nowakowski	Józefa	Waszczyk	Mszczonów (pow.Żyrardów)
1860	19	Walenty	Korczykowski	Zofia	Waszczyk	Mszczonów (pow.Żyrardów)
1865	39	Walenty	Gołębiewski	Jadwiga	Wajszczyk	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1880	39	Ignacy	Czuba	Marianna	Wajszczyk	Domaniewice (pow. Łowicz)
1881	24	Franciszek	Beta	Agnieszka	Wajszczyk	Żelechlinek

Deaths – years

Year	Pos.	First Name	Surname	Act	Locality
1823	2425	Marianna	Wajszczyk	18	Tobiasze (Tomaszów Mazowiecki)
1843	4242	Szymon	Wajszczyk	8	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1852	220	Jan	Wajszczyk	46	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1855	703	Michał	Wajszczyk	143	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1861	3021	Franciszek	Wajsczak	47	Żelechlinek
1861	2981	Julianna	Wajsczak	5	Żelechlinek
1865	3389	Zofia	Wajszczak	57	Żelechlinek
1866	1555	Franciszka	Wajszczyk	75	Tomaszów Mazowiecki
1871	3753	Józefa	Wajszczak	5	Żelechlinek
1872	3884	Antonina	Wajszczuk	60	Żelechlinek
1874	4059	Antoni	Wajszczak	33	Żelechlinek
1876	4315	Balbina	Wajszczuk	104	Żelechlinek

 

Facts: The reviewed Public Record Books encompass the years 1823 – 1881. The name variants: Wajszczuk, Wajsczak, Wajszczak and Wajszczyk appear in a relatively small area in and near the town of Tomaszów Mazowiecki.

Analysis

1. In the town of Tomaszów Mazowiecki (and in the adjacent village of Tobiasze), in the years 1823 – 1866, there was recorded only the name Wajszczyk. The same name was found in 1842, 1845 and 1880 in Domaniewice, Łowicz county. The earliest appearance of the name Wajszczyk in this region (based on the 1823 – 1881 review) occurs in Tobiasze and in Tomaszow. Perhaps, about 30 years later, some of these people moved to Żelechlinek and were registered there initially as Wajsczak?

2. In Żelechlinek (Tomaszów Mazowiecki county), there is seen a sequence of  similar names: name Wajsczak appears twice in 1861, name Wajszczak appears three times during 1865 – 1874 (1865, 1871 and 1874) and finally the name Wajszczuk appears in 1872 and 1876. Did they all belong to the same family –only errors in spelling of the last name occurred? It requires further investigation.

3. c. Another similar name Waszczyk appears in Mszczonów (Żyrardów county) in 1858 and in 1860. The Birth Record Book from the village of Wąsów (Ostrów Mazowiecka county) lists also a name of Paweł Waszczyk, born in 1648 (error?). It should be noted, though, that this location is quite distant from the other listed above.

After arranging the record entries of various similar names in a chronological order, a certain pattern started to emerge. In the municipal parish records (town - Tomaszów Mazowiecki), the name spelling was identical during the whole time period of this study. In the rural parish records (village of Żelechlinek) the spelling of last names appeared to undergo an evolution. Was it related to the changing official language (and alphabets) used in the recording documents in Poland, which was at that time under foreign occupation, or to a lower education level, accuracy and consciousness of the record keepers? The information givers were probably mostly uneducated and could not write, in the rural areas. Based on these observations, can it be assumed that, at least some name variants (similar names) originated at one time from the same stem – so the names are probably not only “similar”, but also “related” and those people are related and could be distant relatives, having the same ancestors? Is this the cause of the existence of groups of “similar? names? Does this phenomenon occur in other regions of Poland? We will try to examine these problems.

It is puzzling, how did the „minority” of Wajszczuks appear in Żelechlinek and why its relatively late appearance, while there was a dominant presence of Wajszczaks in Żelechlinek and Wajszczyks in the nearby Tomaszów Mazowiecki. Did all of them have their roots in the Mazovian (Mazowsze) region? And where? Are they one family?

It will be necessary to repeat a detailed review of the archival books, to be able to reconstruct the family branches and possible family connections. For instance, it will require an explanation, if Agnieszka Wajszczak born in Żelechlinek in 1862 is the same Agnieszka Wajszczyk, who is getting married in Żelechlinek in 1881?   

 

In a book by Tadeusz Krawczak: "W zaścianku szlacheckim" (In a gentry - freeholders' settlement) published in 1993 by a publishing house - SONOR Ltd. in Warsaw, ISBN 83 - 85170 - 06 - 5, following statements were found on pages 244 i 245 regarding the formation of "nicknames":

 

p. 244 - "Each nobleman, in addition to his proper last name, posessed a second name or a "nickname". The latter were used more frequently than the proper last names. This was forced by the everyday life. Repetitions of the last names as well as of forenames were a common everyday occurrence. (...).

 

p. 245 - Along the old geographic lines of contact with the Uniates, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Catholic_Churches), all diminutive name forms have the ending "uk", for instance Kowalczuk, Husarczuk etc, while further to the west, they end with the „yk” or „ak”, for instance Kowalczak, Tokarczyk etc. (Annotation # 249. = Rel. MOH/I/25; I/76; 2/77; 4/79)."

 

A letter was send to the author requesting information, how to obtain a full-text copy of the Annotation # 249 - (see).

Prepared by: Waldemar J Wajszczuk & Paweł Stefaniuk 2011
e-mail: drzewo.rodziny.wajszczuk@gmail.com lub drzewo.rodziny.wajszczuk@gmail.com