Kowalski

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kowalski (female form Kowalska ) is a Polish family name . It is related to the word 'kowal' (German blacksmith ).

Origin and meaning

As with most Polish surnames with the ending -ski , this is a noble name derived from a place name. The place name Kowale or Kowalskie was derived from the word 'kowal', which means "blacksmith".

Such place names were common, so one cannot imagine a specific place name on which the family name is based. The formation of the family name occurred in parallel in many places. An indication of this is the fact that more than ten noble families had the same name but different coats of arms. The adjectival ending "-ski" in this case expresses on the one hand the origin of the gentleman and on the other hand the belonging to his goods.

After Nowak, Kowalski is the second most common name in Poland with around 178,000 (2015) people. The feminine form is Kowalska , the plural Kowalscy (e.g. Barbara and Henryk Kowalscy); further variants are Kowalczyk , Kowalewicz , Kowalewski .

As a result of the immigration of around 200,000 to 300,000 Poles from the middle of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia , especially in the Ruhr area , and in the Berlin area , there are many Polish names whose spelling is often Germanized such as Orłowski to Orlowski, Szymański to Schimanski , Rudziński to Rudzinski, Kowalski, Podolski , Szymaniec to Schymanietz, Matuzek to Mattner , Kozłowski to Koslowski .

Around 13 percent of the German population today has names of Polish origin. Kowalski is 876th place among the frequency of surnames in Germany.

Name bearer

proof

  1. ↑ Aleksandra Cieślikowa, Maria Malec, Kazimierz Rymut: Słownik etymologiczno-motywacyjny staropolskich nazw osobowych , Cz. 3, Odmiejscowe nazwy osobowe , Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, p. 85.
  2. ↑ Tadeusz Gajl: Herbarz polski od średniowiecza do XX wieku: ponad 4500 herbów szlacheckich 37 tysięcy nazwisk 55 tysięcy rodów . L&L, 2007, ISBN 978-83-60597-10-1 , p. 458.