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Archiver > POLAND-ROOTS > 2010-08 > 1282750481


From: MJDallas <>
Subject: [POLAND] -ska surnames
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:34:41 -0400


Fred,

I'm sending this to the list instead of to your personal email, because
your answer may help others dealing with similar surname issues. I
often see the "-ski ending is for males and -ska is for females"
statement. While this is true most of the time, it isn't always true.
My ancestral surname, Brzóska, doesn't follow that rule. Another
surname I've come across in trying to help another person is Gruszka.
It's associated with a female in an American record, so she isn't sure
whether it should stand as Gruszka or if it would be Gruszki for males.
According to the Moikrewni site, there were some 13,000 individuals
listed with the Gruszka spelling and none with the -ski spelling
(although you can find lots of folks outside of Poland spelling it
Gruszki). I understand that Gruszka comes from the root word, _grusz_,
meaning "pear tree." Incidentally, Brzoska come from _brzoza_, meaning
"birch tree."

The above "evidence" would lead one to assume that Gruszka is the
"correct" spelling (vs. -ski), but I don't want to assume anything.
Would Gruszka likely follow the same rule as Brzoska?

-Marie

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