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Polish names are generally structured as [personal name] [FAMILY NAME], e.g. Piotr MALINOWSKI.

Personal Names

• Many Polish names may have Slavic roots, e.g. Radzimir (male) or���²��Ի岹 (female).
• Christian names are also very popular, although they are usually spelt and pronounced as the Polish equivalent. For example, ��������DZ�������becomes �Ѿ����ł����.
• Germanic and Lithianian names are also common, e.g.������������(German) or Witold (Lithuanian).
• Some of the most popular names in Poland include Lena, Zuzanna, Julia, Maja and���ܴǴھ��� (female), as well as Jakub, Kacper, Antoni, Filip and ��������(male).1
• Polish names can also have an added suffix (such as -�����or -��ś) to create an array of informal nicknames. For example, Jan may be called Janek, Jasiek, Jaś or Jasiu, while�������ٲ�������Բ� may be referred to as Kasia or������ś�첹.2

Family Names

• Wives and children typically take on the husband/father’s family name or can use both family names (often hyphenated). However, a woman’s family name often has a feminine suffix/ending.
• Most Polish family names end in a suffix, such as –W�����, e.g.�����´����ܰ������±����.
• Many suffixes vary between the masculine or feminine. For example, -SKI, -CKI and��-�ٴܰ�����(male), become -SKA, -CKA, -DZKA (feminine). Therefore, the wife of �ʾ��dzٰ����Ѵ����������³�������might have the last name MALINOWSKA.
• If referring to two or more persons with at least one man in the group, a masculine plural suffix is used. E.g. -��������becomes -SCY.
• If referring to two or more women with no men included, a feminine plural is used. E.g. -SKA becomes -SKIE.
• Polish family names may reflect a place of residence or birth (e.g.������ܷ��ܱ�Ń������) or be based on a nickname surrounding a occupation, character description or trait (Kowalski, Głowacz or��������ٰ���ń). Many may also be derived from a given name (e.g. PIOTROWICZ is derived from the name Piotr [Peter]).3
• Some of the most popular Polish family names include NOWAK, KOWALSKI, WIŚNIEWSKI, WÓJCIK and�������´�����ܳ۰�.4

Considerations

• Polish does not contain the letter ‘V’, it instead uses ‘W’ (with the sound of English ‘v’). This can often be a way to distinguish between Polish and other Slav family names, although this is not always the case due to incorrect transliterations from Polish: e.g. NOWAK is Polish, but �����մ�́�� would be Czech or Slovak.5
• Polish has two versions of the letter ‘L/l’, namely ‘L/l’ and ‘Ł/ł’. The latter is often replaced by the standard English ‘L/l’, but can also be confused with the letter ‘T/t’: e.g. �ѱ���ᴡŁ���³����� could be miswritten as MICHATOWSKI.6

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1 Gliński, 20152 Gliński, 20153 Gliński, 20164 Gliński, 20165 United Kingdom Government, 20066 United Kingdom Government, 2006