What are some Polish surnames?

Polish surnames include Nowak, Kowalski, Wi?niewski, Kowalczyk and Kami?ski. As the last name of more than 200,000 people, Nowak is the most common surname in Poland. The suffixes "-ski" and "-czyk" appear in many surnames.

Other common surnames include Jankowski, Kaczmarek, Dabrowski and Grabowski.

The suffix "-ski" is masculine, with the feminine version appearing as "-ska." Thus, Kowalski and Kowalska are versions of the same name, as is the plural Kowalscy. Until recent centuries, names ending in "-ski" represented nobility.

Many surnames derive from towns, occupations or the given names of fathers. For example, the name Kozlowski means a person from Kozlow, and the names Kowalski and Kowalczyk both derive from the word "kowal," which means "smith."