Czyz

This is a Polish or Ashkenazic surname whose origins are lost in the mists of time. Its literal translation is the 'green finch', which in the origins of most North European countries would suggest that it was a nickname derived from some imagined personal attributes associated with the finch. This was certainly the case with the English surname 'Finch or Fink', the finch being renowned for its bright colours, and therefore possibly a reference to a person who enjoyed wearing bright clothes or was a 'bright' personality. However the Eastern European origin may be more complex, in that people in those countries were often 'given' surnames by the bureaucracy either because they did not possess one or because too many people had the same surnames! This is a problem in modern Scandinavia where the governments have suggested that some of the population might consider adopting their own 'made up' surnames. Such surnames are referred to as 'ornamental', and Czyz is probably an early example of one. For Poland, a country that has suffered massive disruption by invasion and war over several hundred years, the recordings are early. They include Martini Czyz who married Regina Jablonska at Cewkow, province of Rzeszowskiego, and Helena Czyz who married Jan Woytan at Rzeszow, Tresniow, on October 7th 1880. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Sophia Czyz, which was dated November 13th 1787, married at Trzesniow, province of Poznanskiego, Poland, during the reign of Czar Paul 1 of Russia, 1796 - 1801. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.