Doubrava

This is a famous Polish surname. It is habitational from any of the various places in the country called Dabrowa. The derivation is from the pre 7th century "dab rowa", meaning oak trees or oak woods, with the additive "-ski". This in medieval times and later, was regarded as being similar to the French "de" or the German "von", and to imply land and estate ownership, and sometimes minor nobility. It is recorded in a number of different spelllings including the Russian Dobrovsky, the Czech Doubrava, and the ornamentals Dombrovski, Dombrovsky, Dombrowski, Dombrowsky, Dubrovsky and Dembrover. Locational surnames were usually "from" names. That is to say names given to people after the left their original homes, to move somewhere else. The easiest form of identification for a stranger being to call him, or sometimes her, by the name of the place from whence they came. The only alternative to this, was where the name had been originally given to the local lord of the manor and his descendants, as may be the case with this name. Unfortunately almost all early Polish records have been lost or destroyed in the myriad wars which sadly have swept the country. The earliest church recording that we have is that of Joannem Dabrowski, who married Franciscam Kaniezoska, at Lodz, on February 15th 1798.