Klezmski

This interesting Polish surname is one of the examples of origination from the ancient Greek (pre-Christian era) "Nicholas", meaning "victory", through its much later Germanic derivative "Klaus", itself found in many variant forms. Precisely how many "modern" surnames derive from "Nicholas" has never been calculated, but research strongly suggests that were all the forms, which include Kullas, Kollach, Clausen, Klageman, Kloser, Klous, to be added together, then "Smith" normally regarded as the most singularly popular European name would be left far behind. In this case the name has "gentry status", the suffix "ski" indicating that the original nameholder was "lord of the manor", "ski" being equivalent to the German "von" and the French "de". Furthermore, "Kla(r)zynski" (the "r" is intrusive and does not apparently appear in any recordings before 1900), is also a patronymic, the "yn" indicating a "kin" or more probably "son of Klaus". The name spellings include Klezmski, and Kleszinski, whilst recordings include Marcin Klazinski, who married Maryanna Getkowska on February 4th 1832 at Kruszyn Wloclawek, which seems to be the original epicentre of the name. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jozef Klazinski, which was dated January 1st 1809, a christening witness at Kruszyn Wloclawek, Bydgoskiego, Poland, during the reign of Alexander 1, Emperor of Russia, 1801 - 1825. 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.