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Help[Surname] Haiducski / Hayducski
Doing some research into my family tree. My father remembers the Polish surname pronounced “hay-DUTZ-kee”, and we’re trying to work out the spelling. Which one do you think looks right, or do you have another idea? Thank you!
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According to Polish orthography, it would either be Hajducki or Chajducki. I found the former in records on Ancestry (here: https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=hajducki) and several profiles on Facebook (here: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=hajducki), but none for the latter.
As for the meaning, the suffix -cki (a variant of -ski from a word ending in T or K) forms an adjective from a noun or proper noun—this could refer to a place, a profession, a quality, etc. There are five places I could find from a quick search:
- Hajduki: a village in Belarus (transcribed Gaiduki or Haiduki in English) which was historically in Poland;
- Hajduki Wielkie: a suburb of Chorzów, Silesia (originally two villages: Hajduki Dolne and Hajduki Górne);
- Hajduki Nyskie: a village in Opole; and
- Nowe Hajduki, a recently established area of Chorzów (so unlikely).
It could also be a relational adjective from the noun hajduk (from Hungarian hajdúk), which has variously been applied to outlaws, mercenaries, soldiers, or court officials throughout history (more details here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hajduk; and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajduk). It could also be an elaboration of the surname Hajduk (see here: https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=hajduk).
As for the meaning, the suffix -cki (a variant of -ski from a word ending in T or K) forms an adjective from a noun or proper noun—this could refer to a place, a profession, a quality, etc. There are five places I could find from a quick search:
- Hajduki: a village in Belarus (transcribed Gaiduki or Haiduki in English) which was historically in Poland;
- Hajduki Wielkie: a suburb of Chorzów, Silesia (originally two villages: Hajduki Dolne and Hajduki Górne);
- Hajduki Nyskie: a village in Opole; and
- Nowe Hajduki, a recently established area of Chorzów (so unlikely).
It could also be a relational adjective from the noun hajduk (from Hungarian hajdúk), which has variously been applied to outlaws, mercenaries, soldiers, or court officials throughout history (more details here: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hajduk; and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajduk). It could also be an elaboration of the surname Hajduk (see here: https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=hajduk).
This message was edited 4/21/2023, 6:46 PM
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If you think of hajdúk as the Hungarian version of a Cossack, you'll probably have a good idea of what it means. The various settlements probably are named for them. The outlaw sense in Turkish is derived from their role as resistance fighters against Ottoman rule. Greek resistance fighters were also denigrated as bandits by the Ottomans. If you attack government offices and steal money and weapons you must be bandits right?
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Thank you sooo much!
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Some further notes:
When forming a surname in Polish from a multi-word place name, the adjective part is usually omitted (Wielkie, Nyskie, Nowe, etc.). In the cases above, Hajduki is also likely a plural form of hajduk, though reading their histories on Polish Wikipedia, I see nothing that corroborates that. I read the following pages:
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismarckhütte
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajduki_Nyskie
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajduki
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowe_Hajduki
When forming a surname in Polish from a multi-word place name, the adjective part is usually omitted (Wielkie, Nyskie, Nowe, etc.). In the cases above, Hajduki is also likely a plural form of hajduk, though reading their histories on Polish Wikipedia, I see nothing that corroborates that. I read the following pages:
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismarckhütte
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajduki_Nyskie
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajduki
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowe_Hajduki
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