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ArchivesSiedlarczyk Siedlar Sydlak Szydlak Shedlak Shedlock
I would like the origin and meaning of the above. I understand SZ = a SH sound. The earliest Siedlarczyk I found was born in Krosnica Polish. My Grandfather, Wojciech Siedlak, came from Krosnica Austria Polish. He lived as Adalbert Sydlak in Carbondale PA Lackawanna County. He is in the 1907 Ship Manifest from Krosnica, Austria Polish to Passaic NJ with wife, Marya, and dau, Marya, as Wojciech Szydlak. Marya's maiden name was Janczak. [spelled as Yansock at the 1914 birth of their dau Katherine in Piney Forh OH]. He later uses Siedlak in Cadiz OH where his wife is Maryann Siedlak in church records of death in 1918. His son died in March of 1919 and is listed as Shedlock in the church and Shellock in the OH State's records. Thank you for any help. peekaboobrat at yahoo dot com
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I wish you'd asked about Janczak instead!
So we can leave out Shedlock, Shedlak and Sydlak as misspellings of clerks unfamiliar with Polish. That leaves Siedlarczyk, Siedlak and Szydlak, all known Polish surnames, none really common.
I would treat Siedlar as a variant of the more common Siedlarz, and Siedlarczyk is almost certainly a diminutive form of Siedlarz. The endings -arz and -arczyk are usually found on occupational names, e.g., Bednarz ("cooper"), Bednarczyk, Tokarz ("turner") Tokarczyk. However, I can find no explanation of the names Siedlarz/-arczyk, as occupations or as any other surname source. The nearest word I can find is siedlisko, "home". Associating Siedlak (rightly or wrongly) with the Czech Sedlák, "farmer", I entertain the notion that it might mean something like "homesteader", and Siedlarz/-arczyk alternative versions of the same.
Unless, of course, these Sied- names turn out to be alternative spellings of Szyd- names. Pronunciation of the two spellings is not very different.
Now Szydlak: this too I have not found in dictionaries. The nearest word is szyd£o (with a barred L) meaning "awl, bradawl, bodkin". There are some surnames based on the word szyd£o, e.g., Szydlowski, that are said to be metonymics indicating descent from a shoemaker. Perhaps, then, Szydlak has the same meaning.
I don't know if any of the above is of the slightest help, better than nothing I suppose.
So we can leave out Shedlock, Shedlak and Sydlak as misspellings of clerks unfamiliar with Polish. That leaves Siedlarczyk, Siedlak and Szydlak, all known Polish surnames, none really common.
I would treat Siedlar as a variant of the more common Siedlarz, and Siedlarczyk is almost certainly a diminutive form of Siedlarz. The endings -arz and -arczyk are usually found on occupational names, e.g., Bednarz ("cooper"), Bednarczyk, Tokarz ("turner") Tokarczyk. However, I can find no explanation of the names Siedlarz/-arczyk, as occupations or as any other surname source. The nearest word I can find is siedlisko, "home". Associating Siedlak (rightly or wrongly) with the Czech Sedlák, "farmer", I entertain the notion that it might mean something like "homesteader", and Siedlarz/-arczyk alternative versions of the same.
Unless, of course, these Sied- names turn out to be alternative spellings of Szyd- names. Pronunciation of the two spellings is not very different.
Now Szydlak: this too I have not found in dictionaries. The nearest word is szyd£o (with a barred L) meaning "awl, bradawl, bodkin". There are some surnames based on the word szyd£o, e.g., Szydlowski, that are said to be metonymics indicating descent from a shoemaker. Perhaps, then, Szydlak has the same meaning.
I don't know if any of the above is of the slightest help, better than nothing I suppose.
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According to Hoffman's dictionary, Siedlarz is from siedlarz/siodlarz 'saddler' so your conjecture that Siedlarz/Siedlarczyk is an occupational name is correct.
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