Voytsekhovsky

One of the most common Polish surnames goes back to toponyms which were named from the short form Voitsekh (Wojciech) of the male name Voitseslav (Wojciesław), consisting of two common Slavic roots «warrior» and «glory.» The popularity of the name arose with Bishop Wojciech, the baptist of Poland and the Western Slavic lands (10th century). Initially, the suffix -sky (-ski in Polish) of the surname indicated belonging to the gentry: that is, Wojciechowski owned the settlement of Wojciechowice (Wojciechow, Wojciechowo).

The surname is spread mostly in Poland. The largest concentration in Russia is in Moscow and the Moscow Region, and the Krasnodar Territory. It is also found in Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

In sources of 1494, the Przemysl vice-headman Jan Voitsekhovsky is recorded. In 1697, a sailor Stanislav Voitsekhovsky arrived in Russia from Poland. Documents of the 18th century mention the following cossacks: Leonty Wojciechowski, captain of the Boryspol sotnia (military and territorial subdivision) of the Pereyaslavsky Regiment of the Zaporozhian Army (1732), Franciszek Wojciechowski, a border clerk of the Novogrudok Voivodeship (1787-1788), Dominik Wojciechowski of the gentry of the Minsk Voivodeship (1787), Fedor Antonov Wojciechowski of the Nezhinsky Regiment (1799), and Mikhail Antonov Wojciechowski, a quartermaster of the Little Russian Carabinieri regiment (1799). In the late 18th to early 19th centuries, the lists of the gentry of Right–Bank Ukraine who confirmed the noble rights, there were 22 bearers of the surname from the Podolsk Province, 21 from Volyn Province, and 3 from Kiev Province.