THE PATRONYMIC YEARS
Understanding Polish Jewish Records
That Have No Family Names
Until the late 18th century or early 19th century – depending on the area --
there were no family names used in Polish-Jewish records.
As a result, it has been impractical to include the indices to such records in the Jewish
Records Indexing-Poland database that is based on surname searches.
Jewish Records Indexing – Poland is now addressing the
problem of these early records of Poland that do not contain family names, often referred
to as "patronymic" records.
In addition to the post-1825 Jewish vital records
filmed by the Mormons (LDS), there are typically mixed Catholic / Protestant / Jewish
records in the 1808-1825 period for the Kingdom of Poland and earlier for areas such as
the former Galician province.
Patronymic records
Because the indexes during this period contain few, if any, Jewish surnames;
it is necessary to look at each registration (the entire record) in
full in order to determine possible relationships. By extracting the given names of the
father, mother and paternal and maternal grandfathers, researchers may be able -- through
deduction – to determine if a record could possibly be for their family and perhaps
even move their family search back a generation or two.
Jewish Records Indexing - Poland has Patronymic data on the following towns. Click on the town's link
below to view the file. [The files are in Microsoft Excel version 5.0 format].
If you have a questions about the town's data or can derive a surname from the information
provided then e-mail the town contact listed below. You may also need an Eastern Europe
Roman font.
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