Classification
Based on grammatical features, Polish surnames may be divided into:
- nominal, derived from and declined as a noun
- adjectival, derived from and declined as an adjective.
Adjectival names very often end in the suffixes -ski, -cki and -dzki (feminine -ska, -cka and -dzka), and are considered to be either typically Polish or typical for the Polish nobility. In case of '-ski' is true to the extent that a surname contains a name of a city or a town. In France or Germany where not all people with a de or von in their names were formally nobles however the adjectival suffix -ski, -ski or -sky is found in many other Slavic languages, and in Poland, the adjectival form of a name was not reserved to the szlachta.
Based on origin, Polish family names may be generally divided into three groups: cognominal, toponymic and patronymic.
Read more about this topic: Polish Name