Polak Family History

Some characteristic forenames: Polish Miroslaw, Zbigniew, Boguslawa, Dorota, Jacek, Andrzej, Bogdan, Eugeniusz, Grzegorz, Irena, Jerzy, Jozef.

Polish and Jewish (Ashkenazic); Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian (Polák, Slovak also Poľák): ethnic name for someone from Poland (Polish Polak, Slovak archaic and Czech Polák). In the case of the Ashkenazic name, the reference is to a Jew from Poland. This surname is also found in Germany, where it is also of Sorbian origin (see 3 below), and in the Netherlands. Compare Poliak , Poljak , and Polyak .

Slovenian and Croatian: topographic name for someone who lived in open country, derived from polje ‘field’, or a habitational name for someone from any of numerous places called Polje, named with this word. It may also be e.g. an occupational name for a field guard (see Poljak ).

Sorbian (also Pólak): topographic name derived from Lower Sorbian pólo, Upper Sorbian polo ‘field’ (compare 2 above). In some cases also an ethnic name for a Pole (compare 1 above), from Lower Sorbian Pólak, Upper Sorbian Polak.

Possibly also an Americanized form of Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, and Slovak Poljak . Compare Polack and Pollak .