The purpose of this project is to study the geographical andgenealogical origins of the Szulecki surname, along with the geographical migration of the associated Y-DNA.

All males bearing the Szulecki surname are stronglyencouraged to join the group, and if they haven’t already, participate in Y-DNAtesting here at FTDNA. 37-marker testing or better is highly recommended, buteven 12-marker testing could at least rule out two people bearing the surnamebeing related by a common male ancestor.

All individuals, male or female, who had the Szuleckisurname at birth are encouraged to join the group, and if they haven’t already,participate in autosomal DNA testing as well as encourage male family memberswith the surname to participate in Y-DNA testing and join this group.

We know relatively little about the origins of the surname.I was able to obtain some information from a Polish name expert. He noted…

"In Polish,SZULECKI is pronounced roughly "shoo-LETT-skee." It's one of the

Polish names that usesno sounds unfamiliar to us English-speakers, so it's

pretty easy topronounce well. If you say "shoo-LETT-skee" to a Pole, he

will instantlyrecognize the name and write down SZULECKI.

 

Most names ending in-ski, -cki, or -zki are adjectival in origin, which

means they changeendings depending on whether you're taking about a male or

a female. So males goby SZULECKI, whereas traditionally females have gone

by SZULECKA("shoo-LETT-skah"). The name endings also change according to

grammatical rules, butlet's not worry about that right now.

 

There is a Web pagewhere you can see 2002 data on its frequency and

distribution,including a colored map illustrating the data. For the

masculine version,click here:

 

http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/szulecki.html

 

For data on thefeminine form, see here:

 

http://www.moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/szulecka.html

 

As you'd expect, thedata is similar, with a little higher number for

SZULECKA -- presumablybecause females tend to outlive us males. As of 2002

there were 497SZULECKAs and 461 SZULECKIs. The name showed up most often in

the areas north andeast of the center of Poland, with the largest numbers

in the powiat (county,district) of Warsaw (72 Szuleckas, 56 Szukeckis). On

the map, if youposition your cursor over a county, its name will appear;

that's how you tellwhich is which. You'll notice the next highest number is

for the powiat ofSierpc, 29 and 30. So it seems clear your ancestors came

from the general areawhere this name is most common.

 

The late Polish nameexpert Prof. Kazimierz Rymut mentions this name in his

book _NazwiskaPolakow_ [The Surnames of Poles]. He says the name derives

from a place name,Szuleck, in Opatowek district of Wielkopolskie province,

which is in westcentral Poland. While it's not that close to the area where

the surname is mostcommon, it's not terribly far away either. Surnames

often show up in areassome distance away from the places they refer to,

partly because nobleswho bear surnames originally (peasants only started

going by surname inthe 1600s or later) often moved, buying and selling

properties. And ofcourse once peasants gained the freedom to move around,

in the 19th century,they might move to an area where they thought chances

for a decent life werebetter. So it's not rare for a surname derived from a

place name to show upin areas you might not expect.

 

Still, it bothers mewhen there's too big a discrepancy between supposed

place of origin andthe distribution data. There is another possibility I

should mention. Themassive 15-volume Polish-language gazetteer _Slownik

geograficzny KrolestwaPolskiego_ [Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of

Poland], published1880-1902, mentions a Szulec, a peasant village in Katy

gmina, Grojec powiat,served by Gora Kalwarya parish, with 25 farms, 237

inhabitants, and 550morgs of land, part of the Lubna estate. This Szulec

was much closer toWarsaw and Sierpc than the other one. I can't find any

mention of thisvillage in modern sources; maybe it's been renamed,

incorporated intoanother community, or disappeared. But all things

considered, a familyin the area of Warsaw or Sierpc with a name meaning

"one fromSzulec" would more likely refer to that Szulec than the one near

Kalisz in westernPoland.

 

If you'd like to seethe entries on these places named Szulec, look here:

 

http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/polszczyzna/SGKP/SG12.djvu?djvuopts&page=70

 

It's the third completeparagraph down in the left column. The first entry

refers to Szulec as avariant name for Solec. The second is the Szulec in

Grojec powiat. Thethird is the one Rymut mentioned, near Kalisz.

 

Prof. Rymut didn'tmean to imply his derivations were absolutely correct,

and valid 100% of thetime. He probably had good reason to believe SZULECKI

refers most often tothat place Szulec; but in a given family's case, there

might be othercircumstances at play. In view of where this surname is most

common, I have afeeling more Szuleckis took their name from that Szulec in

Grojec powiat thanfrom the other one. The only way to be sure, of course,

is to trace the familyhistory back as far as possible, and do a lot of

digging in the localarea, to see whether some unforeseeable circumstance

affected the name'sorigin. But that's my gut feeling.

 

Also worth mentioningis that SZULECKI looks and sounds very close to SZULC,

the Polish form of theGerman surname SCHULTZ. Polish SZ sounds like German

SCH, and Polish Csounds like German TZ -- so despite the spelling

differences, SCHULTZand SZULC are pronounced almost exactly the same. It

would not surprise meif in some cases, a Szulecki family took the name from

an ancestor who was aSchultz, a term for a kind of local mayor or

administrative officerof an area. You can learn more about that term here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schultheiß

 

Note that the word hasseveral variants in German, including SCHULTZ and

SCHULZE, and thesegave rise to surnames. The term was adopted by Poles but

modified to _soltys_(with a slash through the L). So an official doing more

or less the sameduties as a German Schultheiss/Schulze was called a

_soltys_. But Germanswere often invited by nobles to resettle in Poland and

colonize land thosenobles owned, because Germans were considered superior

farmers and craftsmenwho would increase the value of the estates. So a

family called SCHULTZmight resettle in Poland, and over time their name

might be Polonized asSZULC and SZULEC. And then "kin of Szulc" or "kin of

Szulec" couldeasily become SZULECKI.

 

That may not be the"proper" scholarly origin of the name, but I feel it's

worth mentioning. Thebest scholars of name origins will be the first to

admit you can't alwaysgo by what's "in the book." That's what keeps the

subject sointeresting.

 

If you ask me,however, I think the most likely derivation, at least in your

family's case, isreference to that village Szulec in Grojec powiat; it

means "one fromSzulec," and that's probably the Szulec in question, unless

you discover evidencethat points elsewhere."