Adam Kmieć

Kmieć and Other Famous Polish FamilyNames. Polish family names are generally recognized by their –skiendings. The –ski ending is typical for Polish adjectives of malegender. In Polish language we have to deal with what is called asdeclension of adjectives. Therefore, the adjective blue can havemany different endings, depending on the grammatical gender ofthe noun it modifies (masculine, feminine, neuter) and thegrammatical number of the noun (singular or plural). Example:This is a niebieski jacket (masculine, singular). I do not have aniebieskiego jacket. She has a niebieska blouse (feminine, singular).They don’t like niebieskich jackets (plural).

Other popular suffixes in Polish family names are: -icz [ich],meaning “son of”, as in Florkiewicz; -cki [tzki], as in Gruszecki;-iak [yak], used as an endearment, as in Jakubiak; -ak, as inPasternak; -s, as in Pietras; -cz [ch], as in Kopacz; -ek, as inPoczątek; -ik, as in Łukasik. Some family names are a copy of thefirst name, as in Witek, Marek.

In Polish culture, as in many other cultures in earlier ages,such as the VIII-IX centuries, the person’s name consisted ofjust one word. Then, with the population growth, it was necessaryto be more precise to avoid confusion, and a second word wasadded to the name. Now in Poland we have names consisting of two,three or four words.

Typically, a person’s name is designed to describe theperson’s personality or physical character. Nomen est omen, theyused to say in Latin language, which means the name is theindicator of character, physical or psychological. Because of

that, many names have the form of an adjective and belong to agroup called in Latin Nomina attributiva. To this group belongfamily names like Czarniewski (Black, or man of dark complexion ordark hair color), Wysocki (Tall), Wesoły, (Funny).

In English the endings of names never change, just as theendings of English adjectives. In the Polish language, the firstchange will arise as soon as we have to spell the name of femaleperson. The male ending will be –ski, while the female ending willbe –ska. That is why Mr. Siekierski’s daughter’s name will beSiekierska (a girl as sharp as an ax), Mr. Schabowski’s wife will beSchabowska, a lady liking to eat pork chops. When in foreignEnglish speaking countries, ladies tend to keep using themasculine endings to avoid any administrative confusions.

Beside the physical or psychological characteristics of theperson, the adjective form is used when deriving Polish familynames from the person’s place of origin, called Nomina locum.Like Mazur, coming from the region of Mazury, Krakowski – born inKraków; Warszawski, born in Warsaw; Tarnowski, born in Tarnów;Rusin, born in Russia; Prusek, born in Prussia.

Other family names may be derived from the person’sprofession. They belong to a group called in Latin Nomina agentis.And here we have names like Sadowski, owner of an orchard;Serowski, cheese producer; Malinowski, a raspberry farmer;Krupkowski, a barley seller; Szczepański, an owner of a fruit treenursery.

The tendency to use –ski as an ending for family namesoriginated in Poland in the XV century. Until then, the abovenames could be spelled as Sad, Ser, Malina, Krupa, Szczep. But whensome people became rich, started wearing shoes and underwear, andmoved to a higher public status they decided to make their namesfancy, too.

The author’s ancestors apparently refused to follow the trendand kept their last name without the –ski ending, which explainshis personal aversion to wearing shoes. As a matter of fact, the

word kmieć originated in the Slavic languages in the X century. InXI century it was used as a legal name for a fairly independentland owner. The root of the word is most probably verb mieć, tohave. The first letter of the name, the letter k comes from theword ku, a preposition, or k with apostrophe, meaning desiring orstreaming to. Other popular versions of that name are: Kmasz,Kmatek, Kmąk, Kmeć, Kmejska, Kmełko, Kmełyk, Kment, Kmera, Kmet, Kmetek,Kmetko, Kmetowska, Kmetyk, Kmiaś, Kmiat, Kmiatkowska, Kmic, Kmiciak, Kmicic,Kmicicki, Kmiciewicz, Kmicik, Kmicikiewicz, Kmiciński, Kmickiewicz, Kmiczek, Kmić,Kmidowski, Kmiec, Kmiecia, Kmieciak, Kmiecic, Kmiecicki, Kmieciech, Kmieciewicz,Kmieciewski, Kmiecik, Kmiecika, Kmiecikiewicz, Kmiecikowiak, Kmiecikowski,Kmieciński, Kmieciok, Kmieciuk, Kmieck, Kmiecki, Kmieckowiak, Kmiecuń,Kmiecyk, Kmiecz, Kmieczak, Kmieczyk, Kmieczyński, Kmiećkowiak, Kmiećkowska,Kmiegińska, Kmieic, Kmieja, Kmiel, Kmielińska, Kmielowicz, Kmieniorz, Kmień,Kmiesińska, Kmieś, Kmietczak, Kmietczyk, Kmietek, Kmietnik, Kmietniowska,Kmietoczyk, Kmietowicz, Kmiga, Kmikiewicz, Kmil, Kmila, Kmill, Kmin, Kminiak,Kminiarek, Kminikowski, Kminkiewicz, Kminkowski, Kmiń, Kmińczyk, Kmińska,Kmiołek, Kmiot, Kmiotczyk, Kmiotek, Kmit, Kmita, Kmitek, Kmitiuk, Kmitka,Kmitkowska, Kmito, Kmitowicz, Kmitowski, Kmitów, Kmitta, Kmitter, Kmitto,Kmniołek, Kmoch, Kmol, Kmoll, Kmon, Kmonicek, Kmoniczek, Kmonk, Kmoszek,Kmoszyk, Kmot, Kmott, Kmuć, Kmuk, Kmuraj, Kmyta.

This is what Seven Reflections says about person having lastname Kmiec: You are very versatile, idealistic and intuitive. Youare seeking freedom, opportunities to enjoy life: to make love,to go places and to do things. You are very adventurous andwilling to take risk to achieve your objectives. New ways and newexperiences can't satisfy your restless nature. One adventureleads you to another. You are honest and fair, because you knowthat this is the only way to receive justice and honesty fromother people. But your personal growth is vital for your, and itis difficult to be tied down by rules and obligations.

The word kmieć was allegedly used by Voyteh Slavnikovic, Xcentury bishop and saint, in a song Bogurodzica. One of the versesreads: “Adamie, ty boży kmieciu, ty siedzisz u Boga w wiecu”. Meaning: Adam,you are God’s nobleman and one of his advisors.

Photo: Poem Bogurodzica, manuscript.

A Polish proverb exists in circulation: Kmieć musi mieć, wtedy jestkmieć. Meaning: One has to have something, to be called Kmieć.

Photo: Residence of Polish middle income farmer, kmieć, in XVIIcentury.

In XVII century Polish poet Wacław Potocki wrote: Kmieć na grosz,pan na kmiecia, ksiądz na pana łowiec. Meaning: Kmieć is eager to makemoney, a lord tries to get the money from kmieć, while the priestcounts on the lord’s treasures.

Photo: Residence of Polish middle income farmer, kmieć, in XVIIIcentury.

One of Polish folk songs says: Myśleliście kmiecie, że mnie zabijecie; jokonisie sprzedom, zabić sie wom nie dom. Meaning: You kmieć’s (pluralnoun), you thought you would kill me, or drive me to bankruptcy,but I will sell my horses to pay my debts and I will survive.

Photo: Polish folk band of XIX century.

Photo: Residence of the middle income Polish farmer, kmieć, inearly XX century.

Photo: residence of the middle XX century kmieć in Poland.

In the US the most popular Kmieć’s probably are: Douglas Kmiecand Adam Kmiec. Douglas Kmiec is an attorney from Milwaukee,Wisconsin, with family roots in Luszowice near Tarnow in Poland,born in 1951. He is an American legal scholar and former USambassador to Malta.

Adam Kmiec is a business executive of Campbell Soup, Walgreen and other companies. His popular motto is: We often know the answers to the questions we ask. Yet, we ask them anyway, in hopes of receiving different answers.

There are about 600 people in the United States of Americahaving Kmiec as the family name. Note that in English alphabetthere is no letter c with an acute mark as in Polish ć. ThePolish ć is pronounced like English ch, but very softly. In Polandthe biggest concentration of Kmieć’s is in Krakow area. There areabout 1500 people of this name in Poland.

More information about the family names in Poland can be foundin the following literature:

1. Jan Grzenia, Słownik nazw własnych, PWN, Warszawa, 1998.2. L. Leciejewicz, Słownik kultury dawnych Słowian, WP, Warszawa,

1988.3. A. Kulikowski, Polskie rody szlacheckie, Interpress, Warszawa,

1993.4. T. Zielińska, Poczet polskich rodów arystokratycznych, WsiP,

Warszawa, 1997.

5. J. S. Bystroń, Nazwiska polskie, KiW, Warszawa, 1993.6. W. F. Hoffman, Basic Explanation of Surname Endings, Polish Roots,

2000.

By Adam Kmieć of Wiktorzec, Poland. On August 20, 2015.