Oops...

We have been somewhat chastised by someone who we hold dear to our hearts, to update our blog. So, to a big gween wady faw faw away, you know who you are - this is for you. I"m going to take a page out of Adam and Darcy's book and tell you about the history of the name Cysewski. Let's see what i'm really getting myself into:)

Ok, we're not having much luck....

Still no luck....

Why can't we be the Smith's or Johnson's....

Maybe if we change the spelling a little bit?

OK, we had some luck with Czyzewski. Our ancestors from Poland went through Ellis Island and people were americanizing names left and right. So, someone decided to make our lives a little easier and drop a couple z's and we now have Cysewski.

Here is the Czyzewski Family Crest, it's a little hard to see, sorry about that:) I'm not quite sure what it means either...but its nice to look at!

The name Czyzewski is the 41,021st most popular last name in the United states, with Smith and Johnson leading the way at numbers one and two, respectively.

Wondering how you really say our name? Well here it is..."chee-ZHEFF-skee" ("ZH" = the sound of "s" in "pleasure"). So, good luck with that one!

The -ski is an adjectival suffix, which can be added directly to a stem -- as piekarski means "of the baker (piekarz)" -- or can be compounded with other suffixes. Two common suffixes that can precede -ski are: 1) -ew- or -ow- (basically the same thing, dependent on whether the stem ends in a consonant classified as hard or soft)

I'm A -SKI, I Must Be Noble! If you're talking about names found in records from, say, the 14th century, names ending in -ski were borne by nobles. Back then, all surnames were noble! In other words, only nobles used surnames.

Cool, We're noble and great!

So, in my search, I also found some similar last names, such as the great Duke University men's basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski. Ok, that might be pushing it a little, but anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a huge Duke Basketball fan...Go Blue Devils!



Tytus Czyżewski (1880-1945) was a Polish painter, art theoretician, Playwrite, member of the Polish Formists, and colorist. Here is one of his famous paintings. I'm sure it's bound to be in our schoolbooks someday, replacing Van Gough, Picasso and Leonardo DaVinci...




Elizabeth Czyzewski works in filmography. She has worked with many movies, such as "Get Smart" with Steve Carell, and "Blades of Glory" featuring Will Ferrell. She also was the production assistant for the TV special, "Frontline: Storm Over Everest (2008)"


Well, I think this post is long enough, researching Cysewski is not only time consuming, but also a little tiring for little old me. :) All in all, even though Cysewski is a hard name to say and spell, I'm thankful to be part of this family, I couldn't ask for a better bunch of people! I'm sure there will be lots of laughs and good times ahead, and considering our ancestors came from Poland, perhaps at family reunions will consist of Polish hotdogs, cucumber salad and apple tarts:)