I'm half-heartedly trying to put together my Polish mother-in-law's family genealogy and due to the death of one of the elders, I have been gifted many of the original baptismal/marriage documents. I've always had trouble with pinning down the names: one person says it's this and another says it's something else. Looking at these documents, now I see why. For example, take my mother-in-law's grandmother:
Born 1879, baptized Frances Cybula.
In 1907, on her first born's baptismal (Ted), she is listed as Frances Cybulski
Frances's mother died in 1913 and her gravestone bears the name Zofia Cebulska.
Why so many spellings? Is there diminutive versions of names, or married versions? For other Polish members, I believe misspellings and Americanization is to blame:
Frances married Josef Szelbracikowski.
Their first born, Theodore (my mother-in-law's father), is listed as (Szelbracikowski) Shalbrak - the true name was actually written in parentheses, everyone called him Ted
On Ted's marriage certificate, his name is listed as "Shelbrack"
Ted's first born's baptismal, shows "Shelbrick"
Ted's brother spelled the name "Shalbreck"
I know that much of this is due to the Americanization process but is there also a Polish cultural reason behind name changes?
Born 1879, baptized Frances Cybula.
In 1907, on her first born's baptismal (Ted), she is listed as Frances Cybulski
Frances's mother died in 1913 and her gravestone bears the name Zofia Cebulska.
Why so many spellings? Is there diminutive versions of names, or married versions? For other Polish members, I believe misspellings and Americanization is to blame:
Frances married Josef Szelbracikowski.
Their first born, Theodore (my mother-in-law's father), is listed as (Szelbracikowski) Shalbrak - the true name was actually written in parentheses, everyone called him Ted
On Ted's marriage certificate, his name is listed as "Shelbrack"
Ted's first born's baptismal, shows "Shelbrick"
Ted's brother spelled the name "Shalbreck"
I know that much of this is due to the Americanization process but is there also a Polish cultural reason behind name changes?

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