Re: LUDKIEWICZ/LUTKIEWICZ & "TICKINAS"
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In reply to:
LUDKIEWICZ/LUTKIEWICZ & "TICKINAS"
Mary Beth Wheeler 2/24/10
Mary,
It looks like you've done a dandy job of research.All I could suggest in this regard is that church marriage records are often excellent sources of information about the place of birth of the couple as well as the names of their parents (though not always).So once you know about when and where they were married, you could call the Archdiocese of that place to learn how to access those records, fees, etc.(Many of the old Lithuanian parishes have been closed and their records sometimes moved to a nearby parish or to the Archdiocese.Also, if any of the ancestors were not citizens, they may have completed the U.S. Government required Alien Registration Form in 1942 (which technically all non-citizens were required to fill out, but often did not).You can have a search for this and other records through the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS).Here is the web site with the information about it:http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=d21f3711ca5ca110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=d21f3711ca5ca110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRDhttp://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=d21f3711ca5ca110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=d21f3711ca5ca110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD
It strikes me as very strange and highly unusual that an immigrant family would change their name surname so significantly.I know of some whose surnames were based on occupations or geographic features, like the name Kalvis (which is the same word for a blacksmith) becoming Smith in the U.S. or Mr. Kalnis (hill in Lithunaian) becoming Mr. Hill.But leaping from Lutkevic^ius (the Lithuanian spelling of the Polish or Slavic Lutkawicz) to Garrett is a huge leap indeed.
There is only way to know what the ethnic background of anyone is and that is from the person or family involved.If they consider themselves to be ethnic Lithuanians, then that is most likely the case.Names are not reliable in this regard.Consider the French descendants of Napoleon's army who remained in Lithuania after the disastrous retreat from the invasion of Russia.These men, fully French, likely married Lithuanian women, and their French names would likely have been Lithuanianized in much the same way that a Lithuanian emigrant to the U.S. might Americanize his name.The descendants would be mixed, French and Lithuanian, though with the passage of time, the French part would probably become "thinner" and maybe even forgotten.The same is true with ethnic Poles, many of whom lived in areas now part of the Republic of Lithuania.Since the Polish language (and to some extent culture) was so highly prized by ethnic Lithuanians (and other Europeans) and since most of the priests and landowners in the lands where ethnic Lithuanians lived were either ethnic Poles or Polish-educated and Polish speaking, it is no surprise that many ethnic Lithuanians used Polish spellings to their names, spoke both languages, sometimes fluently and even retained Polish spelling of their surnames after emigrating.This may well be the case with your Ludkiewicz ancestors.
On the other hand, they may have been ethnic Poles or even Russians who lived among the Lithuanians (all of them lived not in countries by these names but as subjects of the Russian Czar from 1795 to the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917), learning the Lithuanian language and influenced by Lithuanian culture.So the only reliable indicator of ethnicity is what the family history says it is, not the spelling of their names.
The use of the Lithuanian given name Antanas rather than Antoni or Antonin is an indicator that he at least saw himself as partly Lithuanian.Leopold in Lithuanian is Leopoldas (don't know what it is in Polish).Leonard is Leonardas, Zygmont is the Polish for Sigmund, which in Lithuanian would be Sigismundas or Sigizmundas.Celia would be Celija or a short form of Cecile or Cecilija in Lithuanian, but in Polish it might be Cecylia, though I know a Polish family with a daughter named Celia.Kata is probably short for either the Polish Katarzyna or the Lithuanian Katarina or Katryna.
The surnames "Tickinas" or "Tetanas" have Lithuanian endings, but we've already seen that the same name in both Polish and Lithuanian simply adapt the name to the spelling rules of their languages.The Polish Kozlowski becomes the Lithuanian Kazlauskas -- but basically the same name.
Now the "Tickinas" is tricky in Lithuanian because the letter combination "-ick-" in that language is pronounced "-itsk" not like the "ck" in the English word "trick."For that hard "ck" sound Lithuanian only uses the letter "k".The Lithuanian surname Kuckailis is pronounced not KOO-kai-lis but KOOTS-kai-lis, because the letter "c" with no mark over it is simply pronounced "ts" as in the name "Vince" or the word "hits".It is never pronounced "k" as in the English word "cloud."To complicate matters a bit more, the other letter "c" does have a mark like a little birdie over it (typed "c^" on non-Lithuanian keyboards) and it is always and only pronounced "tch" as in the English word "church."So the letter combination "-ick-" in Lithuanian can only be pronounced either as "-itsk-" or "-itchk-".Since the spelling "Tickinas" may be phonetic, the "ck" may simply be the Lithuanian "k" - period, and would be written non-phonetically Tikinas.
This can be very confusing, complicated and easily dismissed.But getting a name close to its correct Lithuanian (or Polish) form is often very useful in genealogy searching as well as knowing how variant spellings occur when influence by one or another language, by phonetic spellings, or by mixtures of these.When you write to the USCIS or to the Archives in Lithuania, it is helpful to them to have these variant spellings.
In the online phone book for Lithuania, there are a very few listings for the surname Tiknius (Tikniute for unmarried daughters of man named Tiknius; Tikniene for his wife), but no listings for names beginning "Tikin-", "Tickn-", or "Tickin-".While there may well be people with the surname Tickinas, the absence of any in the phone book for the country suggests the name may have died out (no male heirs, for example) or all the Tickinas' have emigrated.
Same problem with "Tetanas" though this looks so close to the word for aunt, Teta, or for daddy, Tete or Tetis, that one has to wonder...Anyway, in form, both the spellings you have appear to be valid technical Lithuanian spellings at the very least.
John Peters
More Replies:
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Re: LUDKIEWICZ/LUTKIEWICZ & "TICKINAS"
Mary Beth Wheeler 2/25/10
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Re: LUDKIEWICZ/LUTKIEWICZ & "TICKINAS"
John Peters 2/25/10
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Re: LUDKIEWICZ/LUTKIEWICZ & "TICKINAS"
Mary Beth Wheeler 2/25/10
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Re: LUDKIEWICZ/LUTKIEWICZ & "TICKINAS"
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Re: LUDKIEWICZ/LUTKIEWICZ & "TICKINAS"