How to improve your searching
In handwritten records, certain letters look similar to, or are nearly indistinguishable from, other letters. And some letters or pairs of letters sound like others. When searching, you may want to try both.
| Polish: ą | is also written as am | example: Ząbek — Zambek |
| Polish: ę | is also written as en | example: Lęga — Lenga |
| Polish: Fr- | looks like Tr- | example: Frajman — Trajman |
| Polish: I- | is also written as J- | example: Icek — Jcek |
| Polish: ł | looks like t | example: Całka — Catka |
| Polish: ó | is also written as u | example: Król — Krul |
| Polish: si or sz | is also written as ś | example: Mosiek, Moszek — Mośek |
| Cyrillic* (Russian): m (applies to late 1860s – mid 1910s records) |
looks like: t |
Note that ow or ów or ov or óv at the end of a surname is nearly always a suffix that should be dropped. With the very rare cases below, this is not the case. Therefore, try searching for these surnames using “is exactly.”
Fiszow / Fiszof / Fiszhof / Fiszauf / Fischof [and other spellings]
Isakow / Issakow / Izakow / Isaakow [and other spellings]
Dow / Dof / Doff [and other spellings]
Read other topics regarding Polish Jewish genealogy.
Thinking of joining CRARG? Feel free to write to me (danielkazez@crarg.org) to ask if we have records for your family! —Daniel Kazez, CRARG President (a volunteer/unpaid position)
If you are ready to join CRARG, visit our Pre-Holocaust Database page.