Lithuanian Ancestry help? Surnames, etc

My great great grandfather William Myers (who changed his surname when he came to the U.S., no idea about the original surname) came to America. He met Ursule Zigmanus (Zigmanus is a variant of Zigmantaviczius) on the ship heading to America. I was wondering what Zigmantaviczius meant in Lithuanian. How would I go about researching my Lithuanian ancestry? By the way, my family thinks the surname William Myers changed into Myers was something like Mahores, any surname you would know of that sounds like Mahores? Also, it is likely William changed his first name, do you have a version of William in Lithuania?

Thank you in advance!

BUMP!!!!!!!

2nd bump... -.-

bumpo.

Greetings Lithuanian family. Lithuanian names are many and varied, so it's impossible to tell what "Myers" may have derived from. When researching your LT ancestry you should keep in mind that spellings were not standardized until later in the 20th century, and Lithuanian names were frequently altered to appear more or less Slavic depending on the socio-political circumstances that were present at different points of Lithuania's history. I would check out the Lithuanian geneology discussion forum on Yahoo groups; they might be able to help you or at least point you in the right direction, such as how to go about obtaining birth records directly from Lithuania.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LithuanianGenea...

LithuanianFamily wrote:

bumpo.

I went there, but could not find any help concerning my question. Someone must know the basic meaning of the surname listed.

thanks

Sorry, but I had to laugh when I read your post. With all due respect, you don't know very much about Lithuanian names and name changes. It is IMPOSSIBLE to tell you the meaning of your name, "Myers." Number one, it isn't even a Lithuanian name. If the origin is indeed Lithuanian, it was obviously changed or altered beyond recognition upon your ancestor's arrival to the US. The original could have been Majovskas, Majewskas, Mejanckas, Macijauskas, Meronas, Mekas...you get my point. Number two, the root of your last name, "Myer-" (or Myr, Meir, Mair, etc., phonetically speaking), is not at all common in Lithuanian words or names. If your last name is indeed close to the original, then its Lithuanian counterpart is "Meiras," and in this case it is probably of German or Jewish (Ashkenazi) origin. There were significant numbers of both groups in Lithuania at one time.

Good luck in your search.

LithuanianFamily wrote:

I went there, but could not find any help concerning my question. Someone must know the basic meaning of the surname listed.
thanks

Regarding the surname "Zigmantaviczius."

It doesn't mean anything, per se. It is a Lithuanianized Slavic name, i.e. from Zigmantovich. Don't worry, that doesn't mean you are Slavic...many Lithuanian surnames are Lithuanianized Slavic names. For example, Kakanauskas=Kakanowski, Macijauskas=Maciejovsky, Narusevicius=Narusevich. Since Lithuania was occupied for centuries by either Poland or Russia, many Lithuanian surnames contain Slavic root words with Lithuanian endings. Contemporary Lithuanian surnames are a mix of both the Slavic and the Baltic variety, with Lithuanian endings for both (usually -is,-ius, or -as).

K

LithuanianFamily wrote:

I went there, but could not find any help concerning my question. Someone must know the basic meaning of the surname listed.
thanks

Hi Kris, you seem well up on lithuanian names, wondered if you could help me out a bit with mine, if you please.

My grandfather came over to england shortly after the second world war [i think] bringing the name Rimdzevicius with him, I'd ask him about it all, but sadly he died of a massive heart attack when I was only two, anyhooo, I was just wondering if you could tell me exactly how that should be pronounced, as I've always said, wait a sec, how can I best write the phonetics? ah yes, "Rim-dzev-it-chus" or thereabouts and since my whole family is english none of them are 100% certain!

I really know very little about the lithuanian language and lithuanian names, but it would be quite nice to know a little about mine if you can help me

thank you kindly

Sveiks Karilai,

Greetings Karilas (when addressing a male by name the ending changes, in your case,-as becomes -ai,
but that's another lesson).

Yes, you are fairly correct in your pronunciation, though I don't think the "t" in the third syllable is necessary:

Rim-dzev-i-chus

Simply rrrroll the "r" and remember the "e" in "dzev" sounds like "a" in "bad," and NOT "e" in "bed."

With so many Lithuanians in England these days (well London anyway) you should be able to find someone to practice with :).

Kris

Karilas wrote:

Hi Kris, you seem well up on lithuanian names, wondered if you could help me out a bit with mine, if you please.
My grandfather came over to england shortly after the second world war [i think] bringing the name Rimdzevicius with him, I'd ask him about it all, but sadly he died of a massive heart attack when I was only two, anyhooo, I was just wondering if you could tell me exactly how that should be pronounced, as I've always said, wait a sec, how can I best write the phonetics? ah yes, "Rim-dzev-it-chus" or thereabouts and since my whole family is english none of them are 100% certain!
I really know very little about the lithuanian language and lithuanian names, but it would be quite nice to know a little about mine if you can help me
thank you kindly

My name is Bender. I've been told our original Lithuanian name was Benderous (or some similar spelling. Does this sound like a Lithuanian surname? If so, any information you can give me?

Bender wrote:

My name is Bender. I've been told our original Lithuanian name was Benderous (or some similar spelling. Does this sound like a Lithuanian surname? If so, any information you can give me?

Maybe try Benderaitis...we had one on our street way back when. I think that would be the spelling. Good Luck.

The Lithuanian language adds specific endings to a surname, which indicate whether an individual is single, married, male, female, etc. This information can be very helpful if you receive copies of documents from the Lithuanian Archives.
Lithuanian endings are added to the root of the surname. Several examples are below:

For a male, the suffix can appear as “-as”,“-(i)us”, or “-is”.
KAGAN becomes KAGANAS (“-as” is the usual Lithuanian ending for male surnames).
However, after a soft letter, such as “ch”, the ending would be “-ius”, e.g. KAGANOVITCH becomes KAGANOVITCHIUS.

For married women, without exceptions, the surnames have the ending “-iene”.
The “-iene” suffix is added to the male surname root, e.g. KAGAN becomes KAGANIENE, KAGANOVITCH becomes KAGANOVITCHIENE.

For unmarried women,(e.g. a single daughter), her surname depended on her father's surname ending.

If it was “-as”, it becomes “-aite”. KAGANAS and his daughter KAGANAITE.
If it was “-ius”, it becomes “-iute”. KAGANOVITCHIUS - KAGANOVITCHIUTE.
If it was “-is”, it becomes “-yte”. KATCHERGINSKIS - KATCHERGINSKYTE.

Hope this helps.:-)

This is a lithuanian surname.I'am trying to find out what the original spelling may of been.Without the original spelling it's impossible to find any geneology.Can anyone help?

CDNLT wrote:

<quoted text>
Maybe try Benderaitis...we had one on our street way back when. I think that would be the spelling. Good Luck.

"Bendorius" there is lastname like this ....

I am helping a friend to research her maternal and paternal sidea of her family. Her paternal side is Shucktis (today's spelling), Shuckstes, Shuckitis, Shucktas, you get the picture. I seem to recall that there really is no "sh" in Lithuanian. Is that right? They came to the U.S. in approx. 1903 or 1908. We can't find any ships records, probably because the spelling on those records isn't anything like it is now. I hate to just give up. But, I'm at a loss as to how to proceed. The one interesting clue is that the family was in Scotland for the birth of their youngest son prior to their immigration to the U.S. Would Lithuanians be uncommon coming over from Scotland?

Thanks for any ideas you may have on what this surname may have been prior to the U.S. and how to search for ships records.

Thanks!

Hi Cindy,

I also have Lithuanian relatives who emigrated to North America by way of Scotland, so no, it is not all that uncommon. There was a small community in Scotland even before WW2.

The "sh" sound in Lithuanian is indicated by putting an upside down ^ above the letter s (like a small v). And there is no such spelling as "ck" in Lithuanian, as there is in English, so their name could have been S^uktis or S^uktas (use your imagination). It could also have been shortened from a longer name, for example, S^ukauskas. All hypothetically speaking of course. I personally haven't come across a name like S^uktis/as, so I would place my money on the shortened theory. But who knows, there are thousands (well, many, many hundreds at least) of Lithuanian surnames.

K

CindyinAtlanta wrote:

I am helping a friend to research her maternal and paternal sidea of her family. Her paternal side is Shucktis (today's spelling), Shuckstes, Shuckitis, Shucktas, you get the picture. I seem to recall that there really is no "sh" in Lithuanian. Is that right? They came to the U.S. in approx. 1903 or 1908. We can't find any ships records, probably because the spelling on those records isn't anything like it is now. I hate to just give up. But, I'm at a loss as to how to proceed. The one interesting clue is that the family was in Scotland for the birth of their youngest son prior to their immigration to the U.S. Would Lithuanians be uncommon coming over from Scotland?
Thanks for any ideas you may have on what this surname may have been prior to the U.S. and how to search for ships records.
Thanks!

My last name is Rudis, i was always told that it was a Lithuanian name. Ofcoarse i would ask my father or his father, but they both died when i was young, and i don't talk to that side of my family anymore. I was just wondering if you could help me at all because i'm just trying to find out something about my heritage.
I believe that my grandfather was completely Lithuanian, unless i've been told wrong.
Thanks for any help.

Surname: Kursonis
I have found direct family with the same name, and learned some interesting info about the family but not about the name its self. I know my Great Grandmother Spelled it that way when she signed in at Ellis Island. I know she was Catholic living in a Jewish/Catholic town of Jonava and that Polish was the language of the town. Any insights on the name would be wonderful! Thank you.

My paternal grandparents were Lithuanian. My grandmother's name was Magdalena Krewaitis. She and her brother Jurgis emigrated to the US in 1910. She married my grandfather Jonus Jereckos, but devorced before I was born. I can't find any Lithuanian reference to the name Jereckos. The closest I can find is Jariczkas or Jeraschus. Can anyone shed some light on an alternative? Looking for emigration records