About the name Antoni?

Question

My grandfather's surname was Antoni, but how come my grandfather was from Czechoslovakia with a Polish/Catalan name? We don't have any Polish or Catalonians in our family? Also all the great help to GenevievesMom, I couldn't have known anything about my grandfather without the help of her! :)

Answer 1

My great great grandfathers name was Anton, and he was german hungarian. Alot of people used to name their children from the bible, or after saints and rulers.

Answer 2

Many surnames are not restricted to one country, and have you traced your grandfather's lineage before they became Czechoslovakian ? Otherwise how do you know that you do not have Polish, Catalan or any other nationality in your family,

Czechoslovakia was only created in 1918 and your grandfather's family could very easily have been Polish, Hungarian, Austrian.........

Antoni

This noble and distinguished surname originates from "Antonius", an ancient Roman clan name which is believed to translate as "praiseworthy" or "priceless". Marcus Antonius circa 83 - 30 B.C., friend to Caesar, and lover of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, was the most notable member of the clan. The surname developed in the medieval period, being first recorded in England in the 13th century, see below, and now world-wide has developed into over one hundred individual spellings. Examples of these spellings range from Antony, Anthoine, Anton and Antona, to Antoinet, Antonelli, Antognoli, and Antuk, and the patronymics such as Antunez, D'Antoni, Antoons, Antonssen, Antonov, and Antonwicz. The great popularity of the original baptismal name throughout Christendom, is largely due to two saints. The first being St. Anthony of Egypt (c251 to 331), founder of monasticism in the 4th Century, and the second, St. Anthony of Padua (1195 - 1231), who became a favoured disciple of St. Francis of Assisi. His learning and eloquence was so great that he is said to have drawn a congregation of fishes to raise their heads out of the sea and listen to him breathlessly! Amongst the earliest examples of the surname recording are those of William Antony, who was recorded in the tax charters of the county of Suffolk, England, in the year 1306, whilst in Germany in 1527 Schultheis Anthonius was recorded as being the Stadtschreiber (Town clerk) for the city of Kassel. The first recorded spelling of the family name in any country is probably that of John Antoyne, which was dated 1275, in the charters of the county of Worcester, England.

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Antoni  

Last name origins & meanings:

German: humanistic patronymic from the genitive case of the Latin personal name Antonius (see Anthony).

Italian: from the personal name Antonio (see Anthony).

Greek (Antonis): from the personal name Antonios (see Anthony), or a shortened form of Antoniadis or Antonidakis, patronymics from this name.

EDIT : Here you will find the history of Czechoslovakia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_...

http://archiv.radio.cz/history/history02...

http://history.howstuffworks.com/europea...