How do I find the meaning of family names?

Question

I guess I must have weird family names, but I tried looking on two sites, and couldn't find them. Does anyone have a trusted site they use to research their family names? (I tried ancestry.com)

The names I am looking for are: Halouska, Wolniczek or Wolniczak, and Szathmary.

Answer 1

There are 32 Halouskas in the 1930 census.  Are they any relation?

7 Wolniczeks in the 1920 census.  All in NE.

I think spelling could be a problem with your search.

Also look here:http://www.polishroots.org/surnames/surn...

You could try posting the names and dates here.  Someone may be able to help you if you are looking for specific people.

Answer 2

Szathmary is Hungarian, meaning "from Szatmar" [place in north-eastern Hungary/northwestern Romania - see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szatm%C3%A1...

Halouska, Wolniczek and Wolniczak are Slav of some kind - Czech, Slovak or Polish. Try checking dictionaries for each of these languages.