TOMASZEWSKI
Tomaszewski is a surname of Polish origin. It derives from the personal name Tomasz, which is the Polish form of Thomas. The root of the name is Hebrew and speaks of a twin; it was transmitted through Christian Europe by way of crusaders, missionaries and noble families.
The suffix ‑ewski denotes a link with a place or estate, and the suffix ‑ewicz indicates a patronymic sense. Consequently, individuals bearing the surname are historically understood to be descendants of a man named Tomasz, and, in some lineages, the surname points to a specific settlement connected to a Tomasz.
Early documentary evidence of the name appears in medieval registers. Examples include a record of Richard Thome of York in 1293, Walter Thomas of Warwickshire in the Hundred Rolls of 1301, and Dieter Thumm of Wolfschlugen in 1327. A particularly early spelling is that of Henneko Thom, a Burgess of Hamburg in 1252. In the early seventeenth century, a man named Christopher Thomas emigrated from London to the New England colonies on the ship “Plaine Joan” on 7 May 1635, during the reign of King Charles I.
In the twentieth century industrialisation and emigration caused the surname to spread beyond Poland. At the close of the nineteenth century, Tomaszewski ranked as the 51st most common surname in Poland. By the turn of the twenty‑first century it is amongst the 20 most frequently occurring surnames in the country, with over 29 000 people registered under the name in 2020. Outside Poland the surname is common in Ukraine, Germany and the United States, where it occurs in that order of frequency in those countries. In the United States it is most often found in metropolitan areas such as Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles.
The name has been borne by a range of notable individuals. Among Polish resources are the actress Ksenia Tomaszewska, footballer Zenon Tomaszewski, World War II staff nurse Yadwiga Tomaszewska, and members of the noble house which included Wojciech and Marshal Jozef Tomaszewski. In medicine the surname is associated with Dr. Julian Tomaszewski, who in the late nineteenth century devised an algorithm that improved diagnostic accuracy.
Surname variants are widespread. Commonly recognised forms include Tomaszewski, Tomaszewicz, Tomashevsky and Tomashevski, and in English‑speaking contexts it may be rendered as Thomas or Thomasfsky. These variants share a common patronymic heritage and can be traced in Russia, Ukraine, Poland and the diaspora. The persistence of the surname across centuries and continents attests to its deep roots and to the enduring legacy of those who first carried the name.
Typical given names associated with the Tomaszewski surname
Male
- Adam
- Grzegorz
- Jerry
- Konrad
- Krzysztof
- Lukasz
- Maciej
- Marcin
- Marek
- Piotr
- Robert
- Slawomir
- Tomasz
Female
- Jan
- Jennifer
- Kathleen
- Marian
- Marie
- Marta
- Mary
- Natasha
- Rebecca
- Sarah
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Tomaszewski in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 306 people named Tomaszewski in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around five in a million people in Britain are named Tomaszewski.
