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Ricochet ^ | Pat Sajak

[Albion Wilde]

Interesting story. He seems to be a thoroughly nice guy.

And a long-time, unapologetic conservative.

[Albion Wilde]

I wish I had a chance to tell Pat there really is at least one advantage to having an unpronounceable Polish name with a bunch of silent letters: you always know when it’s a telemarketer on the phone.

I hear you! I have been trying to find the name of an oil painter artist who, in the 50s and early 60s, lived in Beltsville, Marlyand and whose name was badly mangled in Tidewater English as "SOCK-se-vik."

Here are some of the online searches I have done of Polish last names to try to find a match or a phonetic root:

Satkowski
Sawicki
Sienkiewicz
Siok
Skoczylas
Skonieczny
Skowronek
Skrzypczak
Skrzypek
Slusarczyk
Sobczyk
Sobkowiak
Sokalski
Sokolik
Staszewski
Stocki
Stolarczyk
Stopka
Swierczek
Szczepanek
Szewczyk
Szymkowiak
Zajkowski

[dfwgator]

Once you learn the pronunciation of the letters, it’s actually easy to pronounce Polish names, because they don’t change.

[MomwithHope]

Hi there! We said Hi a few years ago and I remember you. My best high school friend lived in Hegewisch 132nd and M. Many who went to Geo. Washington High did as well. I was in the class of 1969 and we lived at 111th and M. My brother sold the house a couple of years ago. We went to Annunciata Church where I also went to grammar school. I have lived in Michigan since the mid 70’s. My sister and brother and nieces still live on the north end and one in the suburbs. My best friend moved to Whiting when she got married, still lives there.

[Stosh]

Hey, I grew up with several of those people!

But going back to your artist, did you try Szostkiewicz? Lots of other options if one is working off only a phonetic pronunciation, but you might try some other combinations of the pieces of that name above.

[Albion Wilde]

So, what do you think is the actual Polish spelling of “SOCK-se-vik”? Taking into account that the Maryland English speakers who knew him were probably substituting some Anglification of the letters they saw before them, or of his pronounciation of his name.

[dfwgator]

Good question. Usually Polish names don’t end with “vic”, that’s usually Serb or Croatian. More likely it ended in “wicz”.....

So it could be Sokiewicz.

[Albion Wilde]

Thank you. I am trying to find out the history of a beautiful painting of Jesus that he did for a small church.

[Albion Wilde]

Good question. Usually Polish names don’t end with “vic”, that’s usually Serb or Croatian. More likely it ended in “wicz”.....

Thank you so much. I'm adding that to my list of possible spellings. I might be able to find his descendants online-- he was probably born between 1890 and 1920.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

bkmk