# Otroszczenko (surname)



## beefeather

The surname of one of my Ukrainian relatives is "Отро́щенко" (that became "Отроше́нко" in Russian).
Wikipedia gives it as a Polish surname.

I can try to parse it in Russian context (something about a plant's branch), but I know how deceiving the slavic roots could be.

What would you say is the direct meaning of this surname in Polish?

I can read English or Russian. Thanks!


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## Gochna

In Polish, the only thing that comes to my mind is the verb "troszczyć się", which means "to care about someone". I tried to google it to find out something more, and I stumbled upon the list of family crests : Dane Herbu . Good luck in your research!


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## beefeather

Oh, thanks a lot!
Then I was right not to try to guess. For Russian ear there is a distinct prefix "ot" (meaning "from") and a root "rost" meaning "grow". However, playing a bit with automatic translator I see the closest form in Polish would be probably "wyrostek", that is not even close with "Otroszczenko".


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## jasio

Firstly, to my ear, the name does not sound like Polish - normally we attribute last names ending with "-ko" to Ruthenian heritage (Ukrainian, Belorussian, perhaps Russian). It does not exclude that some Poles might have used it, of course, as influences between the peoples used to be quite extensive.

Secondly, perhaps it's a folk etymology, but it resembles me the old word "otrok", meaning young male - but also a slave or servant (otrok – Wielki słownik W. Doroszewskiego PWN, it retained the latter meaning in Czech: otrok — Викисловарь).

Edited:
I do not know Ruthenian fonotactics and rules of consonant alternation, but the name derived from otrok would probably be Otroczenko with a 'ch' sound rather than 'sh' or 'shch'. However I identified also a family name Отрох which might be somehow related to your own, a village called Отрог, and a village called Otrocz in south-eastern Poland (with a mixed Polish-Ruthenian population, although there is also a mountain of that name in central-south Poland), which might be possibly related to your last name. Either way, I'd rather locate it in the Ruthenian or old-Slavic heritage.


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## beefeather

Oh, that's a great idea. I just read that the noble family is Polish, so I assumed that the name itself must have Polish roots. But it does sound more like somewhat Ukrainian.
Thank you so much for your references. I will try look them further.


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## Szkot

This site - http://происхождение-фамилии.рф/Отрошенко - offers the derivation - Tрофим – Трахiм – Атрахiм – Атрох – Отрох - Отроша.   No idea if it's true.


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## wolfbm1

The names with the ending -enko: Krawczenko and Petrenko are in the list of names of Russian origin, according to a Wikipedia article about Polish names.
So, it looks that the name Otroszczenko is of Russian or, as Jasio said, of Ruthenian origin. I am surprised to learn that the name Otroszczenko has got a Polish coat of arms whose name is 'Przyjaciel'. 
In a list of names entitled to use a coat of arms I found the name Otroszczenko among these:  ... Otrasz, Otrembus, Otrębusz, Otroszczenko, Otrusz, Otruszkiewicz, ...


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## jasio

wolfbm1 said:


> So, it looks that the name Otroszczenko is of Russian or, as Jasio said, of Ruthenian origin. I am surprised to learn that the name Otroszczenko has got a Polish coat of arms whose name is 'Przyjaciel'.


It's not THAT surprising as it might sound at the first glance. 

The history of Ruthenia is quite complex. Before partitions of Poland there were in fact two major Ruthenian states (Lithuania and Moscovia), and three major Ruthenian populations - in Lithuania (not to be confused with the modern state of this name, because The Grand Duchy was Lithuanian only by name and some 80% of population, including gentry and the elites was in fact Ruthenian, and often Polish), Poland ('The Crown') and Moscovia. Very roughly speaking, it's equivalent to modern Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. Earlier there were even more Ruthenian states, but eventually, those two / three became the most significant centers. Enough to say that for centuries Smolensk was the key fortress both for Lithuanians and Moscovians, locking access to the interior of their own countries and opening access to the neighbour's.

What is important, Ruthenian noble families could be - and often were - adopted by the Polish gentry to their coats of arms. Some of them retained their own coats of arms and retained their noble status in the other country of the union. In fact, Radziwiłłowie, Wiśniowieccy, Czartoryscy, Szeptyccy, and many more were of Ruthenian origins, although for natural reasons they were polonised over centuries, as the gentry always tends to follow the king and the royal hierarchy. In case of many families, their successors later assumed Russian or Ukrainian nationalities when modern nations were created in the second half of the 19th century. 

To make a long story short: although this vision is very simplified and may be difficult to accept by people mislead by modern boundaries and nationalities, I see nothing unusual in a Russian family which has a Polish coat of arms and bears a family name of Ruthenian / Ukrainian origin.


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