Additional Name Information

Naming as we know it began in Europe with the acceptance and use of Roman law by member states of the Holy Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire had two independently distinct, codified philosophies. They are specifically the Codex Civilis and Codex Religio with change to the law made through the use of “privileges” dispensed by Popes, Bishops, Counts and members of certain orders of the Christian Church. Privileges and Papal Bulls are still created to mete out payment and dispense power within the framework of the church. Some of these privileges have been translated from their original Latin to German, Polish and etc. and are found in their book form with the name Codex Diplomaticus followed by the name of the country and or language that is represented. Naming to include adoption was during ancient times required by Rome and was important to the creation of who inherited what from deceased members of the culture as they knew it. See the title “Roman Law” at the Roman Catholic - New Advent Internet site in order to learn why “Putlechow” was adopted by its early users.

Answers to Inquiries about the Name's

Pittelkau/Pittelkow/Pettelkau

LITHUANIAN ?

Charles Jonas Zemaitis wrote:

-au: is German, often equivalent to Polish -ow or -ow-; example. Krakau =Krakow.
-au is considered a foreign suffix in Lithuania. Lithuania's history has been extraordinarily
closely tied to that of its neighbors, and that fact reflects non-Lithuanian surnames one hears
among Lithuanians. Often suffixes are what tip you off that these names are not originally Lithuanian.

OLD PRUSSIAN OR SÛDUVIAN ?

Hello Harlan,
Thank you for writing. The Prussi spoke Prussian - below are some
good websites -
http://donelaitis.vdu.lt/prussian/reconstructions.htm
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~wolf/prussia/
http://www.anarchs.com/prussia/
http://www.angelfire.com/va/virdainas/proto.html
Sudovian is a related language that was spoken nearby, in Sûduva.
I'll inquire about your name and write back, ok?
Take Care,
-jp

POLISH ?

Hi Harlan:

Sorry, I can't help you. I searched William Hoffman's book and couldn't
find anything that even came close to Pittelkow, Pittelkau or Pettelkau. I don't
recall any Polish surnames or other words for that matter that use the
double "t" in their spelling. Also the ending "kau" as far as I know isn't used
either, although "kow" (pronounced "cough," or if there is a line over the
"o," "koof") is quite common. Are you sure your name is of Polish origin?

Good luck in your research

Roy

KASHUBIAN

It is possible that some of the Pittelkau/Pettelkau or Pittelkow, thought themselves to be of the Kazubian people. The Kashubia resided in the area west of the village Pettelkau in what became West Prussia and Pommerania. These Kazube were the original peoples of the Weichsel River Valley from the Baltic to Thorn. Interestingly, this is the same area where our people would be found once names began to be recorded.

ESTONIAN ?

There are syllables in the Estonian (words) language that incorporate both the "Pitt" and the "kau". Nothing further than a search of syllables in thisr language has been done to identify the name in this language, although it seems to be the one most likely to incorporate the names structure.
pittin "soust
     Jõh
pittu "pikkune
     Vas Se
pittukõnõ "pikkune
     Se
pittunõ "pikkune
kauake "kui kaua
     Kaa KJn
kauakest "kaua
     Jaa
kaual "kaua
     Kuu Rei Ris HMd
kauane (kavvane) "&kaua
     VJg Plt Puh Krl Vas
kauaness "kas kaua
     Khn

THE SCHULITZ CHURCHBOOK - PASTORS NAME

Pastor Hans Peter Petersen works in Schulitz 1859-1864. His surname is
PATRONYM, a north european namegiving. It means Peter was Peters son.
Another exemple: The son from Wilhelm Hansen gets the last name Wilhelmsen
Or Wilhelmson, Grandfathers first name was Hans.

Name Changes

Some original work in researching the name and some name history.

Please note that the name changes from one spelling to the other are dependent on who is doing the spelling and where they physically are. This phenomenon has been going on since the very beginning of the name. Without it, there would not be a Pittelkau or Pettelkau, just Potilkow's. Plese see the first entry. Two generations in the same, very small village. I guess a farmer didn't have much use for a last name in 1698. Can you imagine?

Otteraue, Kreis Bromberg, Posen, Preußen

Pittelkau, Marianne, * 26.06.1695 Otteraue, Eltern: Johann und Katharina
Pytkow, Johann, * 20.07.1698 Otteraue, Eltern: Johann und Katharina
Pittelkau, Michael, * 13.10.1726 Otteraue, Eltern: Johann und Katharina
Petlik, Johann, * Actum 09.1728 Otteraue, Eltern: Johann und Katharina
Pittelkau,Elisabeth, *12.10.1735 Otteraue, Eltern: Johann Und Katharina

Christening Records at Bromberg

Pittelkow Auguste 20.11.1823 Eltern Jacob Pittelkow Charlotte Doering
Pittelkau Jacob Ferdinand 13.8.1826 Eltern Jacob Pittelkau Charlotte Doering
Pittelkau Wilhelmine Rosalie 9.8.1829 Eltern Jacob Pittelkau Charlotte Doering
Pittelkau Anne Henriette 20.1.1833 Eltern Jacob Ferdinand Pittelkau Charlotte Doering
Pittelkau Carl Wilhelm 13.3.1836 Eltern Jacob Pittelkau Charlotte Doering

Kokotsko, Kr. Kulm, Westpreußen, Preußen

Pittelkau Pauline Henriette 13.11.1842 Eltern Heinrich Pittelkau Christine Hildebrandt
Pettelkau Ernst Ferdinand 16.8.1846 Eltern Heinrich Pettelkau Christine Hildebrandt

Pittelkau Anna Louise 16.1.1842 Eltern Freidrich Pittelkau Petronella Mueller
Pittelkau Petronella Carolina 11.2.1844 Eltern Freidrich Pittelkau Petronella Mueller
Pittelkau Maria Elisabeth 10.12.1845 Eltern Freidrich Pittelkau Petronella Mueller
Pittelkau Petronella Caroline 19.5.1848 Eltern Freidrich Pittelkau Petronella Mueller
Pettelkau Friedrich Aron 6.12.1849 Eltern Freidrich Pettelkau Petronella Mueller
Pettelkau Ida Hulda 12.8.1852 Eltern Freidrich Pettelkau Petronella Mueller
Pettelkau Maximilian Bruno 13.12.1857 Eltern Freidrich Pettelkau Petronella Mueller
Pettelkau Rudolph Aron 8.12.1861 Eltern Freidrich Pettelkau Petronella Mueller

Graudenz, West Prussia

Pittelkau August Friedrich 24.3.1850 Eltern David Pittelkau Maria Schmeer
Kulm, Kr. Kulm, Westpreußen, Preußen
Pettelkau Johann Jacob 8.12.1840 Eltern David Pettelkau Maria Schmeer
Peddelkau Johann Jacob 23.2.1840 Eltern David Peddelkau Maria Schmeer

Birth Record From Germany

Gustav Pittelkau, born on 11.04.1869, Mother was Helene (Lena) Pittelkau
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., 1900 U.S. Census
Pittelkow, Lena, White, Born April 1837, Age 63, Born in Germany
Gustav, Son, Born April 1870 in Germany
Ida, Daughter, Born June 1892 in Illinois
Carl, Son, Born July 1885 in Illinois
Marriage Record:
Gustav Pittelkau, Married Francisca Eiberger
Children: Margaretha Pittelkau, born on 23.12.1911, Elmer Pittelkau
Wisconsin, 1920 U.S. Census
Pittelkau, Gustave, Vol 69, E.D. 212, Sheet 4, Line 38, White, Age 34, Born in Wisconsin, Lives in Outagamie County, Wisconsin with hisWife Francis, Age 30, Daughter Margaret, Age 8 and Son Elmer, Age 4. All were born in Wisconsin.

Chicago, Illinois, USA

St. James Lutheran Church Marriage Record
[This marriage is not listed in the Illinois Marriage Register at this time]
Emil Pittelkau, Born: 8-2-1864 at Bromberg-Wort Freufase, Married: 7-16-1892 to
Mathilda Volkman born or christened at Köslin, West Prussia/Pommern
1900 U.S. Census for Chicago, Illinois
Pittelkow, Emil, White, Born August 1866, Age 33, Born in Germany
Mathilda, Wife, Born August 1869, Age 30, Born in Germany
Adolph, Son, Born December 1893, Age 6, Born in Illinois
Emil, Son, Born May 1895, Age 5, Born in Illinois
George, Son, Born June 1896, Age 3, Born in Illinois
Walter, Son, Born June 1899, Age 10/12, Born in Illinois
St. James Lutheran Church Confirmation Record
Adolph Gustav Pittelkau 12-10-1893 Confirmed
Emil Carl Pittelkau 5-4-1895 Confirmed

Chicago, Illinois, USA

St. James Lutheran Church Marriage Record
[This marriage is not listed in the Illinois Marriage Register at this time]
Albert Pittelkau, born: 8-22-1859 at Bromberg, Posen. Married: 7-18-1883
To Friederville Jacboson, born: 12-25-1862
1900 U.S. Census for Chicago, Illinois [Probable Match]
Pedelkau, Albt., White, Born August 1860, Age 39, Born in Germany
Frederika, Wife, Born December 1863, Age 36, Born in Germany
Millie, Daughter, Born May 1886, Age 14, Born in Illinois
Albert, Son, Born Feb 1892, Age 8, Born in Illinois
Bertha, Daughter, Born Oct 1894, Age 5, Born in Illinois
Jennie, Daughter, Born May 1898, Age 2, Born in Illinois

De Pelko and possibly Pelka of Poland

This is the 17^th century birth record for Mariana Petka or Petko at the Roman Catholic Church of Solec Kujawski (Schulitz) in Poland. Her mother is Anna and father is Martin. This name, in this place, over a period of two hundred years, becomes Petelkaw, Pettelkau and then Pittelkau. Other examples of this name changing phenomena can be found throughout all of Prussia and parts of Poland. Please note that the letter “t” is seldom crossed in church registers. Too, it is not found in the Polish language, so it is often written with a single “t”.

Some, but not all of the names pronounced something near to “Petka”, “Petko” or “Petikow” are phonetic derivatives of the Pettelkau/Pittelkow names and are, therefore Old Prussian or Polish names that are derived from the place names Putlechow and Putilik! In the greater area of Poland, Prussia and Bohemia it is possible that names developed that are similar to, but are not of the people Pettelkau. Although, many names underwent a metamorphosis to Petlko & Petelkaw (17^th century), Pettelkau (18^th century) and then Pittelkau or Peddelkau (19^th century), they were always phonetic derivatives of the originals. Though the place name may have existed for several thousand years, the name as it applies to people may not have existed until about 1282, although it is possible that the original name, Putlechow may have been shared by a people and a place long before recorded history of any kind in northern Europe. Too, there is no direct relationship between the name of the people and the name of the Ermlandische place until 1794, 500 years after its first recorded use by a human, so there could be more variations of the name than we are aware of. (The exception is the creator of the estate and village, Theoderich de Pötilkow) What is most interesting is that the name “Pittelkau” was used for the village “Pettelkau” in the 16^th century which indicates that the actual enunciation would rely on the letter “i” rather than “e” to form the first syllable. In 2002 at this URL http://www.herby.com.pl/herby/indexslo.html are found the following listed Petka people to include some real close derivatives for Pettelkau that are found often in the Holy Roman Catholic Church Registers from their beginning in the 16^th century through their use in the 19^th century. There were no Pittelkau, Pettelkau, Pittelkow, et al. Below the table is a list of names corresponding to the Polish abbreviations for the indicated places.

Nazwisko	Ogólna liczba	Rozmieszczenie
Petka	564	Wa:9, BB:1, By:14, El:4, Gd:258, JG:1, Ka:42, Ko:22, Kr:31, Ks:30, Lg:4, NS:1, Ol:26, Op:4, Po:6, Pr:1, Rz:55, Sł:19, Su:2, Sz:2, Tb:4, Ta:20, To:1, Wr:7
Petke	156	El:1, Gd:125, Ka:4, Po:4, Sł:11, Su:7, To:4
Petkie	2	Gd:2
Petkiewicz	137	Wa:12, BP:23, Bs:9, Ch:1, Gd:26, Go:5, JG:6, Ka:8, Kr:2, Lu:4, Ło:10, Łd:1, Os:13, Pt:1, Pł:2, Ra:1, Su:4, Sz:5, To:1, Za:3
Petko	98	Ka:10, Ki:1, Ko:7, Kr:21, Lg:9, Lu:7, Ol:5, Pt:9, Ta:6, Wb:13, Wr:10
Petkon	1	Łd:1
Petkow	20	Wa:8, By:1, Ka:2, Kr:6, Łd:1, Ol:1, Op:1
Petkowicz	123	Wa:27, BP:63, Gd:1, JG:9, Kr:1, Lg:3, Lu:19
Petkowski	147	Wa:9, BB:1, By:10, El:2, Gd:42, Ka:12, Kr:5, Ło:55, Ol:4, Os:1, Po:1, Su:5
Petkun	2	Kr:1, Wr:1

BB - bielskie, BP - bialskopodlaskie, Bs - bialostockie, By - bydgoskie (Bromberg), Ch - chelmskie (Culm), Ci - ciechanowskie, Cz - czestochowskie, El - elblaskie (Elbing), Gd - gdanskie (Danzig), Go - gorzowskie, JG - jeleniogórskie, Ka - katowickie, Ki - kieleckie, Kl - kaliskie, Kn - koninskie, Ko - koszalinskie, Kr - krakowskie, Ks - krosnienskie, Lg - legnickie, Ls - leszczynskie, Lu - lubelskie, Ld - lódzkie, Lo - lomzynskie, NS - nowosadeckie, Ol - olsztynskie, Op - opolskie, Os - ostroleckie (Osterode), Pl - pilskie, Pl - plockie, Po - poznanskie, Pr - przemyskie, Pt - piotrkowskie, Ra - radomskie, Rz - rzeszowskie, Sd - siedleckie, Sk - skierniewickie, Sl - slupskie, Sr - sieradzkie, Su - suwalskie, Sz - szczecinskie, Ta - tarnowskie, Tb - tarnobrzeskie, To - torunskie (Thorn), Wa - warszawskie, Wb - walbrzyskie, Wl - wloclawskie, Wr - wroclawskie, Za - zamojskie, ZG - zielonogórskie

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, New College Edition, 1980 Houghton Mifflin Company Separates the Balto-Slavic Languages from the Germanic Languages at the highest level. The Baltic languages of Old Prussian, Lithuanian and Latvian are further separated from those of the Slavic Languages associates with such languages as Polish, Slovak, Czech, Russian, Byelorussian, Ukrainian and so on. At the top of the North Germanic language group is Old Norse, Old Icelandic, Old Swedish, Old Danish, Old English, Old Fresian, Old Dutch, Old Low German, Old High German and in the East of Germany, Gothic. Putlechow, a Gemarkung of Mecklenburg is in fact an ancient name and could possibly be of any of these “Old”, extinct languages.

In May 2002 Kurt Pittelkau of Berlin did a statistical analysis of the primary names then existing in Germany with a telephone number, to include those with a “dd” in their name as written in the church registers at Culm (Piddelkau & Peddelkau). The total number found was 337 households. There were no people with “dd” in the name. “One can see the shares of the four groups and this is a bit interesting (37:293:39:8). The groups of Pittelkaus and Pettelkau’s are approximately equal (each about 10 %), the group of Pittelkow’s is colossal, much more numerous (78 %), the rest (2 %) are the Püttelkow’s.” One can see in the 1900 U.S. Census of Illinois one family of Pedelkau and one family of “PIDDLEDOW”, both containing obvious spelling error. In 1920 there was one family of “Pudelko” from Poland. In America there are primarily Pittelkau, Pittelkow, and Pittelko, and some others that may or may not be of the family begat by Dietrich de Pötlickow of Ermland. As they have moved from place to place in America, the name, as it was in Prussia and Poland, changed with the enunciated use by the scribes who wrote it and the people who spoke it.

Important to understand in the originating of a surname in this area of the world is that other individuals who lived on the estate Pettelkau in Prussia or in Mecklenburg could assume the name just as Theoderich did. All of the people who lived on the estate Pettelkau were “Pettelkauer, Pettelkauen or Pettelkauin” depending on the gender and the use of the name. Since the many Old Prussian and German peasants who lived on the estate did not have a surname, it was possible that they also became Pöttelkow, and as they went to other places in Prussia and Poland the name moved with them. It may well be that Theodericus has no descendants living at this time and that all of the Pöttelkow are descendants of the Old Prussian peasants of the place Pettelkau in Ermland. On the other hand, it is possible that some of us are actual descendants of Theoderich and family and that some number of children were birthed during his adventurous lifetime. I must add here as well that the name used for the Village Pettelkau, was for several hundred years spelled “Pittelkau”. Is it possible that a peasant villager could assume the surname of a noble family?

It is of the utmost interest to know that Tylo, the younger son of the Prussian immigrant Theodericus became the heir to the estate of the Knight Dietrich Von Ulsen (Ulzenheimer or Olsen) and did in fact become Tylo de Olsen of Heinrichsdorf. See the Preussisch Regesten 1296. II. Id. Sept. 12. [1174] and its index for both Ulsen and Olsen.

Whether Tylo continued to use one name or the other, or if his children were used one name rather than the other is unknown at this time. Perhaps further information about the Olsen’s will be made available at some future time.