Zawadzki

Zawadzki [zaˈvat͡ski] (feminine: Zawadzka, plural: Zawadzcy) is a Polish, Slovak, Ukrainian, as well as German surname originating in Silesia or the Sudetenland. It is a toponymic surname derived from one of the numerous locations named Zawada or Zawady.

It may belong to a noble family bearing the Zawadzki coat of arms.

Historically, due to the instability of the orthography, as well as in the periods of the partitions of Poland by foreign powers the same person or persons of the same family could use different spelling of the surname. Variant spellings include Zawadski, Zavadsky, Zavadski, Zawadowsky, Zawadowski, Sawadsky, Sawadski, Sawatsky, Sawatzky, Zawatzki, etc.

Notable people with these surnames include:

Zawadzki or Zawadski

Sawatzky or Sawatsky

This version of the name is very prevalent among the Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites who emigrated from Ukraine to Canada and the United States. Many hundreds or thousands of families with these spellings exist, thus it is likely the most numerous of the many versions listed in this article. Family history suggests it derives from a Pole who converted to Mennonitism and joined the Mennonites in the Vistula delta region. It is not connected to other similar-sounding German names like the Sudeten-German name Watzke or Watzky, with which it is sometimes confused.

Other variants

Fictional characters
  • Ralph Sawatzky, a protagonist of the 1990 American film Working Trash

See also
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