Online Lecture "Slavic Anthroponymy: Types of Polish Surnames"

 Family names are more than inherited labels – they are linguistic fossils of migration, social structure, and cultural memory. On 19 January 2026, the Exchange & Empower Guest Lecture Series brings this idea to life with a special online talk by Dr. Henryk Duszyński-Karabasz, one of today’s leading scholars of Slavic anthroponymy.

Under the title “Slavic Anthroponymy: Types of Polish Surnames,” the lecture will explore how Polish and Slavic family names preserve traces of medieval settlement patterns, occupations, kinship systems, and identity formation. From patronymics and toponyms to nicknames turned hereditary, surnames reveal how language records the lived history of communities over centuries.

Dr. Duszyński-Karabasz is internationally known for his work on Slavic onomastics, particularly Polish naming systems and their historical development. In this session, he will demonstrate how surnames function as a cultural DNA, encoding information about where people came from, how societies were organized, and how identity was linguistically shaped.

Event Details

📅 19 January 2026
🕗 08:30 Warsaw time
🕝 14:30 Bangkok time
🌐 Online lecture

Participants from around the world are invited to join this virtual lecture. Simply scan the QR code on the event poster to enter the online lecture hall.

This event offers a rare opportunity to see how the history of Europe — migrations, professions, and social hierarchies — is still visible today in the surnames we carry. Whether you are a linguist, genealogist, historian, or simply curious about the stories hidden in names, this lecture promises deep insight into how language preserves our past.