Genealogy Chat

Stll worth checking as I found my name of Edroff on there and got some good info from others looking for same name.

Thanks Heather, but the family were Catholics, as was/is 80% of the Polish population. I read that Auschwitz was actually built as a holding place for Poles, as Hitler wished to have them all wiped out by 1975. It was then also used to hold Jew, Roma Gypsies and other 'undesireables'

There is a Jewish Genealogy site (cant remember the name now - just google it) you have to register but its free and then you can search for this name on there, particularly if you feel they may have been Jewish Poles in WW2.

Thanks Jack. So it seems like my ancesters (on that side at least) were Eastern Europeans. I am guesing that a lot of the family were wiped out during WW2. Fee

Seems like Pihan was/is a common name in Bohemia (Czech Republic ) too. Jack

Franceszek Pihan abt 1876 Male Polish Hevia Pihan abt 1865 Female Russian Just clicked, Carole......... My father told he his father was called Franchisca (my spelling of it, not his) and that his mother was Haffia (again, my spelling, not his). Dad was born in 1921, so although its unlikely that these were his parents, there may well be a connection. Looking in to it now Thanks again Fee

Thanks Cheryl, i will try the translate option, i usually use MSN, so i will try Google instead. My problem is i see the word PIHAN and then lots of other words, so have no idea whether Pihan is a surname or a word meaning something else. As you can imagine, all i get is computer jargon if i type in my married name....lol. Carole, thanks for that, seems like most of the people listed come from Eastern European countrys, Poland, Hungary, ect, so maybe the name originates there.

Nicholas Pihan Born: 10 Jan 1906 Poland Died: 16 Feb 1980 Brampton, [county], Ontario, Canada

Found these on NY passenger list 1820 - 1957 Franceszek Pihan abt 1876 Male Polish Hevia Pihan abt 1865 Female Russian Jozsef Pihan abt 1879 Male Magyar (Hungarian) Hrynko Pihan abt 1880 Male Ruthenian (Russniak)

Hello! Sorry, I can't help with where the surname comes from... but I may be able to help you read the webpages that may explain it! If you are using Google for your searches, they have the facility to translate webpages. If the search results are in a different language they usually give you the option to 'translate this page' next the the results - just click on this and the page will automatically be translated to english. Alternatively (if you know the website address) go to Google and on the right next to where you type to search (in small writing) it says 'language tools' - if you click on this and scroll down the page you can enter the website address and it will translate it. You can also copy and paste a block of text and it will do the same. Another good site for copying and pasting, or where you know the website address of the info you want translating, is Babel Fish. It does pretty much the same as the google option, but I use it quite a lot! You can find it at 'babelfish.altavista(.)com -remove the brackets! Or just google 'translation' and it is normally one of the top results. Hope that helps you get to the roots of your surname :o) Cheryl

My maiden name was Pihan, my father was born in Poland. I have no idea where, other than its is now in the Ukraine. My brother seems to think that the surname comes from France,but i am not convinced. There were Pihans in Jersey and France, re enforcing the French link, but i remain skeptical. My father came to this country after WW2, apparently with an uncle who later emigrated to Canada. I have searched through the internet but cannot find what i am looking for. What i want to know is where the name ORIGINALLY comes from. Anyone offer any suggestions? A lot of the web pages i have looked at, having typed in the surname, are not written in English.