Ostrowski
A Polish surname meaning someone from a place called Ostrow/Ostrów, originally referring to an island, river island, or meadowy lowland.
The #5,015 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 44,075 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ostrowski is a Polish habitational surname formed from a place name such as Ostrów or Ostrowa. These place names go back to Slavic words related to an island, often a river island or a piece of land surrounded by water or marsh. The ending -ski means “of” or “from,” so the name originally meant “from Ostrow/Ostrów.”
History
The surname is widespread in Poland and among Polish diaspora communities, especially in North America. Like many Polish surnames in -ski, it became hereditary and fixed as family names were standardized in the modern period. Different villages and towns called Ostrów or Ostrowa could all independently produce the surname, so it does not point to one single ancestral place.
Origin
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Variant spellings
Fun fact
In Slavic place names, an “ostrów” was not necessarily a sea island; it could also mean a dry or raised patch of land in wetlands or near a river.