The surname is the name of the clan, it is the same for many relatives. Translated from Latin, the word "last name" means "family". Each generic name is unique, with its own unique and interesting fate. To know the origin of your family name means respecting the memory of your ancestors, honoring your name and family, passing on the knowledge of your predecessors to your descendants. So, the article will discuss the origin of the surname Mazur, its meaning, history and representatives of the genus.
Versions of the origin of the surname
So what does the surname Mazur mean? What is the history of its origin?
Masuria belongs to the type of ancient Slavic family names, which are formed from personal nicknames.
In Russia until the 17th century, there was a tradition to give an additional nickname to the name given at baptism. This is due to the fact that there were not so many church names, and in order to distinguish a person from other carriers of the same name, they were given an additional nickname: by occupation, by character, by appearance, by the locality in which the family lived. So the nicknames appeared: Blacksmith, Gray-haired, Kurnosy, Murom and so on. Nicknames joined the names, for example, Ilya Muromets, but soon they were supplanted both from everyday life and from documents.
According to one version of the origin of the surname Mazur, it is formed from the nickname of a person - Mazur. So in antiquity they called the "Poles", who were originally from Masuria (currently the Polish region is called Mazovshe).
It is quite probable that the origin of the Mazur surname is associated with the dialect words: "mazurin", "mazur", "mazurik", which were used in the meaning "fraudster, rogue, pickpocket". It can be assumed that the nickname Mazur was given to a person with unbridled imagination and quick wits, thanks to which he achieved his goals.
According to another hypothesis, the origin of the surname Mazur is associated with the verb "to smear." Perhaps the surname refers to the name of the profession. That is, it was associated with the name of the activity of the ancestor. This version is confirmed by the fact that in some dialects masters are called plasterers, who covered the huts with lime and clay.
Tribe of mazur
The most interesting version of the origin of the surname Mazur says that this generic name was formed from the name of a person from Mazuria.
As mentioned above, masurians in ancient times called immigrants from Poland. These are the tribes of the Slavs, who from time immemorial lived in the north-eastern part of the mentioned country. In the 13th century, Masuria was captured by the crusaders of the Teutonic Order from East Prussia.
The Masurians were brutally oppressed by the invaders and were forced to relocate from their native lands. So they ended up in Ancient Russia, where they settled on the territory that currently belongs to Ukraine and Belarus. During the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Ukraine, all Poles who lived in the region were called mazur. Most likely, the family name Mazur comes from the nickname given to a person by his nationality. The surname Mazur is currently widespread in Ukraine, in Belarus.
An interesting fact is that the word "Mazur" in the Old Polish language meant "knight", that is, a person whom the king knighted.
Surname suffix
The surname Mazur is formed from the nickname of a person. Worldly names were forbidden by the church only in the 17th century, but, despite this, they were still used among people and were found in documents as official names. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that the family names of the descendants were often formed not from the baptismal name, but from the more familiar for people - nicknames.
In each region, family names were formed according to local customs and traditions. Ancient East Slavic surnames were formed, as a rule, without a suffix, that is, without adding the typical -ev, -ov and -in.
The ancient origin of the surname
The process of forming family names was quite long. Therefore, it’s quite difficult to talk about the exact time and region of origin of the Mazur surname. But since this nickname is fixed as a generic name, and it is formed without a suffix, we can assume that it has an ancient origin.
