Surname Bialowas - Meaning and Origin

Bialowas: What does the surname Bialowas mean?

The last name Bialowas is of Polish origin. Bialowas is a locational surname, derived from an area in Poland known as Bialowas. The origin of this surname can be traced back to the Polish phrase “biały waża,” which roughly translates to “white town” in English. The idea behind this phrase is said to be derived from the Polish countryside where white buildings—such as churches—were painted white to make them stand out and be easy to identify.

The first record of the Bialowas surname appeared around the 1500s, when a man known as Pawel Bialowas was registering for taxes. As of 1800, the Bialowas surname began to scatter, as records indicate individuals with this surname in various areas of Poland, including those with the spelling variations Bialewski, Bialuski and others.

In essence, the Bialowas surname is associated with a historical place, and individuals with this surname generally have some connection to the area of Bialowas in Poland. Even today, many people with this surname still carry the memory of the ancestors who once lived in this beautiful rural area centuries ago.

Bialowas: Where does the name Bialowas come from?

The surname Bialowas is a Jewish surname that originated in the present-day Ukraine. It is believed to be derived from the Yiddish word bialowec, meaning "white-haired". It is a fairly unusual name today and is found primarily among Ashkenazi Jews in Ukraine, especially in the cities of Lviv, Odessa, and Chernivtsi. It is also found in parts of North America, mainly in Canada and the United States, among families who have emigrated from the Ukraine.

In Canada, Bialowas is most common in the provinces of Ontario and Alberta, although it is present in other provinces to a lesser degree. In the United States, the surname is found in states such as New York, California, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, as well as in many other states.

Bialowas is a fairly rare surname, with no one bearing the name listed among the billion-plus people depicted in the 2020 US Census. There is certainly a larger concentration in areas populated by Ukrainian Jews, and it is likely that anyone bearing the surname today is descended from immigrants who brought the name with them when they arrived in their respective countries.

Variations of the surname Bialowas

Surname Bialowas is an ethnic Polish name. It is derived from the old Slavic root ‘bialu’ meaning ‘white’. The root refers to an ancestor, most likely of Eastern European origin, who was identified by his fair complexion. Over time, the surname has been altered to Bialowas or Bialowyz, with spellings including Bialowski, Bialowy, Bialek, Bialkowski, and Bialkowski.

The name has also been slightly modified in other countries, including the United States, where it is now sometimes spelled Billowass. It is also spelled Bialovas in Russia and other east European countries.

In some cases, variations of the name have been adopted as surnames by members of a family who were originally known by a different surname. For example, the rarely seen Bialaszewski is a variation of the much more commonly seen surname Bialas which became Bialaszewski when the original surname was incorrectly entered on official documents. The two names are, of course, completely unrelated when it comes to the origins of the family.

The slightly modified Polish spelling, Bialaszewski, is recognizable to those familiar with the original form of the name, as well as to those of other nationalities. There are, of course, many other variations of the name which are primarily used in other ethnicities, such as the Latvian form Bialavas, the Russian form Bialovas, the Lithuanian form Bialovas or the Ukrainian form Biala.

In all of its forms, Bialowas is an old and distinguished family name, representative of the many different branches of the Bialowas family tree.

Famous people with the name Bialowas

• Mikołaj Bialowas: a Polish professional basketball player currently playing for the Italian Lega Basket Serie A team Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia.
• Urszula Bialowas: a Polish show jumping champion and former member of the Polish National show jumping team.
• Waldemar Bialowas: a Polish interviewer and former journalist, and author of several books on his country’s history and politics.
• Maria Bialowas: a Polish singer and pianist who released several albums, most recently in 2020.
• Halina Bialowas: a Polish writer and languages professor at the University of Gdańsk, and author of several books on Polish literature history.
• Ewa Bialowas: a Polish actress who has been in multiple television shows and films, including the landmark film Baby Blue.
• Andrzej Bialowas: a Polish film director and screenwriter who received numerous awards for his work, including three nominations for the Golden Lions at the Polish Film Awards for his films The Shadow, Fox and Wolf, and The Wall Street Boy.
• Artur Bialowas: a Polish football player currently playing for Jagiellonia Białystok.
• Tadeusz Bialowas: a Polish pilot and former commander of the 8th Polish Fighter Squadron during World War II. He was awarded the Order of the Cross of Grunwald, Poland’s highest military decoration.

Other surnames

Bialowons