Cindy,
There may be another explaination for the name. Here is message I sent to Janet Sewton Walth, in March 2000. However, I think that your "little Ivan" explaination is the best one.
Another information : if the name begins with EVAN/IVAN/EWAN/IWAN, there are 99.99 % chances that the bearer is a Christian. If the name begins with EVEN/IVEN/EWEN/IWEN, either the name is of Gaelic/Nordic origin, or the bearer is Jewish with Eastern origins, which is my case.
Daniel Ewenczyk
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Hello Janet,
During my own family research, I found out a number of thinks that you might find interesting
EWANCHUK/CHOUK/CHAK/CHEK/CHOK/CHIK/CHYK, or ending with CK or simply C
EWANCZUK/CZOUK/CZAK/CZEK/CZOK/CZIK/CZYK, or ending with CK or simply C
are all Eastern Europe names. The last vowel roughly indicates the origin country or region.
For instance CHUK/CZUK is probably of Ukrainian origin. Some of the other names come from Poland.
I identify two other name series which belong to the same category :
IWANCHUK/CHOUK/CHAK/CHEK/CHOK/CHIK/CHYK, or ending with CK or simply C
IWANCZUK/CZOUK/CZAK/CZEK/CZOK/CZIK/CZYK, or ending with CK or simply C
Sometimes, the W is spelled V (as it should be pronouced), and the ending is with CIC, like in IVANCIC. This greatly multiplies the combinations. Some
ex-Jugoslavia people say that the termination IC is of Serb origin.
My guess about the EWANCHUK name origin is the following :
- first hypothesis : the name comes from the very popular Eastern first name IVAN. It this case, EWANCHUK would mean "the little IVAN".
- second hypothesis : all throughout the Autro-Hungarian or the Russian empire were many towns and villages bearing a name related to IVAN, such as
IVANOVO, or IVANCICE. The name EWANCHUK would then mean "the person coming from IVANOVO" or "from IVANCICE".
From the above, we may assume that there is very little chance that two people bearing the same name are related, unless the relation can be clearly established
through other means than the family name resemblance.