The Name Game: Kunkel vs. Konkol

What's in a name?

I won't go there with the quote. But our ancestors' names can actually tell us a lot. The name can reveal or disguise ethnicity, point to (or at least hint at) geographic origin, and even offer clues about the family's religion.

Anna Pionke (née Kunkel) was my great-grandmother. Her descendants spell her maiden name KUNKEL and some are rather adamant about this. But the name was not always spelled this way. I have seen all of these variations in different records: Kunkel, Konkel, Konkol, Kąkol, and Kunkol.

It's spelled KUNKEL! It's literally carved in stone!!

Kunkel or Konkol – what's the difference?

So, who cares how they spelled it? What difference does it make? It matters when the name helps define ethnic background. KUNKEL is a German name and KONKOL or KĄKOL is a Polish name.

KUNKEL - Recorded as Kunkel, Kinkel, Gunkel, Kunkler and others, this is a German surname. It derives from the word "kunkel", and ultimately from the Latin conicula, meaning a spindle, cone or peg. The surname is therefore a metonymic occupational name for a spinner or a maker of spindles.[1]

KONKOL - nickname meaning ‘corn cockle’, a weed of cereal crops, Polish kąkol ... hence a topographic name for someone who lived on a weed-covered plot of land, or a nickname for a poor farmer or someone who was not highly thought of.[2]

Complicating matters, spelling was not standardized at the time. It is possible that a family's name was Kunkel, but came to be spelled Konkol by the Polish priests. Likewise, perhaps the name was originally Konkol, but came to be spelled Kunkel as the family became more Germanized.

Family history of the spelling

Below is a summary of when and where each spelling variation was used between 1841 and 1983. Note that the KONKEL spelling was mainly used by Anna's brother Victor (9 out of 11 records). All of his descendants use this variation.

• Sierakowice and Strzepcz parishes (1841-1852)
  
  • KONKOL - 7 records
• Rozłazino parish (1871-1883)
  
  • KĄKOL - 9 records
• Okalice civil records (1875-1883)
  
  • KUNKEL - 5 records
  • KUNKEL (KONKOL) - 1 record
• Immigration/Naturalization (1883, 1896)
  
  • KUNKEL - 2 records
• St. Josaphat parish records, Chicago (1884-1915)
  
  • KONKOL - 20 records
• Chicago civil records (1884-1983)
  
  • KUNKEL - 12 records
  • KONKEL - 11 records
  • KONKOL - 6 records
  • KUNKOL - 2 records

So, how did Anna's father August spell his own surname? It appears that August Kunkel or Konkol learned to write his own name sometime between 1881 and 1883. He signed the earlier civil records of his children's births with a mark (X). But in daughter Cecilia's birth record, August signed his own surname, albeit shakily, KONKOL.

excerpt - Cecilia Kunkel/Konkol birth record, 1883
August Konkol's signature

Well, that solves that, right? Wrong!

I have one more record signed by August himself. In 1909 he wrote his will, signing it AUGUST KONKEL.

excerpt - August Konkel's signature on his will, 1909

So, was it Konkol or Kunkel, or even Konkel? I don't have the answer, although I have my own theory, of course. More on that in a future post.

Reference:

[1] Kunkel surname definition found on the Internet Surname Database

[2] Konkol surname definition found on Answers.com, citing the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names

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