Odprzymiotnikowe nazwiska żeńskie w Polsce

The article is concerned with adjectival-type female surnames in Polish (other than those ending in -ski/-cki/-dzki), which since the end of WWII can generally be used by women in their masculine or feminine form. Its main goal is to analyse the choices that the female bearers of these surnames make regarding their form. The legal regulations pertaining to these surnames are presented in historical overview, and the varied attitudes of normative reference works towards the acceptability of masculine forms for women are outlined. Much space has also been devoted to the discussion of various problems encountered when trying to determine, on the basis of actual use, which surnames can indeed be treated as adjectival. It has been found that despite the seventy years that have elapsed since male forms of such surnames were made legally acceptable for women, most women concerned apparently still prefer the traditional feminine forms. Moreover, there is little relationship between the percentage of female users of a particular surname in its masculine form, and its appellative meaning or connotations. The surnames that are more popular in their male form are not necessarily those with the most potentially offensive semantic meaning.