From Poland to a candy bar....

I do like my first name because of the reason my parents gave it to me—so I could be an individual. They wanted me to be special and not referred to as a Jr. or a III. It gives me my individualism in the family. My father is the one who chose my name and wanted to spell it in the French way he said “Geoffrey”. My parents discussed it and decided to spell it the English way because they did not want the kids in school to make fun of my name because of the unusual spelling.  My father, being a spiritual man, chose this name because it meant “peace” and there is another spiritual reason which only he knows because he passed away in 2010 before I could ask the question.  According to the website behindthename.com, Jeffrey is derived from the ancient Germanic “GAUFRID” which its first element means “territory” and second element means ”peace”. 

The only nick name that I carry now is due to the fact that I have to use crutches and have been on them for some time. I have been called “Crip”, “Capt. Crutch”, “Hop-A-Long”, and a new one just picked up in 082 Math which is “Hobbles”. Yes I have a sense of humor because face it, it’s depressing enough being on them for eight years, so I embraced it and now have fun with the names.

Now my last name is where all the excitement is if you can ever have excitement discussing names. Clark is my name now but was not always my family surname. Our family surname originally is “Czyzewski” as you can tell ends in the suffix "ski" which means eastern European i.e. Polish. Yes I know just about every Pollock joke out, again that pesky sense of humor of mine. Czyzewski translates to "Kinights of Czyzewo", whch is a small town in Poland. My grandfather immigrated to the US when he was a little boy from Gdansk, Poland carrying the typical sounding Polish last name. towards the end of World War II, when many Europeans were fleeing war ravaged Europe to get a fresh start in the US but they were met with lots of discrimination because of the job situation. My grandfather did not want to be looked upon as another foreigner one his job applications so he wanted a more English/American sounding name. He thought of several as he munched away on his favorite candy bar. Hmmm what you may ask what that so good tasting candy might be? Look at my name. Why it was the “Clark” Bar naturally. It was American enough; it sure beat the spelling of the Polish name which everyone butchers trying to pronounce it if not told the proper pronunciation.