KIJORA from Finland?

[JFP]

Hi there in Finland
My name is George Plieth and I live in Gdansk, northern Poland. My died last year mother Maria was born Kijora. She was born in 1922. My mother's family name KIJORA (Eng. spelling [keeyora]) is very, very rare family name and it has a few forms: KIJORA, KIORA, KIORRA, KYORRA, KYOIRRA, etc. and it is no Polish origin for 100%. Typical is that all persons having family name similar to KIJORA from USA, Argentina, Uruguay, Germany, Denmark, Norway, France, Poland have their family roots always here in northern Poland and close to the little city Lubawa (Germ. Loebau). It seems that the first "Polish" Kijora appeared ~Lubawa about year 1750. But from he was? Good question.
Some time ago I contacted Kijora sisters from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their grandfather was Hans Heinrich, a mariner from the German battleship Graf von Spee sunk in December 1939 close to Buenos Aires and Montevideo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cr ... _Graf_Spee Grandfather Hans Heinrich was a fan of genealogy and had "tons of documents" which unfortunately sunk with a cruise. But sisters remember that always when he mentioned family roots, he said two Spanish words: "escudo Baltico". Escudo Baltico means in English Scandinavia, but Scandinavia means Sweden, Norway and Finland.
I tried to contact genealogists from Denmark, Norway and Sweden to help me if any Danish, Norwegian or Sweden family name is similar to the my KIJORA. Answers were always the same - na any! But some of them said that I should to look for help in Finland! For two reasons. First because about year 1700 and later in Finland was famine so many people look for help abroad. Second because winters were very hard at that time and the Baltic Sea was absolutely frozen and there were no problem to go sleigh!
For ending. I am looking for any information about migration from Finland to Poland in the years about 1730, and if it possible that any Finish family name would be similar to my mother's KIJORA; KYORREN for example.
Thank you very much for any help and regards from Gdansk.

[tuulacu]

You can try here any Finnish surname, if there are any people still living, abroad, or sometimes have been living in Finland by this name (although it does not stretch longer that 1900's, I am sure).

http://verkkopalvelu.vrk.fi/Nimipalvelu/default.asp?L=3

There is no one by the name Kijora. Ij does not appear in the language (but may have been, at least when written by Swedish-speaking clergymen). Neither does io appear in the language. But we have many diftongs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong

Some suggestions in the Finnish surnames that are not so far from Kijora:

Kiuru (meaning lark, a family name from Karelia, an old name. In spelling the i and u are pronounced separately, in English someth like Ke-o-ro - o like in "look", short)

Kyrö (it is actually a place name in Isokyrö (big kyrö) and Vähäkyrö (small kyrö), meaning a place to hide, a place with rough stones etc. Pronounciation is a bit difficult to explain, with our y and ö - y is prononuced at the front of mouth compared to the Russian ы and ö like in English "sir".

Both names exist among Finns.

Then there is an old verb called kyörätä, meaning driving (someone off), it is derived from the Swedish köra - which would also be near your Kijora -name - did the Swedes not notice this?

These are just thoughts of mine... A language expert could add much more...


Tuula K

[villimies]

Hi,
My family name is Kiuru but I have never seen it spelled like Kijora.
Is there a possibility to do a DNA test. YDNA or Family Finder (FTDNA:s name to a test which finds your distant cousins) could tell you where to look after your roots.
There´s many people in Facebook named Kijora. Have you tried to contact them and ask if they know anything conserning their family name?
regards
villimies

[JFP]

Hi,
My family name is Kiuru but I have never seen it spelled like Kijora.
Is there a possibility to do a DNA test. YDNA or Family Finder (FTDNA:s name to a test which finds your distant cousins) could tell you where to look after your roots.
There´s many people in Facebook named Kijora. Have you tried to contact them and ask if they know anything conserning their family name?
regards
villimies

Tuula K and villimies, thanks for reply.
@villimies; as I wrote before (my 1st post) I am in contact with all of KIJORAs (KYORRAs, etc. as well) which I found in Facebook, Skype, etc., and I have all of them in my 3 family trees, not connected together unfortunately up till now. But always the oldest KIJORA of these 3 family trees has his family roots nearby Lubawa in northern Poland.
My oldest document says that in 1758 in Kazanice (close to Lubawa) married Joseph KYOIRRA and Maria Licznerska (she was a Pole, but he?); no any oldest document with similar to KIJORA family name nowhere and never!
So my hypothesis is that Joseph or his father was an immigrant, maybe from Scandinavia if mariner Hans Heinrich died in Buenos Aires was right.
Looking for the exact surname like KIJORA, or KYOIRRA, or KIORA, etc. has no sense, because 100 years ago and before an official wrote down surnames "by ear", so my question is how word Finnish KIURU sounds in Polish? Is KIURU Finnish origin? If yes, what it means; what is its etymology? It is popular in Finland?
Yes, you are right, DNA testing makes sense...
Best regards and please tell me what do you think about it.

[jani]

You can hear the word kiuru (sung) in the Finlandia hymn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zfjohRtyU8

Around the 0:44 mark. Granted, he sings is kiuuuuuru, but that should give you an idea how it would sound. If you miss it, here are the lyrics, they might make it easier to hear.
http://ingeb.org/songs/oisuomik.html

[tuulacu]

Lovely that Jani found KIURU in Finlandia hymn...

Kiuru = lark (a bird, coming to North early in spring; sings high up over the meadows). Villimies knows more, although I am rather sure it is an old name.

Tuula K

[JFP]

You can hear the word kiuru (sung) in the Finlandia hymn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zfjohRtyU8

Around the 0:44 mark. Granted, he sings is kiuuuuuru, but that should give you an idea how it would sound. If you miss it, here are the lyrics, they might make it easier to hear.
http://ingeb.org/songs/oisuomik.html

Thanks Jani
That sounds very similar do my mother's family name

[villimies]

Hi,
Yes, Kiuru is lark or skylark in English (alauda arvensis). As a familyname it has been used at least 500 years mostly in Carelia area.
The etymology I don't know for sure, but it´s possibly from the word kjaer (from Denmark) --> kier --> kiero --> kiuru. Or maybe from the word djur (in Sweden nowadays means an animal but an earlier meaning might have been an ox). Djur --> diur --> tiur +a/o/u --> tiura/tuire/tuira/siura/kiuru and so on.
Vends who lived in Latvia area had a castle named Tiura. By the way, my YDNA origin is from that area. My ancetors might have been Curonian, Lithuanian: kuršiai, kuršininkai, German: Kuren, Latvian: kurši, kursenieki, Polish: kurowie. Vends and Curonians where neighbours on that time (Semigallians on the map: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... c_1200.svg ).
There´s not much more which I´d know about the subject.
Regards
villimies

[JFP]

Hi,
Yes, Kiuru is lark or skylark in English (alauda arvensis). As a familyname it has been used at least 500 years mostly in Carelia area.
The etymology I don't know for sure, but it´s possibly from the word kjaer (from Denmark) --> kier --> kiero --> kiuru. Or maybe from the word djur (in Sweden nowadays means an animal but an earlier meaning might have been an ox). Djur --> diur --> tiur +a/o/u --> tiura/tuire/tuira/siura/kiuru and so on.
Vends who lived in Latvia area had a castle named Tiura. By the way, my YDNA origin is from that area. My ancetors might have been Curonian, Lithuanian: kuršiai, kuršininkai, German: Kuren, Latvian: kurši, kursenieki, Polish: kurowie. Vends and Curonians where neighbours on that time (Semigallians on the map: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File ... c_1200.svg ).
There´s not much more which I´d know about the subject.
Regards
villimies

Thank you very much for all information.
Yes, Latvia, Lithania, these are countries which one of Argentinian Kijora's sister remembers from stories of her grandfather
I have a feeling that I am on the right track. Take a look please on a map of Northern Europa about 1750 - http://polmap.pdg.pl/mapy/m-h09a.htm Pink color: Polish Kingdom, grey color: Lithuania Kingdom, violet color: Karelia.
If the DNA test is not too expensive for me I will try to do it and next to contact you.
Thanks again for your help and my best regards to you and your (Kijora I hope) family

[villimies]

Hello George,
Nice maps! Thanks for the link.
This is the Company, where I ordered my DNA-tests: https://www.familytreedna.com/y-dna-compare.aspx
If you some day order any test and want to compare it to my results, it's easier, if you use the same test lab. I think the YDNA-67 is the best to start. It costs about $ 268.
Let me know if you order a DNA test, I'd love to hear your results.
Happy Easter
villimies

[JFP]

Hello George,
Nice maps! Thanks for the link.
This is the Company, where I ordered my DNA-tests: https://www.familytreedna.com/y-dna-compare.aspx
If you some day order any test and want to compare it to my results, it's easier, if you use the same test lab. I think the YDNA-67 is the best to start. It costs about $ 268.
Let me know if you order a DNA test, I'd love to hear your results.
Happy Easter
villimies

Hi villimies
Yes, I see that https://www.familytreedna.com/group-joi ... oup=Polish is the best option! But note that Kijora is my died mother's family name, not main. So if I remember DNA tests well, neither YDNA nor mtDNA in my case has sense. I should find in my family a person who KIJORA surname inherited from his(her) father, not mother.
Am I right?
Happy Easter to you too!

[villimies]

Hi villimies
Yes, I see that https://www.familytreedna.com/group-joi ... oup=Polish is the best option! But note that Kijora is my died mother's family name, not main. So if I remember DNA tests well, neither YDNA nor mtDNA in my case has sense. I should find in my family a person who KIJORA surname inherited from his(her) father, not mother.
Am I right?
Happy Easter to you too!

Hi,
Yes, of course. Does your mother have brothers? If not alive anymore, maybe they have sons? If not, then you have a bigger problem with YDNA. MtDNA doesn't help in this case. Family Finder (the cousin test) can tell something but might be difficult to say if the DNA relatives are from your mother´s or your father´s side.
Best regards
villimies