>My mother should have been Popova, but I guess not Popowa. Anyway, being Jewish, she didn't see any point in feminising her last name anyway.

Alan;

My mom told us that her grandmother was (Konstancia) Piotrowski until her husband passed away, and then changed her last name to Piotrowska. About 20 years later my mom’s grandmother married the brother of her deceased husband and the name once again was changed to Piotrowski.

Konstancia’s children’s names were also changed to the ska ending after their father died. Then when the son left home to be on his own his name was changed to ski, while his sisters remained ska. Is or was this a common custom? It is interesting and has helped us to find family members in the US Census and other documents.

By the way my mother (who spoke Polish) taught me to pronounce your name as "Popoff".

If you are interested I can send you a private message about how being able to speak Polish may have saved my uncles life. It is actually humorous and has a happy ending. :)

Tom