Lach (: ), Lyakh or Ljach is a surname. It was used by
East Slavs
The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert Huds ...
to refer to
Poles
Pole or poles may refer to:
People
*Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland
* Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist
...
.
[ Ethnic Poles in ]Nowy Sącz
Nowy Sącz (; ; ; ; ) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. With a population of 83,116 as of 2021, it is the largest city in the Beskid S ...
(south-eastern Poland) also used the name, referring to themselves as '' Lachy Sądeckie''. According to Paweł Jasienica
Paweł Jasienica was the pen name of Leon Lech Beynar (10 November 1909 – 19 August 1970), a Polish historian, journalist, essayist and soldier.
During World War II, Jasienica (then, Leon Beynar) fought in the Polish Army, and later, the Ho ...
, it derives from the name of an ancient Polish tribe, the Lendians
The Lendians () were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Europe geogra ...
. Due to population resettlements of ethnic Poles after the Soviet annexation of eastern Polish territories (see Kresy
Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...
), it is slightly more frequent in western Poland. Over 10,000 people have this surname in Poland.Lach Name Meaning and History
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Lach served as a short form of the personal name
Ladislav Ladislav is a Czech, Slovak and Croatian variant of the Slavic name Vladislav. The female form of this name is Ladislava.
Folk etymology occasionally links ''Ladislav'' with the Slavic goddess Lada.
Spellings and variations
In Bulgarian ...
.
It is also a variant of Lah, a
Slovene word for
Vlachs
Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...
.
[
Notable people with the name include:
* Andrei Lyakh (born 1990), Russian footballer
* ]Elmer Lach
Elmer James Lach ( , January 22, 1918 – April 4, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 14 seasons for the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League (NHL). A Centre (ice hockey), centre, he was a member of the Pun ...
(1918–2015), Polish-Canadian ice hockey player
* Günter Lach (1954—2021), German politicians
* Juan Sebastian Lach (born 1970), Mexican composer
See also
* Lech (name)
Lech () is a Polish masculine given name. Lech was the name of the legendary founder of Poland. Lech also appears as a surname, with 14,289 people having the name in Poland.
* Polish name
Polish names have two main elements: the given name, and the surname. The usage of personal names in Poland is generally governed by civil law, church law, personal taste and family custom.
The law requires a given name to indicate the person' ...
* Lendians
The Lendians () were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Europe geogra ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lach (Name)
Polish-language surnames