My last name is Wons it is Polish Was it shortened you were told it used to have a umlaut above the o?

Answer 1

Earlier in Polish history, part of Poland was under Prussian ( German ) rule. The umlaut is a German vocabulary mark. Your family name may or may not have been shortened or even Anglicized.

Do some research on the 'net for Polish family names for authors, famous historical figures, current Polish listings of personnel etc. You may get lucky and run across relatives.

I recall once running into a listing of thousands of Polish names but I don't remember how I stumbled into that website.

Answer 2

It is possible that your last name "Wons" was originally spelled with an umlaut as "Wöns" in Polish. The umlaut is commonly used in Polish to indicate a different pronunciation of the vowel. Over time, the umlaut may have been dropped due to various reasons such as simplification of spelling or changes in language practices.