Recorded as Heino, Heinow, and Heinowski, This is a German and Polish locational surname. It originates from a place called Heinow or Heino, which we believe was or is in the the former state of Ost Preussen. This was part of a region whose ownership has always been a matter of dispute between Germany of the past century, the earlier principality of Prussia, and the former kingdom of Poland, as was. The suffix "-ski" when it occurs, indicates that this is a status surname, and implies ownership of the estate which included Heinow. As such it is similar to the French de or the German von, both of which are indications of nobility. Locational surnames are by their nature "from" names. That is to say names given to people either after they left their original homes, or to indicate that they own the place which is their name. Sadly Polish records are very poor, and therefore we have had no choice but to take the recordings that we have been able to find from German records of the same periods. Thse include examples such as Magdalena Heino, a witness at Mulheim en der Ruhr, Rheinland, on January 8th 1669, Friedrich Martin Heinowski, who married Sophia Madcikowna at Marggrabowa, Ost Preussen, on February 19th 1804, and Otto Paul Heinow, a witness at Berlin Stadt, Brandenburg, on August 11th 1867.

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