"KAMINSKI, KAMIENSKI, KAMINSKY" 

The surname KAMINSKI, Kamienski, and Kaminsky is one found among many people of eastern Europe. Those people specifically known as "Slav". A term used for many related ethnic groups such as the Poles, Belarusian, Bulgarians, Czechs, Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, Croats, and etc. About 1,200 years ago these people were all one large group all of whom spoke the same language. As time went on they split up into different parts of eastern Europe, and their language changed as they gradually became different ethnic groups and cultures. Algot of words are still similar in the various Slavic languages that developed. KAMINSKI, Kamienski, and Kaminsky happens to be one of them that comes from the root word " KAMI EN" meaning "stone, rock". The Poles spell this word 'kamien", there would be an accent over the "N". Czechs spell it "kamen", there's an accent would appear over the "A".  Russians write it in their alphabet, Cyrillic, it looks like "kamehb". Ukrainians also use the Cyrillic alphabet, but spell it a little differently "kamihb".  All pronounce it very similarly, in English it would sound like "COMM-yen", Ukrainians pronounce it "COMM-een". Many surnames have been derived from this word each written in a sightly different why. Poles, for instant spell it KAMINSKI or Kamienski. Czech, Russian and Ukrainians spell it Kaminsky.

Surnames like KAMINSKI, Kamienski, and Kaminsky often start with a link to the person occupation or habitation. Occupational  names are the initial bearer. In the case of KAMINSKI, Kamienski, and Kaminsky the bearer would have been a "stone cutter, quarryman, one who works with rocks". Habitational names derive their origin from a feature, geographic or man-made, near the original bearer lived or held instance, the name of the town from whence he hailed.  In this instance the surname could signify "one who lived by a stone quarry", "one from the rocky place" or "one who hailed  from any of several places in Poland named with the word "Kamien". Other variants of the surname include " Kamensky, Kamenev, Kamenicky and Kamieniewski.

SOME HISTORICAL KAMINSKI NAMES
References to the surname KAMINSKI include a record of the birth , in Warsaw, Poland, of one Alexander KAMINSKI, in the year 1823. Agnes Kaminksi, daughter of Laurentius KAMINSKI and Francisa Bogucka, was born in Lvov, Poland, on the 11th of July, 1824. We also read of the marriage of Wajciech KAMINSKI and Magdalena Mastalerska, celebrated in Kruszyn Wloclawek, Bydgoskiego, on the 10th of November, 1832. further research indicated that an Andreas KAMINSKI was born in Selbongen, East Prussia, circa 1676.  Also in Prussia, we read of the marriage of Jacobum KAMINSKI and Barbara Spielmanin, in Langenau Bei Danzig, on the 18th day of May, 1708.  The christening of Barlostockmiey KAMINSKI, son of Pawel KAMINSKI, took place in Wasosz, Bialostockiego, on the 31st of August, 1836.  The KAMINSKI family of Poland were granted the right to bear the Topor blazon of arms and also the right to bear the Cholewa arms, granted in 1782.

DEVELOPMENT OF SURNAMES
Native Polish surnames, just like other surnames of Slavonic nations, can usually be divided into three (3) main groups or categories.
	Those derived from original nicknames, as names of animals, trees, things, professions, etc.
	Those derived from the Christian name or profession of the father (patronymics).
	Those derived from the names or the town, villages, regions, habitat, etc. (toponymics)
This may sound simple, but it is usually impossible to determine if the given surname is derived from the profession, name of the village or habitat or the original person.

The Slavonic languages use many suffixes to form surnames. To look at an example let's choose the profession "Kowel" (a blacksmith). In the English language the surname is "Smith", and in German it is "Schmitt", "Schmidt" which differ only in spelling. However, in the Polish language the suffixes are numerous (sometimes even several on the same name), therefore "Kowal" becomes Kowalski, Kowalik, Kowalewski, Kowalak, Kowalka, Kowalkowski, Kowalczyk and the same for Christian names. Use "Jon" for John, the Poles formed more than 100 surnames, to name a few Jankowski, Janicki, Jankowiak, Janiak, Jasicki, Jasinki and Janchowicz. In the cases of Christian surnames such forms and diminutive and local (dialectal) variants are known and increase the number.  Most of the surnames forming suffixes do not mean anything by themselves.  The -ak suffix is typical of Western Poland, whereas -uk is chiefly found in the East. The suffix -ski is commonly said to prove "noble" family origin.  This was true over 200 year ago. Presently most people whose name end with -ski (or -cki originate from the former lower classes. The phenomenon is easily explained because in th e19th century everyone wanted to be considered as "noble" or from "nobility", therefore many people to improve their status improved their names.

The process of forming a Polish surname lasted for several centuries. The noble class originally used "clan" names which later survived in the names of their "coat of arms" (crest). Particular families within a clan used a surname derived from the name of the village they owned.  When the family moved, it was usual to change the surname as well. Those surnames usually ended with -ski or -cki, which gave birth to the common statement that these suffixes "prove" a noble origin. Since at least the 17th century the surnames of the noble families became fixed and were inherited by the following generations. 

City inhabitants also began the practice of the use of surnames towards the end of the Middle Ages. Those of them who came from other countries retained their original surname with modifications or translated them into Polish. Native Poles usually formed Thier names from nicknames. The Peasants didn't have surnames until the late 1600's. Peasants had been using nick names to discriminate between people with the same Christain name, but those names where not generally passed down from one generation to the next. this custom appeared in the first half of the 18th century, at first in Western parts of Poland and later in the East. Over the next 100 years surnames where modified within a given family by both spelling and suffixes. After about 1850 the practices of developing surnames ended throughout the entire population.