Zaleski Family History
Zaleski Name Meaning
Polish: topographic name for someone who lived ‘on the other side of the forest’ from za ‘beyond’ + las ‘forest’ with the addition of the surname suffix -ski. Polish and Jewish (Ashkenazic): habitational name for someone from any of several places called Zalesie (derived from the same Polish words za and las as 1 above). Polish (Załęski): topographic name for someone who lived ‘on the other side of the water meadow’ from za ‘beyond’ + łęg ‘water meadow’ with the addition of the surname suffix -ski. Americanized form of Polish Zalewski . In some cases this is probably also an Americanized form of Ukrainian and Belorussian Zalessky a cognate of 1 above. Compare Zalesky and Salesky .
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022