Sometimes when one is having a multi-language conversation one needs to retain a little humor. Some word sounds can very easily be confused with a word in the other language.

For instance: my surname which is Westcott and means West of Scotland does sound like a Polish word. – Well . . . when my wife called out Westcottki, I thought she was making me an honorary Polish person. I laughed and called her Westcottka. Come to find out she was complaining slightly because she had said ‘łaskotki’.

So, if I address her as Westcottka she will duck out of the way because she thinks that I’ll tickle her (again).

YOu should have had your name legally changed before you got you citizenship then it would have been correct.

Yes, as Anna intimated my surname is a masculine form of -cki, not by marriage but by birth. I was in Poland recently and was setting in motion the steps required to get my confirmation of Polish citizenship. One of the steps required is to register my foreign birth with the appropriate Urzad. When I presented the necessary documentation (long form Canadian birth certificate and certified Polish translation) I asked the clerk whether my name would continue as the masculinized version of my surname or whether official Polish documentation would have the feminine version -cka. She looked at me as if I were crazy and retorted that the masculine version would stand on all Polish documentation. I was a little crestfallen, I thought it would be nice to have the gender appropriate version of my name on my Polish documents. Oh well.