The LUCHANSKY family appears to have lived in and around Koshevata (which is about 100 km south of Kiev) since records with surnames first appeared in the early 19th century. Immigrants to the USA from my branch of the LUCHANSKY tree settled primarily in the Midwest, with a few in New York and Los Angeles. About two years ago, I became aware than immigrants from other branches of the Koshevata LUCHANSKY family had settled in New London, Connecticut, USA. I also discovered a large number of immigrants named LUBCHANSKY--note the spelling difference--who had also gone to New London, but who had originated in Grodno, Belarus, about 800 km from Koshevata.

I have looked at old records for Koshevata (census, birth, death, marriage) and the name in Russian is indeed correctly transliterated as LUCHANSKY. I have not seen records for Grodno.

The similarity of LUCHANSKY to LUBCHANSKY obviously makes me wonder whether there is a connection between the two families.

To the extent that the JewishGen Family Finder may give a hint about the geographic distribution of surnames, LUCHANSKY was restricted to the area near Koshevata in Ukraine. For LUBCHANSKY, there is one JGFF listing for this name in Odessa, Ukraine; otherwise, the name seems to have been only in and near Grodno and Minsk.

I have a weak DNA match on Ancestry with several people whose family trees include LUBCHANSKY ancestors. Our shared DNA matches include a few of my 2nd or 3rd cousins with LUCHANSKY ancestry.

 

Can anyone suggest where I might find data on the geographic distribution of surnames? Or ways to assess whether LUCHANSKY and LUBCHANSKY are related?

Joseph Walder, Portland, Oregon, USA