What ethnic background could the family name "Gogol" be from?

Question

I have done extensive research online about this but have only a vauge idea. My father's family name was Gogol but I do not know where his father originally came from - we know it was somewhere in the USSR, which now could be any number of different countries.

The only famous Gogol was Nikolai Gogol, but he never had children so I can't be directly related to him. Nikolai Gogol was born in what is now the Ukraine. So maybe it's Ukrainian?

I've also seen evidence it might be related to the Kossack tribes (who settled across Russia, the Ukraine and other soviet countries). So maybe it's Kossack?

Other sources lead me to the possibility of Russia as well.

However I have not yet found anything definite to say "Gogol originated here". So there's 25% of my ethnic background that is a vauge mystery to me.

(FYI I'm also 50% Polish and 25% German).

Please do not post an answer related to Nikolai Gogol. I am quite familiar with his biography. However I am not directly related to him - perhaps indirectly or distantly, but I don't know. What I'm really looking for is the origin of the Gogol family name, which obviously existed before Nikolai Gogol lived. What are the name's origins?

Another part of the puzzle is the fact that while my father was half Polish and half "whatever", he looks strikingly exotic .. *almost* Mongolian. I know the Mongols invaded a good part of Russia, Ukraine and other slavic countries. But could perhaps my grandfather have come from a region in Russia closer to Mongolia? Or was his mother perhaps from that region and his father from Ukraine?

Thanks to all who were trying to answer my question seriously.

If this helps - My father was born in Warsaw, Poland. His mother was Polish, but we don't know where his father was born (by trying to determine the origins for Gogol, I was hoping to narrow the search). Neither my father or grandfather were naturalized US citizens - but they did have green cards. My grandfather's birth records were lost long ago which is why I have so little to go on.

Answer 1

gogol
Polish, Ukrainian, and Jewish (from Ukraine): from Ukrainian gogol ‘wild duck’, ‘mallard’, a nickname denoting a wildfowler or acquired on account of some other association with the bird. The Jewish name may be ornamental.
Jewish (from Poland): habitational name from Gogole, a village in northeastern Poland.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4


A search of the census and immigration records on Ancestry.com shows place of birth/origin as Russia, Austria, Hungary and Galicia. Galicia is the eastern poriton of Poland which was annexed by Austria in 1772. Most of the people reporting Austria and Hungary as their birthplace were born and had immigrated before WWI, so it was still the Austro-Hungarian empire. I believe the town of Gogole mentioned above would have been within the territory known as Galicia.


European Galicia
This region in Europe had been under Austrian, Polish and Soviet rule over the centuries.

Galicia is generally the eastern half of the former Austrian province of Galicia (Galizien). This eastern portion was predominately Jewish, while the western part was more Polish.

During the Austrian period (1772-1918) it was known as East Galicia (Ost-Galizien, Skhidna Halychyna and Galicja Wschodnia).

The Russian immigrants were generally before or just after WWI, before the USSR.

1871 UK

August Gogol 388 Able bodied seaman on the Batavia born Stolyn, Germany

1860 Lehigh PA

Johanna 17 Baden

1880 Minneapolis, MN

Mike Gogol 40 Bohemia
Anna Gogol 16 Hungary

1900 Passaic, NJ

Michael Gogol 45 Hungary

1900 Gilberton, PA

Harry Gogol 30 Austria

1910 US

Name Parent or Spouse Names Home in 1910
(City,County,State) Birth Year BirthPlace Relation View Image

Michael Gogol Westfield, Hampden, MA abt 1872 Austria Boarder
William Gozol
[William Gogol] Detroit Ward 18, Wayne, MI abt 1889 Austria Boarder
Augusta Gogol St Louis Ward 21, St Louis (Independent City), MO abt 1884 Germany Sister-in-law
Anna Yogol
[Anna Gogol] Riverside, Burlington, NJ abt 1892 Russia Boarder
Mike Gogol Anna Passaic Ward 4, Passaic, NJ abt 1880 Hungary Head
Annie Gogol Mike Passaic Ward 4, Passaic, NJ abt 1882 Austria Wife
Emil Gogol Mike Passaic Ward 4, Passaic, NJ abt 1906 New Jersey Son
Emery Gogol Mike Passaic Ward 4, Passaic, NJ abt 1907 New Jersey Son
Edward Gogol Passaic Ward 4, Passaic, NJ abt 1889 Austria Brother
Anna Gogol Mike Passaic Ward 4, Passaic, NJ abt 1889 Austria Wife
John Gogol Mary Herkimer, Herkimer, NY abt 1882 Russia Head
Mary Gogol John Herkimer, Herkimer, NY abt 1886 Russia Wife
Alexander Gogol Franklin, Cambria, PA abt 1883 Hungary Boarder


1911 Canada

Name
Parent or spouse names Home in 1911
(Province, District, Sub-District) Birth Year BirthPlace Relation View Image

Elina Gogol Jonas,
Welina Quebec, Richelieu, St. Aimé 1908 Quebec Fille
Armard Gogol Jonas,
Welina Quebec, Richelieu, St. Aimé 1910 Quebec Fils
Peter Gogol Mary Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1891 Galicia Head (Galicia is the Polish area annexed by Austria in 1772)
Mary Gogol Peter Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1895 Galicia Wife
Joseph Gogol Anna Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1882 Galicia Head
Anna Gogol Joseph Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1883 Galicia Wife
Jarzka Gogol Joseph,
Anna Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1905 Saskatchewan Daughter
Stefan Gogol Joseph,
Anna Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1907 Saskatchewan Son
Fekla Gogol Joseph,
Anna Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1908 Saskatchewan Daughter
Franko Gogol Joseph,
Anna Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1911 Saskatchewan Son
Joseph Gogol Anna Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1885 Galicia Head
Anna Gogol Joseph Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1891 Galicia Wife
Frank Gogol Marinka Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1888 Austria Head
Marinka Gogol Frank Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1888 Austria Wife
Antosta Gogol Frank,
Marinka Saskatchewan, Mackenzie 1910 Saskatchewan Daughter

1920 US

Too many names to list. Russia, Galicia, Palestine, Poland, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Slovakland

1930 US

Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

If you find no clues from looking at your father's birth/marriage or death certificates (if he is not living), look at the same for your grandfather, if he was in the US. If your grandfather was born overseas and came to the US and married or worked here, you may find a clue on his marriage record or naturalization records, assuming he became a US citizen. If he was working in the US when the Social Security system was started, you may be able to order his application for a SS#, I think it's called an S-5. You order this from Social Security under the Freedom of Information Act. One of the questions on the application form asks for place of birth.

If this leads nowhere, you can get an idea of where most of the records with the Gogol name are from. Go to the Latter Day Saints web site (the Mormons have been collecting records from all over the world for decades, from all faiths). Look for the earliest records for the name to get an idea of its origin.

http://www.familysearch.org/

Select the SEARCH tab at the top of the screen, enter the last name only, check the box that says Exact Spelling, and hit search. This will display results from several geographic and collection categories, but only the first 50 from each category (if you want to see records 51 on, click on the link at the end of a category. I did it for Gogol and the earliest records are from Russia, Ukraine, and Ostpreussen, Preussen, Germany.

Good luck,

Chris

Answer 4

I do not now what methodology you used, but I would say it appears to have been extensive, so my apologies if this has already been tried, but maybe Gogol roots from another word. It might be a patronymic name, for example. Mine supposedly is. My understanding is that Russian surnames, presuming yours definitely is, are hard to research. I have yet to discovery anything substantive on the Osherenkoff (sp?) family in my tree. not even the name. I've seen close names, but I can't be sure of their relation.

Indepth linguistic research might help. Best I can think of to do, short of paying a fee for some genealogist's service.

Also, it's not imposible that you could be related to Nikolai as a distant cousin.

Answer 5

born March 19 [March 31, New Style], 1809, Sorochintsy, near Poltava, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now in Ukraine]
died Feb. 21 [March 4], 1852, Moscow, Russia



Ukrainian-born Russian humorist, dramatist, and novelist, whose novel Myortvye dushi (Dead Souls) and whose short story “Shinel” (“The Overcoat”) are considered the foundations of the great 19th-century tradition of Russian realism.



Copyright © 1994-2002 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Answer 6

So interesting in South Goa we have place called GOGOL Margao

Answer 7

You cant go by last name anymore. Im italian(I look it too), yet I have an irish last name(I am not in any way irish, although I do think it is a great culture).

Answer 8

It is ukranian