Jozef Veselovský

The surname of Polish origin is formed from the Polish toponym Veselovo using the suffix -sk(iy) (-ski in Polish), originally denoting origin from a certain area or the fact of ownership in it. Initially, this suffix indicated a gentry origin, and later its addition to surnames reflected the desire to raise a person's social status.

The surname is most often found in Russia (in St. Petersburg, Moscow, the Astrakhan Region, the Krasnodar Territory, the Kursk and Rostov Regions, Sakhalin, and the Vologda Region). Bearers of the surname also live in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The surname appears in written sources since the 17th century. For example, the «foreigner Vasily Veselovsky,» who lived in Nizhny Novgorod at that time, got into the charter of 1619. Veselovsky (Veseliny) is an ancient noble family, ranked among the Polish coat of arms «Ogonchik.» It is recorded in the genealogical books of the Kaluga, Kharkov, Chernihiv, and Kiev Provinces. The family comes from a native of the Polish town of Veselovo, a baptized Jew, Yakov Veselovsky. Pavel Yakovlevich Veselovsky, who lived at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries, was a curator of German schools and a commissioner of the Pharmacy Office in Moscow. His son Abraham Pavlovich Veselovsky, in the first half of the 18th century, served as a diplomat, translator, and was considered an associate of Peter I. His brother, Fyodor Veselovsky became the first master of ceremonies of the 5th grade in Russian history, and was listed as a curator of Moscow University. Another brother of Abraham and Fyodor Veselovsky, Isaac Veselovsky, also served in the diplomatic field. The Cossack of the Rogovsky kuren (a cossack military subdivision), Demyan Veselovsky, was listed in the Register of the Zaporozhye Army in 1756. Konstantin Veselovsky was exiled to Vyatka Province from 1872 to 1874 for his participation in the Polish Uprising.