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Re: anyone heard of "Ilko" or "Hylko"
I also have a great grandfather with the name Ilko, from Mycow area of Galacia (present day border of Lubelskie, Poland and Lviv, Ukraine). He most definitely identified himself as Ukrainian. I have records which show his name as Elko, Ilko, Ilza and Elias. His marriage record, which appears to be in his own writing, shows his name as Elias. None of my relatives ever recall his name being Elias. Ilko is possibly a short form of Elias?
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I am also searching for my grandfather who I had always known as Alex, but I appeared to find him on a ship manifest under the name Ilko. He is also from Galicia and of Polish/Ukrainian extraction like many in this thread. Just trying to figure out if anyone found out if it was short for anything
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The most authoritative sources I’ve seen say Ilko is a variant of Elias/Eliasz/Eliyahu in the Suwalki/Podlaskie region of Poland (under Russian Empire in late 19th C). I have an ancestor shown as Ilko in most birth records of his children (in JRI-Poland database), and once as Icko (which is usu. a variant of Isaac). To add to the confusion, I had hoped both were variants of Hillel, which is the name of a person who would be a critical missing link between my line and others I know of in the Suwalki/Wizajny/Przerosl area. Happy to hear from anyone who’s seen that Hillel/Ilko or Icko variant, or has other info: andem at earthlink.net
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