For some time now I have been trying to research the origin(s) of the familes with the name Soya.

Origin

Up till now I have been able to establish the existance of the following (unrelated ?) branches :

1) Soya from the Uherské Hradite (Ung. Hradisch) area of Eastern Moravia (Czech Republic)
2) Soya aus from East Prussia (Masuren area)
3) Soja from Galicia (Poland)
4) Soja aus Upper Silesia

The question remains, whether these branches all originate in Moravia or Slovakia (or somewhere else), or if they are indeed unrelated.

Name variants

The Soya name has a wide variety of variants, of which some are listed below. Additions are always welcome. (Email)

Soya, Soye, Soyer, Soyo, Soyu
Soja, Soje, Sojo, Soju
Szoja, Szoya

and also
Diminuative forms : Sojicek, Soyiczek, Sojek, Soyek, Soyik
Name-evolutions in some branches : Soyka, Sojka, possibly also Sojak (n.B. that there are also unrelated Soják and Sojka families)
and post-emigration name changes to Sauer, Sawyer und Vogel

Meaning of the name

I haven't been able to establish the meaning of the Soya name with complete certainty yet. There are a variety of possiblities/theories.
Taking into account the predominate occurence of the name in the slavic language area the follwing two possibilities are the most likely :

1) Derivation of old-slavic Soje (modern Polish/Czech : Sojka) meaning "jay" (a bird)
2) Derivation of a shortend form of Isaiah

In addition there are the following possible interpretations :

German : Soyer : derived from a medieval form of "See-er"
               (i.e. a person living on a "See" = lake)
German : form of the name Sauer (= sour)
Turkish : Soy(a) = family, clan
Hungarian :  Sólyom = falcon
Hungarian : Sólya = footer

Pedigree of Soya family of Pitin/Bojkowitz/Šenov

back to the Vogel-ancestor-homepage