Research has shown that the surname is unique in its spelling with 3 main groups… KOSBAB (216), KOSBAU (68), KOSSBAB (2).
It is more than probable that both KOSBAU and KOSSBAB are spelling derivatives of Kosbab.
The surname KOSBAB originated in Germany around the early 1800’s. The majority of towns associated with the surname KOSBAB are in an area known as Hinter Pommern, a type of state or county (area) east of the Oder River. Today this area is part of Poland (re-indexed 1945) and unfortunately, records are scarce.
We have not been able to find any record of the Kosbab surname before 1814.
The Name Kosbab is a very old German name and means: Goat Shepherd
Kos (old German word for:Ziege = goat)
bab (old German word for: Bube = Boy )
Kosbab= Ziegenbub= shepherd but for goats.
So the first Kosbabs had to be shepherds!
Sincerely
Virginia Nagel (Abramowski) 2008
One source suggests that KOSBAB’s came from Hungary. Any other associations and country references can be found in our sworld section.
Emigration
We know that Kosbab’s started emigrating from Germany around the 1850’s. The majority emigrated to the United States of America. We have information that some went to Canada but we have no evidence of this.
One family emigrated to England around 1877 who were my ancestors.
The rest of the information originally stored in this section has now been transferred to the Family Tree and the Archive.
