Ukraine Gazetteers

In order to research your family in Ukraine, it is essential that you have identified the actual town name of where they came from. It is not enough to know only ‘Ukraine;' you really need to determine the town name the district/province name.

Once you have determined the name of the town your ancestor came from, you'll need to locate it in a gazetteer to find both current and historical town names, jurisdictions, and the parish.

Introduction


A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or index. Depending on the gazetteer, it may contain information about locations such as:
 * their jurisdictions (gubernia, province, county, uyezd, etc.)
 * parish churches or synagogues
 * location of civil registration offices
 * population numbers
 * postal facilities
 * communication facilities (telephone, telegraph, and so on)
 * local commerce, agriculture, manufacturing works, canals, docks, and railroad stations
 * schools, colleges, and universities

Gazetteers are produced to cover a country generally, and cover the locations as of the date they are published. Historically, parts of Ukraine were in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire (also known as Galicia, Halychyna, or Galizien) and other parts were in the former Russian Empire. The map to the left shows the boundaries of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires circa 1900. The gazetteers shown in this article are organized by empire. In order to most effectively locate your Ukrainian town in a gazetteer, you'll need to know which empire it was a part of. This article is organized by empire, and each empire section contains helpful gazetteers, links, and other resources to help you locate the town.

How do I know if a town was in the Austro-Hungarian or Russian Empire?
Research in the records of the country the individual immigrated to can often provide clues about an ancestral hometown as well as the Empire it may have been in.

The town was likely located in the Austro-Hungarian Empire if you've encountered terms in US records such as:


 * Galicia
 * Halychyna
 * Galizien
 * Austria
 * Austro-Hungary
 * Austrian Poland
 * Poland (interwar period)
 * "Near Lemberg"

The town was likely located in the Russian Empire if you've encountered terms in US records such as:


 * Russia
 * Gubernia
 * South Russia
 * Black Sea
 * Russian Poland
 * "Near Kiev"
 * Volhynia (Volyn, Wolyn)
 * Podolia (Podolsk)
 * Bessarabia
 * Kherson (Odessa)
 * Kiev
 * Chernigov
 * Ekaterinoslav (Yekaterinoslav)
 * Taurida (Tavrida, Crimea)

Austro- Hungarian Empire (Galicia)
This area was called Galicia in English, Halychyna in Ukrainian, and Galizien in German.

Gesher Galicia - Town Locator
Though a Jewish research website, the Gesher Galicia Town Locator lists all towns in Galicia, and includes Jewish centers as well as Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic parish information. The gazetteer is organized in a tabular format, alphabetically. Locate your town and use the column headings to see districts, and the respective Roman, Greek Catholic, or Jewish center information.

Genealogical Gazetteer of Galicia
The Genealogical Gazetteer of Galicia includes the location of the Catholic parish and Greek Catholic, Lutheran, and Jewish congregations. Written in Polish, German, and Ukrainian. The book includes a section on alternate spellings of locations (Ukrainian spellings, etc.) and provides the location of Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Lutheran parishes as well as the Jewish synagogue. This book is not available online, but can be accessed at the Family History Library (FHL INTL book 943.86 E5L 1999).

Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe
The Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe (SGGEE) has a Galician Gazetteer that includes places in Galicia with German inhabitants. It can be found on the Village and Maps page under the heading Austrian Empire and Galician Gazetteer. The gazetteer provides the location and the name of the location today in Polish or Ukrainian.

Skorowidz Gazetteer (1930s)


Inter-war Poland took in parts of what is now modern-day Ukraine and much of the historic Galicia as seen on the map to the left. For this reason, you may find that your ancestor recorded they were from Poland in US records that were created during the interwar period.

The Skorowidz Miejsowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej is a gazetteer of the early republic of Poland as it existed from 1918 until 1939. Poland at that time extended far into the east, including areas, which after World War II, were ceded to the Soviet Republics of Lithuania, Belarus, and the Ukraine. The gazetteer is arranged with all localities in alphabetical order. Please note that the Polish alphabet has several letters with diacritical marks: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, and ż. These are distinct letters of the Polish alphabet and are alphabetized after the unmarked version of the letter. Information about each locality is given in columns as shown below with translations. Lists type of location (city, town, village, settlement, etc.), jurisdictions, and church parishes.
 * Skorowidz Gazetteer

"How to" Guide: [[Media:1-Skorowidz Online-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Skorowidz Online-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Skorowidz Online-Answer Key.pdf|Answer Key]]

Print-only Resources
These are print-only resources and are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The call number is listed with each entry.

Western Ukraine/German names

Bigo, Jan. Najnowszy Skorowidz wszystkich miejscowości z przysiółkami w królestwie Galicyi (Newest Listing of All Localities With Hamlets in Galicia). Lwów, 1897. Includes Bukowina. (Film 2037058, item 3-4). Identifies the German spelling of place names in territory occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II.

Western Ukraine/Polish names

Bystrzycki, Tadeusz. Skorowidz mieiscowosci rzeczypospolitej polskiej (Listing of Localities of the Polish Republic). Przemysl: Wydawnictwa ksiaznicy naukowej, 1934. 2 vols. (Book 943.8 E5sm/Film 1343868). Covers localities under Polish jurisdiction between the world wars.

Russian Empire
The gubernia of Bessarabia, Chernigov, Ekaterinoslav, Kiev, Kherson, Podolia, Poltava, Taurida, and Volhynia were once a part of the former-Russian Empire and are now part of modern-day Ukraine.

JewishGen Communities Database
The JewishGen Communities Database contains data on approximately 6,000 Jewish Communities in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It is a great resource to help you locate your ancestor's town - regardless of whether or not your ancestor was Jewish. You can use this database to find modern and historical place names as well as jurisdictions over time. To learn how to use the JewishGen Communities Database, see the "How to" Guide.
 * First, read through the [[Media:1 - Instruction - JewishGen Communities JMR.pdf|Instruction.]]


 * Practice what you learned with the [[Media:2 - Activity - JewishGen Communities JMR.pdf|Activity.]]


 * Use the [[Media:3 - Key - JewishGen Communities JMR (1).pdf|Answer Key]] to check your answers.

JewishGen Ukraine Research Division Towns and Districts
The JewishGen Ukraine Research Division Town and Districts tool has a clickable map that allows you to browse locations within Ukraine (excluding Bessarabia and Galicia). To use the map, click on the name of the province (gubernia) that your ancestor lived in (you click on the map itself, or the list of locations on the right hand side). From there click on the district (uyezd) that your ancestor lived in, and then the town. An entry for a town provides historic jurisdictions, names in both Ukrainian and Russian, alternate names, and more. Under the Projects heading, you'll find information regarding indexing or record acquisition projects for that specific town. Note that these indexing and record acquisition projects are focused specifically on Jewish research.

Familio
The Familio place name database contains information about places in the former Russian Empire and modern-day countries of Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Ukraine, and Russia. In order to use the database, you will need to search using the Russian spelling of a town name. This can be located through Google Maps or Wikipedia articles about the town.

The website is is in Russian, but can be easily navigated using Google Translate. To translate the page into English, right click anywhere on the page and select the option Translate to English. To search, type the Russian version of the town name into the search by settlements box. You must type the name of the town in Russian characters. If you search in English, you will not get any results. You have the option to filter by country (Страна), Region (Регион), and District (translates as area) (Район). Hit enter on your keyboard, or click Find (Найти). Search results will then appear.

An entry contains information about a town including references to other gazetteers (may link to the Spiski Mest), for both historical time periods, as well as modern day gazetteers. There may also be additional information about the town available by investigating the tabs found underneath the map:
 * If you click on the Surnames (Фамилии) tab, you'll find other surnames that other Familio users are researching.
 * The People (Люди) tab includes individuals in the Familio family tree database associated with the town.
 * Sources (Источники) are a list of available records for the location (this has not been added for many entries in the database, but will be added in the future).
 * The Parishes (Приходы) option lists the nearest parishes (this has not been added for many entries in the database, but will be added in the future).
 * The Discussion (Обсуждение) tab is available to collaborate about the town with other Familio users.

Spiski Naselennykh Mest Rossiiskoi Imperii
The Spiski Naselennykh Mest Rossiiskoi Imperii, often referred to as simply the Spiski, is the foundational gazetteer for the Russian Empire. The gazetteer is organized by locality - first by gubernia (province), then by uyezd (county), and finally by the city, village, colony, or town. Each volume contains a locality index at the back of the book. In order to use this gazetteer effectively, you'll need to know which gubernia your ancestor's hometown was located in. Parts of Ukraine were formerly the Bessarabia, Chernigov, Kiev, Kharkov, Kherson (Odessa), Podolia (Podolsk), Poltava, Taurida (Crimea), Volhynia and Yekaterinoslav gubernii.


 * Bessarabia Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1859-1861
 * Chernigov Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1859-1866
 * Kiev Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1901
 * Kharkov Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1864-1869
 * Kherson Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1868
 * Podolia (Podolsk) Gubernia, 1893 (alternate gazetteer)
 * Poltava Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1862
 * Taurida Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1865
 * Volhynia Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1906
 * Yekaterinoslav Gubernia Spiski Mest, 1859-1863

Russisches Geographisches Namenbuch (RGN)
The most comprehensive gazetteer of all localities in Imperial Russia is the Russisches Geographisches Namenbuch (Russian Geographical Namebook) by Max Vasmer. It consists of eleven volumes and is not located online, but can be found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah: FHL INTL Book 947 E5r.

The Spiski naselennykh Mest Rossiiski Imperii were the primary source for much of the data in the RGN. The RGN includes eleven volumes plus the Kartenband (maps). The gazetteer is organized alphabetically, according to the Cyrillic alphabet (with the excepction of places in Congress Poland which uses the Latin alphabet); however, descriptions were written in German. The pre-1917 administrative districts of gubernia (G.) and uyezd (Kr.) are given. If there are several localities in the same gubernia, the gubernia is indicated only after the first locality within that gubernia. It is not repeated for each subsequent locality listed. For instructions on how to use the Russisches Geographisches Namenbuch (RGN), please see the RGN Gazetteer Russia How to Guide. The RGN is not available online, but it is available in the Family History Library reference collection. If you are unable to visit Salt Lake City, try checking WorldCat for availability in a library near you.

Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe (Volhynia)
The Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe (SGGEE), has many resources for locating towns and parishes in the gubernia of Volhynia (as well as some parts of Poland). The Villages and Maps section of the website contains many Russian Empire gazetteers including a Volhynia Location Gazetteer, a Ukraine Gazetteer, and several Russian Empire gazetteers. These gazetteers can be found under the Villages and Maps section of the website under the heading Russian Empire as well as Volhynia. There are also links to maps found on that page.

Germans from Russia
For information about Germans from Russia Gazetteers and resources, visit the Germans from Russia Gazetteers page on the FamilySearch Wiki.

Soviet Era Gazetteers
Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991. The following gazetteers were published during that time.

Ukrains'ka RSR admynystrativno-teritoryal'nii podyl [Ukrainian Republic Administrative Territorial Divisions]. Kiev: Politychnaia Literatura Ukraini, 1973. (Book 947.71 E5u). Lists each village, town, or city under its appropriate jurisdiction. The text is in Ukrainian. It includes a locality index. While this administrative directory is published for other years, the 1973 edition is the basis for locality authorities created for the FamilySearch Catalog.

Istoriia Mist i Sil USSR [History of Towns and Villages in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]. Kiev: Instytut Istorii Akademii Nauk URSR, 1969-1974. 26 v. Encyclopedia of Ukraine (missing vols. for Rivne, Chemivets at the Family History Library). (Book 947.71 E5i). Along with a basic history for each locality, this set of books provides invaluable information on name changes. The text is in Ukrainian. Each volume is indexed.