Where the name Katowice comes from

The origin of the city's name has not been settled. There are two main views in the linguistic literature. The first, from 1935 and attributed to Witold Taszycki, derives the name from the personal nickname Kat, that is from the first tenant of the land or the owner of the area. The second, from 1966, by Stanisław Rospond, looks for it in the word kąty, meaning remote cottages on the outskirts: it would have been a small settlement on the periphery of Kuźnica Bogucka. Rospond's earlier concept, linking the name to the personal name Kot, was later abandoned.

The date of the first record is certain. In the visitation record of the parish in Bogucice from 1598, among the villages belonging to the parish, Bogucice, Załęże and nova villa Katowice, that is the new village of Katowice, were listed. The original settlement was therefore younger than many of its neighbours, and researchers note the similarity of its name to Bogucice, Mysłowice or Świętochłowice as a feature shared by the names in this area.

Kattowitz: the name from Prussian times

From 1742, when Upper Silesia came within the borders of the Kingdom of Prussia, until 1922 the city functioned under the German name Kattowitz. It was the same in 1939-1945, during the German occupation. In 1939 Polish signs disappeared from the city and street names were restored to their state from before 1922.

In this period Katowice went from a village to a town. The edict of the Prussian king Wilhelm I granting town rights was issued on 11 September 1865. Rapid development, however, was set off by the railway: on 3 October 1846 a station in Katowice was ceremonially opened on the line leading to Mysłowice. The railway and the mines attracted people, and the former Kattowitz rose to the rank of a county seat, and from 1897 also of an urban county.

After the return to Poland in 1922 street names were also changed. For example, Emmastrasse, which commemorated the French plebiscite troops, was renamed ulica Francuska (French Street) in 1923.

Stalinogród in 1953-1956

The last official change of the city's name was Stalinogród. After the death of Joseph Stalin, a resolution of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers of 7 March 1953 changed the name of Katowice to Stalinogród, and of the Katowice voivodeship to the Stalinogród voivodeship. It came into force two days later, on 9 March. Officially the initiative was supposed to have come from Katowice, from a meeting of the party authorities and the Voivodeship National Council, and the change was accompanied by a propaganda campaign. One of the declarations was to rename the Katowice mine as Stalinogród.

The sources also mention opposition: three schoolgirls from Chorzów were sentenced for putting up posters and distributing leaflets, and were released in 1956.

The return to the former name came after the October thaw of 1956. The Executive of the Voivodeship Committee of the PZPR (Polish United Workers' Party) asked for the name Katowice to be restored on 27 September, and on 21 October the city and voivodeship national councils jointly adopted a similar resolution. Already the next day the name Stalinogród began to disappear from the city space. The decree of the Council of State was issued on 10 December 1956 and came into force on 20 December.

In the middle of this period, on 30 October 1955, the Cathedral of Christ the King was consecrated. Construction began in 1927, and during it the city bore in turn a Polish, a German and a Stalinogród name.

District and mine names that also changed

Name changes also affected parts of the city. Giszowiec, a mining settlement built in 1907-1910, was officially named the Stanisław Staszic Estate in 1979. Residents stayed with the old name, which was officially restored in 1990.

The neighbouring Nikiszowiec took its name from the Nickisch shaft, and that from the surname of a representative of the Giesche company, Baron Friedrich Nickisch von Rosenegk. The Giesche mine, for which the estate was built, has been called Wieczorek since 1946. Giszowiec, Nikiszowiec and Szopienice were incorporated into Katowice on 31 December 1959, already after the return to the name Katowice.