Some sources assert that Mickiewicz's mother was descended from a converted, Frankist Jewish family. Others view this as improbable. Polish historian Kazimierz Wyka, in his biographic entry in "Polski Słownik Biograficzny" (1975) writes that this hypothesis, based on the fact that his mother's maiden name, Majewska, was popular among Frankist Jews, has not been proven. Wyka states that the poet's mother was the daughter of a noble ("szlachta") family of Starykoń coat of arms, living on an estate at Czombrów in Nowogródek Voivodeship (Navahrudak Voivodeship).