Potocki is the surname of a Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 noble

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

 family.
The Potocki family is a great artistocratic family originated from Potok

Potok

-Geography:* Bílý Potok, Liberec District, a Czech village* Sárospatak, a town in Hungary, named Šarišský Potok or Blatný Potok in Slovak* places in Poland:**Potok, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship...

 in the Kraków Voivodeship

Kraków Voivodeship

Kraków Voivodeship, refers to several historical Voivodeships of Poland in the surrounding regions, with the city of Kraków as its capital.- Kraków Voivodeship 1975-1998 :...

; their family name derives from that place name. The family is heavily entwined with the cultural development and history of Poland's Eastern Borderlands (today Western Ukraine). The family is renowned for numerous Polish statesmen, military leaders, and cultural activists.

The first known Potocki was Żyrosław z Potoka (born about 1136).