What does our Polish friend think about this?
Anyway, Christopher Columbus has already got his counterpart in the Polish language from the very beginning.
His name in Polish is Krzysztof Kolumb [read: kshi`shtof kolumb]
By the way, we've got the entire ‘Generation of Columbuses 1920’ in Poland. The date stands for the year they were born, metaphorically speaking naturally. It was the year of the victorious Battle of Warsaw against the Russian Bolsheviks, Aug.1920. when Poland defended her freedom and Independence. They were the first generation born in Independent Poland.
When they grew up, the vast majority of them lost their lives in the Warsaw Uprising 1944 and then from the hands of communists under the Soviet occupation. They were called “The Generation of Columbuses ‘20”. (”Kolumbowie Rocznik 20”) just for their untold heroism and ultimate sacrifice in their struggle, called in advance as pointless, against endless hostile powers. Like sailors of Columbus, who dared to sail into the endless unknown space being fully aware of the fact they would never return home, those young boys and girls jumped to the throat of the armed to teeth Hitlerite beast, often with their naked fists only. They preferred to die like free men than live in chains under Nazi or Communist yoke.
By the way, you must see this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H5dUsMjt5M
This is a real almost photographic reenactment of Warsaw of 1944, after the Uprising, made by a computer after the analysis of thousands of photographs. I saw the reaction of the veterans of the Home Army; they were teary-eyed seeing this...