The company's name originates from the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser or Wonsal before Anglicization to hide Jewish origins) Harry (born Hirsz), Albert (born Aaron), Sam (born Szmul), and Jack (Itzhak, or to some sources, Jacob). They emigrated with their parents to North America from Krasnosielc which was located in the part of Congress Poland that had been subjugated to the Russian Empire following the eighteenth-century Partitions of Poland near present-day Ostrołęka