Jewish Naming Customs: Difference between revisions

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Understanding Jewish surnames and given names can help you find and identify your ancestors. This section discusses the origin and development of Jewish names and naming patterns.  

*[http://www.avotaynu.com/csi/csi-home.htm AVOTAYNU: Consolidated Jewish Surname Index]

*[https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/GivenNames/ JewishGen: The Given Names Data Bases]

*[https://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/ The JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF)]

Until mandated by laws enacted in the late 18th and 19th centuries (the date varies by country), most Jews did not use fixed surnames. Jews with a common given name were often distinguished by a patronym (a kind of "by-name"), meaning that a father’s name was used in addition to a given name. For example, Jacob the son of Abram was called Jacob Abram or Jacob ben [son of] Abram. If this was not enough to distinctly identify a person, a nickname was used. Such nicknames described a person in some way, such as a physical characteristic or personality trait, occupation, or place of origin. A Jew named Abram ben [son of] Maimon might also be called Abram the copper merchant or Abram red-beard. These nicknames were not permanent or inherited. They changed from one generation to the next. Fixed surnames often developed from these patronyms and nicknames.  

Naming customs for two groups of Jews were established at different times and are therefore discussed separately in this section:  

Surnames often were formed four ways, examples of which are given in the following sections:  

*Descriptions

Sephardic Jews, those who originated in Spain, first began using hereditary surnames in the 1500s. They were the first to made widespread use of inherited family names. The Arab and Spanish cultures were the two major influences on Sephardic surnames. Spain was under Moorish Muslim rule from the 700s to the 1200s, and Jewish family names developed under the influence of Arab custom.  

Spain forced all Jews to leave the country in 1492. After their expulsion, the Sephardic Jews continued using family names. Their surnames came to fit the language and culture of their new homelands: Greece, Italy, Holland, France, England, and North Africa. In areas where they were in the majority, they were able to impose their Spanish-Arabic language and naming customs on the existing Jewish community, as they did in the Greece and the Balkan states. Where they were in the minority, as in North Africa, they assimilated the language, culture, and naming customs of the Jewish communities they joined. In time, the term "Sephardic" came to be generally, but inaccurately, applied to all Mediterranean Jews. Hereditary family names became generally accepted throughout this extended Sephardic world in the 1500s.<ref>The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "The Origin and Development of Jewish Family Names," Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1984.</ref>

The Yiddish-speaking Jews of central and eastern Europe are called Ashkenazic. Some Ashkenazic Jews used hereditary surnames as early as the Middle Ages, although the custom was uncommon. The practice was limited to Jews who had business dealings with the gentile (non-Jewish) world. These early Jewish surnames were often the same as Christian family names. Some Germanic Jewish names were derived from the house signs which served instead of house numbers in many German cities during the 16th and 17th centuries. For example, the Rothschild family lived at the red shield. Strauss [ostrich] comes from the house with an ostrich plume sign. Other examples of shield names are Adler [eagle], Taub [dove], and Schiff [ship].

By the 1820s most of the small states in western Germany had extended civil rights to Jews, usually requiring them to adopt surnames at the same time. Often the Jews resisted the imposition of last names, and the edicts had to be enforced over and over again. In many areas, patronyms continued to be used in addition to surnames.  

Before surnames were required, most Ashkenazic Jews were known by a patronym, so it is not surprising that they simply gave their father's given name when asked or forced to choose a fixed surname. This resulted in such surnames as Mendel, Ruben, Solomon, Meir, Moritz, and Gutmann. Many names have the German ending -sohn or the Slavic -wicz and -vitch, which mean "son of." These yielded names like Mendelssohn [son of Mendel], Abramsohn or Abrams [son of Abram], Berkovitz, or Szmulowicz. Ashkenazic Jews also continued to choose surnames from localities, occupations, and characteristics or physical traits.  

Occupations were also a source for family names, including Schneider or Portnoy [tailor], Goldschmidt [goldsmith], Kaufmann [shopkeeper], Weber [weaver], Schreiber [scribe], Rossman [horse dealer], and Schermann [cloth cutter]. Specifically Jewish pursuits are evident in such names as Rabinski [rabbi], Schuler or Schulmann or Szkolnik [sexton, beadle], Singer [cantor], Metzger or Reznick or Schlachter or Schochet [ritual slaughterer], and Klopman [one who knocks on the shutters to wake people for morning worship]. Many surnames reflect priestly or levitical heritage. One of the most common of all Jewish surnames is Kohen [priest] and its variations, Cohen, Kahn, Kogan, and Katz. Surnames showing Levitic or priestly heritage include Levy, Levinsky, Levin, Lewek, Lewenberg, and Segal (an abbreviation for segan leviah [member of the Levites]).  

Jews often combined elements of languages, such as Hebrew with Yiddish and German or Slavic roots with Yiddish or Slavic endings. Thus, Jewish names are often found with various spellings depending on the languages that influence them. In Russian, for example, the h sound is substituted with g. This factor creates such diverse spellings as:  

*Kohen and Kogan

Various government commissions often took bribes from the Jews in return for granting them pleasant-sounding surnames. Beautiful names derived from flowers and gems, such as Blumenthal [flower valley], Finkelstein [sparkling stone, diamond, pyrite], and other such names would come at a high price. Less fancy names, such as Weintraub [winegrape], Steinberg [stone mountain], Adler [eagle], or Eisen [iron], could be obtained at a lower cost. Those who could not or would not pay would sometimes receive ridiculous names, such as Ochsenschwanz [oxtail], Langnass [long nose], Zweifel [doubt], Schmalz [grease], Fresser [glutton], and other similar names.<ref>The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "The Origin and Development of Jewish Family Names," Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1984.</ref>

The process of surname development continued with the emigration of Jews from Europe. In the United States many changes in surnames can be attributed to an ignorance of European languages on the part of American officials and registrars. The immigrants’ ignorance of English also contributed to the creation of numerous new surnames and variations. Some Jewish families have changed their surnames fairly recently. Changes may have been minor, such as a slight adjustment in spelling to make the name easier to pronounce, such as Wallace from Wallisch or Harris from Hirsch. Or the name may have been shortened to make it sound less Jewish or foreign, such as Rosenzweig changed to Rose or Ross. A surname may have been translated into English, such as Schneider to Taylor, or it may have been discarded and replaced with a new name altogether. Because of these changes, Jews may have a difficult time finding relatives since one European Jewish family name may have a multitude of variations in this country.<ref>The Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "The Origin and Development of Jewish Family Names," Word document, private files of the FamilySearch Content Strategy Team, 1984.</ref>

Jews often took their given names from the languages of the countries they lived in and kept Hebrew names for "sacred" purposes (Bar Mitzvah, marriage, and blessings associated with reading from the Torah). The spelling of their names varied considerably depending on the spelling rules of the language and culture they lived in.  

Ashkenazic Jews often adapted Hebrew given names to fit the country they were living in. In America, for example, the name Avraham (Hebrew) or Avrum (Yiddish) could be anglicized to Allen, Allan, Albert, Alvin, or Arnold; Chaim could become Hyman, Herman, Herbert, or Charles; and Feigla could be Fanny, Faye, Fran, or Victoria.  

Sephardic Jews usually named their children in honor of living grandparents. There was a specific order in which this was done. The first son was generally named after the father’s father, the second son after the mother’s father, the first daughter after the father’s mother, the second daughter after the mother’s mother. Successive children might be named after living siblings or other relatives of the father and mother.  

Several books can help you understand Jewish names and naming customs, including:  

*Kaganoff, Benzion C. ''A Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their History''. New York: Schocken Books, 1977. (FHL call no. [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/27038 929.4 K119d]

*''The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia''. New York City: Universal Jewish Encyclopedia Co., 1939-43, vol. 8, in the entry for "Names of the Jews," p. 94-98.

*Unbegaun, B. O. "Surnames of Jewish Origin". ''Russian Surnames''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972.

The Family History Library has some books about names. Check for these in the FamilySearch Catalog.  

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