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Adding more info about Sephardic Jews
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=== Surnames === | === Surnames === | ||
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, 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, occupation, or place of origin. A Jew named Abram ben 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. | 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. | ||
In the middle ages, the custom arose of combining the abbreviation of a title with the initials of a name. This was mostly limited to prominent writers. Examples: RAMBAM (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon) and RASHI (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac). These were merely descriptive "by-names" and not family surnames. The Jews of the Byzantine Empire, Romaniots, were the first Jews to adopt fixed family names. The Bulgarian Jewish surnames Politi [citizen], Roditi [red grapes], and Kalo [honest, good] are of Greek origin and date from the Byzantine era. After 1492, the area of the Byzantine Empire received great numbers of Sephardic Jews. Because the Sephardic and Byzantine Jewish naming practices influenced each other, it is difficult to differentiate between Sephardic and Byzantine Jewish family names in the Balkan area and Greece. | |||
Naming customs for two groups of Jews were established at different times and are therefore discussed separately in this section: | Naming customs for two groups of Jews were established at different times and are therefore discussed separately in this section: | ||
*Sephardic Surnames—hereditary surnames date back to the 1500s | |||
Sephardic Surnames—hereditary surnames date back to the 1500s | *Ashkenazic Surnames—in many areas did not take hereditary surnames until the early 1800s | ||
Ashkenazic Surnames—in many areas did not take hereditary surnames until the early 1800s | |||
Surnames often were formed four ways, examples of which are given in the following sections: | Surnames often were formed four ways, examples of which are given in the following sections: | ||
*Patronymic | *Patronymic | ||
*Occupational | *Occupational | ||
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=== Sephardic Surnames === | === Sephardic Surnames === | ||
Sephardic Jews, those who originated in Spain, first began using hereditary surnames in the 1500s. 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. | 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. | ||
Arabic family names developed from "by-names," which began to be passed from father to son. These family names were patronyms, occupations, places of origin, and descriptions. Surnames of patronymic origin (most common) often used the Arabic term ''ibn'' for "son of." Ibn was placed in front of the father’s name, such as Ibn Aknin and Ibn Baruch. Arabs sometimes reversed the patronym, using the term ''abu'' for "father of," such as Isaac abu Jacob. Some Jews simply joined his father's name to his own, such as Joseph Abraham (instead of Joseph the son of Abraham). | |||
After the Arabs were driven out of Spain, Jews made their Arabic-sounding names sound more like Spanish. Among Spanish Jews we find the family name Avinbruch (which corresponds to Abu Baruch) and Abeldano (which corresponds to Ibn el-Danan). The Hebrew word for son, ben, was also used; the son of Elisha became Benelisha or Belish. Sometimes Jewish given names were translated into their Spanish form and used as a patronymic surname. For example, Mendel (a common Jewish given name) became Mendez and Acaz became Isaac. | |||
The translation of given names goes even further. Chaim (a Hebrew given name meaning "life") became the Spanish surname Vital or Vidal. When Jacob (Israel) blessed his sons, he compared Benjamin to a wolf. This is ''lobo'' in Spanish. The Spanish patronym for Lobo was Lopez, which is a common surname among Sephardic Jews. | |||
Surnames of occupational origin include Chazan [Cantor], Gabbai [synagogue official], Dayan [rabbinic judge], Coffen [Cohen], | Surnames of occupational origin include: Chazan [Cantor], Gabbai [synagogue official], Dayan [rabbinic judge], Coffen [Cohen], Tibbon [straw merchant], Sebag [black], Rofe [doctor], and Del Medigo [of medicine]. | ||
Surnames of place origin | Surnames of place origin include: Toledano, Cordoza, Espinoza, and de Castro. | ||
After the | 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> | ||
=== Ashkenazic Surnames === | === Ashkenazic Surnames === | ||