Jewish surnames – Jewish last names are a relatively new phenomenon. In the Bible, we see that the name is based on the name of the father, like David Ben Yishai, or on the name of a place like Elijah the Giladi or Elijah the Tishbi. With emancipation in Europe, the Jews were obliged to choose a family name, a name that would cling to them and be passed on to their sons and daughters.
Between older and modern times there have been additional surnames for Jews Jewish surnames that are not according to the father’s name or place name. One of the more common ways of choosing names was by profession, and to this day one can find tailor, carpenter, baker, and more used as Jewish surnames. Other names are derived from external traits, character traits, and others, for example, smart or beautiful.
The practice of family names was established before the 18th century among wealthy Jews associated with aristocratic families when everyone was forced to choose one. The reason was of course to show attribution. One such surname is Katzenelboigen, a rabbinical family whose roots go back to the 15th and 14th centuries AD. The family was a family of rabbis in many communities, and the name is based on a place name in Germany.
The compulsion to accept Jewish surnames
With the development of more modern and sophisticated methods of government, the Jews were forced to accept surnames. This was the case in the Holy Roman Empire in the 18th century, when some of the names were given by the government and some chose the names themselves. In Prussia in the 19th century, every Jew who wanted to become a citizen had to know how to write his name in Latin or German letters.
Some of the Jewish surnames last names Jewish were taken from the names around them, such as Schwartz – black, or Stern – star. One common speculation among the public is that Jews were forced to buy family names. This belief has no reference, and there were also non-Jews who were given simple and not-so-beautiful names. Although there was no buying of names in Germany a tax bracket was introduced according to the demand for the name, Gold Mountain or Silver Mountain, the meaning of the names of Goldberg and Zilberg, which cost a lot of money. Names based on profession cost less, and the poor were given insulting names. The reason is that the officials chose the names despite an order instructing that Jews could choose their own names. Officials usually chose names based on appearance, such as Weiss – white, Brown – brown, Gross – large, Kurtz – short, and more. The same occurred in Prussia and the names influenced each other.
Extensions of Jewish surnames
Many Jewish surnames are based on the name of the father, i.e. son of, in languages, for example, Avraham ben Yitzchak. The suffix to the word son varies from language to language. Thus the names ending in “Vitch” which originated in Poland, Romania, and Russia. Kin, Nicki, Ski, and Tzki are names from the Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus regions. The suffix “Ov” is usually Caucasian or Bukharan. “Ko” is a Romanian suffix. “Shivili” is a Georgian symbol, the suffix “Ush” is mainly in most Eastern and North African Jewry like “Harush”. Al followed by a word, not in Hebrew indicates the name of an Oriental Sephardic Jew. The names beginning with “de”, “d” or “di” are also of Spanish origin. “Jan” or “Zeda” is of Persian origin and Kar is of Indian origin. It should be noted that there are also non-Jews by these names.
Types of Jewish last names Jewish last names
As mentioned, in the past many names were given according to the name of the father, the name of the profession, or the location, and so it is possible to trace the name of the original father of the family.
Such names according to the profession are Beckerman, a baker; Elbaz, a falcon trainer; Barabi, son of Rabbi; Mualem, an Arabic teacher; Schumacher – shoemaker; Fisher – shoemaker.
Names by places – quite a few Jewish surnames are by places, for example, Toledano, from the city of Toledano or Castel from the province of Castile. These types of names are also common among Yemenite Jewry – Tsanani, Sharabi, Damari, in Iraqi Jewry – Shaharbani, Peres Shirazi, and the rest of Islamic Jewry as well. However, such names can also be found among Ashkenazi Jews such as Berliner, Berlin, Hamburger, Hamburg, or even country names such as Deutsch – the Dutch, Austrian – the Austrian, and more. Frank is a name given to Ashkenazis who sat among scholars and the Jewish name Ashkenazi indicates just the opposite.
Names according to father’s name – we mentioned the common suffixes for the father’s name such as Vevitz and Jan, but sometimes the suffixes were used to describe the profession of the father of the family, for example, Hazanovich.
Names according to the mother – Ohana means son of Hannah, Ruchlin means son of Rachel. Such names were created when the wedding was purely religious and no marriage was performed under civil law so the children were registered in the mother’s name only. The reason for this was, for example, a law prohibiting multiple marriages, so they preferred not to marry in a legal marriage. Another reason would be if the mother was from a privileged family. This type of name is common in Hasidic families.
Name as a virtue – The name Glick means luck and the name Langliven means long life.
Names from nature – Berg Har, Berman Ish Dov, Ferrara – Agas (pear) from Spanish, and more.
Other names are acronyms like Katz – Cohen Tzad, Maza – Mizra Aharon HaCohen, BK – Bnei Kedoshim.
Other names are insulting names given by officials like Schmutz (dirt) or Asslekop (donkey). There are also non-Jews who have been found with such a name, mostly from poor families.
Other names are based on first names from the Bible Jewish names in the bible – like names of Jewish boys Jewish names for boys like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or names of Jewish girls Jewish names, Rachel, Michal, Abigail, and more. These names are also based on the names of the original father or the original mother of the family.
There are also Jews who migrated from place to place and adapted the name to the language of the place. In the early days of the State of Israel, immigrants were even required to change their name, so Goldberg became Har-Zahav (mountain of gold). In other countries, too, Jakubowicz became Jacobs or Jacobson in English, meaning the name Jacobs – meaning the name Jacobs is Jacobson the son of Jacob. Sometimes the names change according to the sound, like Berkowitz who became Barak, and there are those who abandon the name altogether and adopt a name related to the name of a place, for example, Yaguri, a member of Kibbutz Yagur.
Common Jewish surnames
Common Jewish surnames can be found with the help of statistics from the State of Israel. In the world, it is a little less clear what the common names are for Jews and who is a Jew at all. The two most common family names for Jews are Cohen in the first place and Levi in the second place. Both names describe the priests from the tribe of Levi, and they have different versions like Kahana, Katz, Rapaport, Tauil Ma’ali, Gindi, and more.
The most common Jewish surname after Cohen and Levi is Mizrahi. The name Mizrahi dates back to the 14th century and indicates the Jews of the East or Jews who lived in the east of the country where they lived. Also, El Kalbi or El Kabli means Mizrahi. The fourth most common name in Israel is Peretz, after the son of the biblical Judas, and indicates the name of the original father and is accepted in Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities. After him Bitton, the Jewish Spanish word for life – from Vitton – this name is also after the father. After him Dahan – which means color in Jewish Spanish. Then Abraham and a common Ashkenazi name in Israel is Friedman, a man of peace in German. Common Ashkenazi names for Jews are Klein, Shapira Greenberg and there are many other Jewish surnames with Jewish last names.