Origin Of Almost Every Jewish Last Name

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Richard Andree's 1881 map of the Jews of Central Europe.

Поскольку ашкеназы - это германоязычные европейские евреи, то их историю принято начинать с появления евреев на берегах Рейна, который в Античности служил границей между Римом и германскими племенами. Приход евреев на эти земли связан с расширением Римской империи, поглотившей в I веке Иудею. Еврейские общины широко распространяются по городам Империи. Уже в I веке еврейские общины появляются к северу от Альп в Галлии.

В 801 году упоминается имя Ицхака, жившего в столице Франкского государства городе Ахен. Его называют «праотцом ашкеназских евреев». Карл Великий поручает ему организацию посольства к арабскому халифу Харуну аль-Рашиду. Очевидно, это успешное предприятие способствовало тому, что уже к 960 году ашкеназийские общины уже глубоко укоренились по берегам Рейна.

В эпоху Крестовых походов (c XI века) начинается рост напряженности между евреями и местным населением.
В XIII веке евреям предписывается носить отличительные знаки (желтую шестиконечную звезду Давида) и селиться в определенных местах (гетто). Кое-где они изгоняются из страны. Так, евреи были изгнаны из Англии в 1290 году.

Существует и иной взгляд на происхождение ашкеназов. Есть спорная теория, утверждающая, что ашкеназы - потомки исповедующих иудаизм жителей Хазарии, мигрировавших в Западную Европу в X веке после разгрома Хазарии.

Отрицание хазарской гипотезы опирается также на демографические и иные аргументы. В частности, указывается, что в идиш практически отсутствуют слова тюркоязычного происхождения, что, по мнению исследователей, показывает отсутствие влияния хазар на этногенез ашкеназов. 70 % процентов лексики идиш - средненемецкие диалекты, 20 % - древневрейский и 10 % - славянизмы. Это вполне соответствует рейнской теории, но совершенно необъяснимо по хазарской.

В XIII веке невыносимые условия жизни для евреев в Западной Европе контрастировали с благожелательностью к ним польских королей. Первая грамота, защищающая права евреев на территории Польши, была подписана королем Болеславом в 1264 году. Привилегии евреев были расширены королем Казимиром III. Относительно «тепличные» условия привели к тому, что ашкеназы на некоторое время почувствовали себя в Польше как дома. Численность евреев росла и они образовывали общины не только в крупных торговых центрах страны, но и в небольших «местечках» на востоке страны, где они служили своеобразной прослойкой между польской шляхтой и местным православным населением. К XVI веку численность евреев в Польше составляла 80 % евреев всего мира) и возникла потребность в координации действий отдельных общин: появились кагалы и главные раввины.

Восстание Хмельницкого привело к возникновению ашкеназийской диаспоры в Османской империи и Западной Европе. Также это усилило мистические настроения среди евреев и привело к зарождению хасидизма.

К этому времени большинство западноевропейских стран либо представляли собой «свободные от евреев» земли, как Франция, либо населялись сефардами, как Нидерланды и Англия. Маленькие общины в германских городах влачили жалкое существование от изгнания до изгнания и численно значительно уступали восточным. Депопуляция Германии после Тридцатилетней войны открыла польским ашкеназам дорогу на запад.
Тем не менее, численность евреев на территории Польши продолжала расти и к 1831 году превысила 430 тыс. человек, а к началу XX века достигла отметки в 1.7 млн человек. Свыше 90 % евреев проживало в городах и принимало активное участие в предпринимательской деятельности.

Непоправимый удар по еврейству в Польше нанесли немецкие оккупационные власти в годы Второй мировой войны. Численность польских евреев сократилась за годы войны с 3 млн до 380 тыс. человек
Ашкеназы

Ashkenazic Jews were among the last Europeans to take family names. Some German-speaking Jews took last names as early as the 17th century, but the overwhelming majority of Jews lived in Eastern Europe and did not take last names until compelled to do so. The process began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1787 and ended in Czarist Russia in 1844.

In attempting to build modern nation-states, the authorities insisted that Jews take last names so that they could be taxed, drafted, and educated (in that order of importance). For centuries, Jewish communal leaders were responsible for collecting taxes from the Jewish population on behalf of the government, and in some cases were responsible for filling draft quotas. Education was traditionally an internal Jewish affair.

Until this period, Jewish names generally changed with every generation. For example, if Moses son of Mendel (Moyshe ben Mendel) married Sarah daughter of Rebecca (Sora bas Rifke), and they had a boy and named it Samuel (Shmuel), the child would be called Shmuel ben Moyshe. If they had a girl and named her Feygele, she would be called Feygele bas Sora.

Jews distrusted the authorities and resisted the new requirement. Although they were forced to take last names, at first they were used only for official purposes. Among themselves, they kept their traditional names. Over time, Jews accepted the new last names, which were essential as Jews sought to advance within the broader society and as the shtetles were transformed or Jews left them for big cities.

The easiest way for Jews to assume an official last name was to adapt the name they already had, making it permanent. This explains the use of "patronymics" and "matronymics."

PATRONYMICS (son of ...)

In Yiddish or German, "son" would be denoted by "son" or "sohn" or "er." In most Slavic languages, like Polish or Russian, it would be "wich" or "witz."

For example: The son of Mendel took the last name Mendelsohn; the son of Abraham became Abramson or Avromovitch; the son of Menashe became Manishewitz; the son of Itzhak became Itskowitz; the son of Berl took the name Berliner; the son of Kesl took the name Kessler, etc.

MATRONYMICS (daughter of …)

Reflecting the prominence of Jewish women in business, some families made last names out of women's first names: Chaiken - son of Chaikeh; Edelman - husband of Edel; Gittelman - husband of Gitl; Glick or Gluck - may derive from Glickl, a popular woman's name as in the famous "Glickl of Hameln," whose memoirs, written around 1690, are an early example of Yiddish literature.

Gold/Goldman/Gulden may derived from Golda; Malkov from Malke; Perlman - husband of Perl; Rivken - may derive from Rivke; Soronsohn-son of Sarah.

PLACE NAMES

The next most common source of Jewish last names is probably places. Jews used the town or region where they lived, or where their families came from, as their last name. As a result, the Germanic origins of most East European Jews is reflected in their names.

For example, Asch is an acronym for the towns of Aisenshtadt or Altshul or Amshterdam. Other place-based Jewish names include: Auerbach/Orbach; Bacharach; Berger (generic for townsman); Berg(man), meaning from a hilly place; Bayer - from Bavaria; Bamberger; Berliner, Berlinsky - from Berlin; Bloch (foreigner); Brandeis; Breslau; Brodsky; Brody; Danziger; Deutch/Deutscher - German; Dorf(man), meaning villager; Eisenberg; Epstein; Florsheim; Frankel - from the Franconia region of Germany; Frankfurter; Ginsberg; Gordon - from Grodno, Lithuania or from the Russian word gorodin, for townsman; Greenberg; Halperin-from Helbronn, Germany; Hammerstein; Heller - from Halle, Germany; Hollander - not from Holland, but from a town in Lithuania settled by the Dutch; Horowitz, Hurwich, Gurevitch - from Horovice in Bohemia; Koenigsberg; Krakauer - from Cracow, Poland; Landau; Lipsky - from Leipzig, Germany; Litwak - from Lithuania; Minsky - from Minsk, Belarus; Mintz-from Mainz, Germany; Oppenheimer; Ostreicher - from Austria; Pinsky - from Pinsk, Belarus; Posner - from Posen, Germany; Prager - from Prague; Rappoport - from Porto, Italy; Rothenberg - from the town of the red fortress in Germany; Shapiro - from Speyer, Germany; Schlesinger - from Silesia, Germany; Steinberg; Unger - from Hungary; Vilner - from Vilna, Poland/Lithuania; Wallach-from Bloch, derived from the Polish word for foreigner; Warshauer/Warshavsky - from Warsaw; Wiener - from Vienna; Weinberg.

OCCUPATIONAL NAMES

Craftsmen/Workers

Ackerman - plowman; Baker/Boker - baker; Blecher - tinsmith; Fleisher/Fleishman/Katzoff/Metger - butcher; Cooperman - coppersmith; Drucker - printer; Einstein - mason; Farber - painter/dyer; Feinstein - jeweler; Fisher - fisherman; Forman - driver/teamster; Garber/Gerber - tanner; Glazer/Glass/Sklar - glazier; Goldstein - goldsmith; Graber - engraver; Kastner - cabinetmaker; Kunstler - artist; Kramer - storekeeper; Miller - miller; Nagler - nailmaker; Plotnick - carpenter; Sandler/Shuster - shoemaker; Schmidt/Kovalsky - blacksmith; Shnitzer - carver; Silverstein - jeweler; Spielman - player (musician?); Stein/Steiner/Stone - jeweler; Wasserman - water carrier.

Merchants

Garfinkel/Garfunkel - diamond dealer; Holzman/Holtz/Waldman - timber dealer; Kaufman - merchant; Rokeach - spice merchant; Salzman - salt merchant; Seid/Seidman-silk merchant; Tabachnik - snuff seller; Tuchman - cloth merchant; Wachsman - wax dealer; Wechsler/Halphan - money changer; Wollman - wool merchant; Zucker/Zuckerman - sugar merchant.

Related to tailoring

Kravitz/Portnoy/Schneider/Snyder - tailor; Nadelman/Nudelman - also tailor, but from "needle"; Sher/Sherman - also tailor, but from "scissors" or "shears"; Presser/Pressman - clothing presser; Futterman/Kirshner/Kushner/Peltz - furrier; Weber - weaver.

Medical

Aptheker - druggist; Feldsher - surgeon; Bader/Teller - barber.

Related to liquor trade

Bronfman/Brand/Brandler/Brenner - distiller; Braverman/Meltzer - brewer; Kabakoff/Krieger/Vigoda - tavern keeper; Geffen - wine merchant; Wine/Weinglass - wine merchant; Weiner - wine maker.

Religious/Communal

Altshul/Althshuler - associated with the old synagogue in Prague; Cantor/Kazan/Singer/Spivack - cantor or song leader in shul; Feder/Federman/Schreiber - scribe; Haver - from haver (court official); Klausner - rabbi for small congregation; Klopman - calls people to morning prayers by knocking on their window shutters; Lehrer/Malamud/Malmud - teacher; Rabin - rabbi (Rabinowitz-son of rabbi); London - scholar, from the Hebrew lamden (misunderstood by immigration inspectors); Reznick - ritual slaughterer; Richter - judge; Sandek - godfather; Schechter/Schachter/Shuchter etc. - ritual slaughterer from Hebrew schochet; Shofer/Sofer/Schaeffer - scribe; Shulman/Skolnick - sexton; Spector - inspector or supervisor of schools.

PERSONAL TRAITS

Alter/Alterman - old; Dreyfus-three legged, perhaps referring to someone who walked with a cane; Erlich - honest; Frum - devout ; Gottleib - God lover, perhaps referring to someone very devout; Geller/Gelber - yellow, perhaps referring to someone with blond hair; Gross/Grossman - big; Gruber - coarse or vulgar; Feifer/Pfeifer - whistler; Fried/Friedman-happy; Hoch/Hochman/Langer/Langerman - tall; Klein/Kleinman - small; Koenig - king, perhaps someone who was chosen as a “Purim King,” in reality a poor wretch; Krauss - curly, as in curly hair; Kurtz/Kurtzman - short; Reich/Reichman - rich; Reisser - giant; Roth/Rothman - red head; Roth/Rothbard - red beard; Shein/Schoen/Schoenman - pretty, handsome; Schwartz/Shwartzman/Charney - black hair or dark complexion; Scharf/Scharfman - sharp, i.e intelligent; Stark - strong, from the Yiddish shtark ; Springer - lively person, from the Yiddish springen for jump.

INSULTING NAMES

These were sometimes foisted on Jews who discarded them as soon as possible, but a few may remain:

Billig - cheap; Gans - goose; Indyk - turkey; Grob - rough/crude; Kalb - cow.

ANIMAL NAMES

It is common among all peoples to take last names from the animal kingdom. Baer/Berman/Beerman/Berkowitz/Beronson - bear; Adler - eagle (may derive from reference to an eagle in Psalm 103:5); Einhorn - unicorn; Falk/Sokol/Sokolovksy - falcon; Fink - finch; Fuchs/Liss - fox; Gelfand/Helfand - camel (technically means elephant but was used for camel too); Hecht-pike; Hirschhorn - deer antlers; Karp - carp; Loeb - lion; Ochs- ox; Strauss - ostrich (or bouquet of flowers); Wachtel - quail.

HEBREW NAMES

Some Jews either held on to or adopted traditional Jewish names from the Bible and Talmud. The big two are Cohen (Cohn, Kohn, Kahan, Kahn, Kaplan) and Levi (Levy, Levine, Levinsky, Levitan, Levenson, Levitt, Lewin, Lewinsky, Lewinson). Others include: Aaron - Aronson, Aronoff; Asher; Benjamin; David - Davis, Davies; Ephraim - Fishl; Emanuel - Mendel; Isaac - Isaacs, Isaacson/Eisner; Jacob - Jacobs, Jacobson, Jacoby; Judah - Idelsohn, Udell,Yudelson; Mayer/Meyer; Menachem - Mann, Mendel; Reuben - Rubin; Samuel - Samuels, Zangwill; Simon - Schimmel; Solomon - Zalman.

HEBREW ACRONYMS

Names based on Hebrew acronyms include: Baron - bar aron (son of Aaron); Beck - bene kedoshim (descendant of martyrs); Getz - gabbai tsedek (righteous synagogue official); Katz - kohen tsedek (righteous priest); Metz - moreh tsedek (teacher of righteousness); Sachs, Saks - zera kodesh shemo (his name descends from martyrs); Segal - se gan levia (second-rank Levite).

OTHER HEBREW- and YIDDISH-DERIVED NAMES

Lieb means "lion" in Yiddish. It is the root of many Ashkenazic last names, including Liebowitz, Lefkowitz, Lebush, and Leon. It is the Yiddish translation of the Hebrew word for lion - aryeh. The lion was the symbol of the tribe of Judah.

Hirsch means "deer" or "stag" in Yiddish. It is the root of many Ashkenazic last names, including Hirschfeld, Hirschbein/Hershkowitz (son of Hirsch), Hertz/Herzl, Cerf, Hart, and Hartman. It is the Yiddish translation of the Hebrew word for gazelle: tsvi. The gazelle was the symbol of the tribe of Naphtali.

Taub means "dove" in Yiddish. It is the root of the Ashkenazic last name Tauber. The symbol of the dove is associated with the prophet Jonah.

Wolf is the root of the Ashkenazic last names Wolfson, Wouk, and Volkovich. The wolf was the symbol of the tribe of Benjamin.

Eckstein - Yiddish for cornerstone, derived from Psalm 118:22.

Good(man) - Yiddish translation of the Hebrew word for "good": tuviah.

Margolin - Hebrew for "pearl."

INVENTED ‘FANCY SHMANCY’ NAMES

When Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were required to assume last names, some chose the nicest ones they could think of and may have been charged a registration fee by the authorities. According to the YIVO Encyclopedia, "The resulting names often are associated with nature and beauty. It is very plausible that the choices were influenced by the general romantic tendencies of German culture at that time." These names include: Applebaum - apple tree; Birnbaum - pear tree; Buchsbaum - box tree; Kestenbaum - chestnut tree; Kirschenbaum - cherry tree; Mandelbaum - almond tree; Nussbaum - nut tree; Tannenbaum - fir tree; Teitelbaum - palm tree.

Other names, chosen or purchased, were combinations with these roots: Blumen (flower), Fein (fine), Gold, Green, Lowen (lion), Rosen (rose), Schoen/Schein (pretty) - combined with berg (hill or mountain), thal (valley), bloom (flower), zweig (wreath), blatt (leaf), vald or wald (woods), feld (field).

Miscellaneous other names included Diamond; Glick/Gluck - luck; Hoffman - hopeful; Fried/Friedman - happiness; Lieber/Lieberman - lover.

Jewish family names from non-Jewish languages included: Sender/Saunders - from Alexander; Kagan - descended from the Khazars, a Turkic-speaking people from Central Asia; Kelman/Kalman - from the Greek name Kalonymous, the Greek translation of the Hebrew shem tov (good name), popular among Jews in medieval France and Italy; Marcus/Marx - from Latin, referring to the pagan god Mars.

Finally, there may have been Jewish names changed or shortened by immigration inspectors (though this is disputed) or by immigrants themselves (or their descendants) to sound more American, which is why "Sean Ferguson" was a Jew.

Let us close with a ditty:
And this is good old Boston;
The home of the bean and the cod.
Where the Lowells speak only to the Cabots;
And the Cabots speak Yiddish, by God!

A version of this post originally appeared on Jewish Currents.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/01/08/ashkenazi_names_the_etymology_of_the_most_common_jewish_surnames.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/origins-of-popular-jewish-surnames-2014-1