International School for Jewish Peoplehood Studies

Genealogy

Dorot Picture

Genealogy Main Page	Search Order Online

Place Names - Changes and Variations

Tracing back a family's descent may involve overcoming various obstacles. Locating ancestral places can sometimes be very challenging as place names change with time. Place names change for a number of reasons: new perceptions of national identity by specific ethnic groups; establishment or disappearance of independent states; changes of borders; creation of federal states; introduction of various levels of local autonomy followed by recognition of minority languages or regional dialects; migrations of new ethnic groups. Revolutions, counter-revolutions, return to democracy or other radical changes of the political system also bring about numerous changes of place names.

In addition, the history of the Jewish people and its vicissitudes contributed and influenced the private history of almost every Jewish family. It is a well known fact that in certain regions Jewish families sometimes lived in three different states within the span of a lifetime and without ever leaving their native town. This is true especially of Central and Eastern Europe, areas that used to have a large Jewish population. Each sovereign power imposed its own national language that resulted in a change of place names. Besides it is important to remember that many times Jews used different place names, either because they spoke a Jewish language (Yiddish, Ladino, Jewish Arabic etc.) or because they preferred variants which are not necessarily identical with current toponymics.

Changes of place names occurred and continue to happen almost everywhere, most recently important changes in place names occurred in the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe. For best results when searching for ancestral towns it is highly advisable to use old maps and atlases, items that generally can be found in large reference or research libraries.

This directory of links may help the modern researcher in identifying various places that have more than one name, especially those located in multilingual border areas. Please keep in mind that those are external links and Beth Hatefutsoth is not responsible for the quality of their information. For the convenience of the researchers, the links have been grouped by countries according to current borders and should not be considered as having any political significance.