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Beth Hatefutsoth has maintained for years a unique
database, Memi De-Shalit Database of Jewish Family Names. The collection, now including almost
20,000 entries and growing, contains information on the origin and meaning of
family names used by Jewish families living in the Diaspora. A typical entry
describes the etymology of the name and its various variants, the area of
dispersion since its earliest known occurrence, and furnishes examples of
Jewish individuals who bear that specific family name.
Rather than "Jewish family names", it would be
probably better to talk about family names used by Jewish families as in many
cases there have been no differences between family names of Jews and surnames
of non-Jewish families. The database does not include Hebrew names and words of
biblical origin in their original spelling, like David, but only names whose
etymology can be traced to other languages than Hebrew or contain a Hebrew root
with non-Hebrew additions or variants, like Davidovitch.
Adopting family names by Jews is a relatively modern usage. For
centuries, until the last four hundreds of years or so, with the exception of a
few famous families, Jews did not have surnames. Much the same like during
biblical times, each individual was known by his given name to which,
sometimes, his/her father's name was added: David ben Yaakov (David the son of
Yaakov). For that reason, "Ben Yaakov" was not a family name, but
part of his given name. His son's name, for instance, was not called Ben
Yaakov, but Ben David (the son of David).
First examples of family names among Jews have been documented
in France, Spain, Italy and North Africa as early as the 10th century. In
Central and Eastern Europe, family names started to appear in the 16th century,
especially among a handful of affluent families. Having a family name was
considered another sign of belonging to a prestigious and much esteemed family.
Only towards the end of the 18th century, and even then
depending to the specific area in which they lived and the local political
circumstances, did Jews adopt family names. There were many reasons for this
change, and not all are known today as they differed from one place to another.
Sometimes it resulted from the need of the local authorities to deal more
efficiently with a growing number of city dwellers for such matters as tax
collecting, military conscription or population census; consequently, each
household was required to take up an additional name that later became known as
a family name. In most cases, however, adopting a hereditary family name was a
consequence of introducing modern systems of government that called for a
systematic registration of the entire population. In some Jewish communities
the practice of having only given names was maintained until the end of the
20th century - for example among the Jews of Ethiopia.
Family names used by Jews form a number of categories: for
instance, there are names that Jewish families chose of their own will and
names that were forced on them by the local authorities or gentile society.
In all Diaspora communities, Jews had a preference for surnames
of biblical or Hebrew origin. Not only did they choose biblical given names
that had been in Jewish usage for generations - Shimon, David, Yaakov, Abraham,
Aharon and many others - but also biblical toponyms like Jerusalem, Bethlehem
and other venerated sites and landmarks of the Land of Israel. Yet, Jews did
not use the name in the original form, but generally changed its spelling and
pronunciation or added prefixes and/or suffixes from other languages. In this
way, they wished to combine their ancestral heritage with a sincere desire to
be integrated into the non-Jewish surrounding society. The family name Nathansohn
is an example of a biblical name - Nathan - to which the German suffix
"-sohn" (meaning "son") was added to confer it a more
German appearance. In North Africa, the biblical Yaakov became the family name
Vaaknin, which is a diminutive of Yaakov in the local Berber language. As a
result, the Hebrew name sounded more similar to a local Berber or Arabic name.
Sometimes family names were created by using acronyms or
anagrams of Hebrew words. Thus, the name's sound and spelling was changed,
transforming it into a European name while keeping the original meaning: Katz,
which is a Hebrew acronym of Cohen Zedek ("rightful priest")
(כ"ץ) means "cat" in German. Family names Wiehl or
Weill are anagrams of the biblical name Levi.
Translating a Hebrew name was another popular method for
selecting a family name: Hayyim (literally: "life") became Vivas or
Bibas for Ladino speaking Jews, while Cohen (meaning "priest") was
translated as Kaplan ("chaplain", in German).
Names of many religious and traditional occupations within the
Jewish community - like chazzan, rabbi, gabbai etc. - also become family names,
sometimes by translating their meaning - Cantor =
chazzan, or by using their
Hebrew acronym: Schub, from Shohet Ubodek ("ritual slaughterer"),
Schor, from Shochet and Rav ("ritual slaughterer" and
"rabbi") etc.
Another important group of family names is made up of terms that
originally designated an occupation, like Tischler ("carpenter", in
German), or Attar ("chemist", in Arabic).
Names that designated the geographical origins of the family
form a separate class. Pressburger became the family name of an individual that
either came or was associated with the city of Pressburg (now Bratislava, in
Slovakia), Toledano was the name of someone who came from Toledo, in Spain, and
Damari designated a family linked with the town of Damar, in Yemen.
Finally, there are names that originally were nicknames,
sometimes with a pejorative meaning: Klein (in German) or Zairi (in Arabic),
for a short person, Roth (in German) for a red hair person, Tawil (in Arabic)
for someone tall etc. In general, the names in this category either were
imposed upon Jews by the local authorities or are based on the nickname of one
of the family's ancestors.
The database of Jewish family names is the result of more than
twenty years of dedicated work by many experts, most of them volunteer with
Beth Hatefutsoth. The explanations are based on a wide array of sources:
scientific researches, onomastic and other dictionaries, Jewish traditional
sources etc. as well as information supplied to the museum by members of the
public. As a rule, no explanation has been included into the database unless it
is attested by at least two independent sources.
We are happy to receive new explanations for Jewish family
names. Verifying the information, as well as editing and inserting new entries
to the database may take some time. Please write to us:
bhrsrch@post.tau.ac.il
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