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Song by the poet Zelda: "Everyone has a Name" Except for aristocrats, wealthy people and well off Jewish merchants did not get surnames in Eastern Europe until the Napoleonic years of the early 19th century. Most of the Jews from countries captured by Napoleon including Russia, Poland, and Germany were ordered to get surnames. The reason for the last names were for tax purposes. After Napoleon's defeat many Jews dropped their surnames and returned to "son of" names like MENDELSOHN, JACOBSON, LEVINSON, etc. "Jews in the 1800's in Eastern Europe were generally not real attached to their last names - they didn't use it among themselves. And they tried to avoid the draft in Russia by 'fiddling around', having baby boys registered as belonging to another family which had no sons, and doing other things to make it hard for Russia. It was also not uncommon when the couple was not allowed to marry civilly that a couple would marry religiously and the babies would be considered 'illegitimate' by the government and have the Mother's surname (the Father was not her husband according to the government." From a posting to JewishGen by Sally Bruckheimer Around 1800 in
Germany, Hebrew names were often back-formed from the kinnuy, so Judah Loeb
(lion) became Aryeh (lion) Loeb and Issachar Ber (bear) became Dov (bear)
Ber. Alexander Sharon, a noted genealogical authority, posted the following answer on 5/30/05 to a question by Marlene Bishow "The list of the permitted name, if (one) exists, should be available through the Austrian Archives in Vienna or the two main Galicia branches in Lwów and/or Krakow. I personally have not come across one as yet. Further regarding the surname Katz, Alexander Sharon posted the following on 6/2/2005 "It was my understanding that Ashkenazim Jews in Galicia had no official surnames prior to the introduction of the Austrian legislation.
Argentinean Surnames On this web-site you'll find an index of almost all the surnames actually in use in the Argentine Republic (based on 1997 data), with an indication of how many people, aged 18 or more, have each surname. Belarus Given Name Database http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/GivenNames/ JewishGen Name Database Galicia As it is generally known, Galician Jews have been compelled to adopt German sounding surnames on July 23, 1787 during Joseph II, Empress Maria Theresa's son rule, following the introduction in 1781 the first genuine reforms in Central Europe - Judenreformen und Toleranzpatent (Jew-reforms and Edicts of Tolerance). Yiddish vowels alternate by dialect and the spellings of these alternations also vary. German Names German Jews had no official surnames prior to the introduction of Judenregelment in 1797 Lithuanian Names
Polish Names JRI-Poland also has their website Patronymic files which can be downloaded and viewed. These files cover the years 1808-1825 when many Jews did not have surnames and when the Jewish records were recorded together with their Christian neighbors. JRI-Poland volunteers have extracting data from these LDS film in order. Look on the homepage for the link to the patronymic files. Poles do not use patronymics. An unmarried woman may attach "owna" to her maiden name. In some cases she would use "anka" rather than "owna". In similar way a married woman would attach "owna" to her husband's surname. These forms are used less often nowadays. Prussian Names
Prussia introduced similar to the Austrian law in 1797 known as Judenregelment and forced the use of Germanic surnames on the Jewish population of captured during three Partitions: Russian Names
Russia has introduce law for surnames use for Jews in 1804 during but in reality start enforcing this policy only in 1834.
"Imperial Statutes Concerning the Organization of Jews," which required Jews to take surnames.
Vysochaishe utverzhdennoe Polozhenie. - O ustroistve Evreev.
Link to the December 9,1804 and 1835 Examples: 2. Names describing occupations: Examples: 3. Names from city of residence: Examples: BERLIN, FRANKFURTER, DANZIGER, OPPENHEIMER, DEUTSCH (German), POLLACK (Polish), BRESLAU, MANNHEIM, CRACOW, WARSHAW Auerbach 4. Bought names:
Examples: Jewish Women's Names in an Arab Context: Names from the Geniza of Cairo
Jews - who we are. Tribe Finder It was very common in the 19th century that sons took different surnames to avoid military service. It was also common that sons took their mother's surname. Kinui - A "secular" name (i.e., another name for a Jewish person, other than his more important Hebrew name which was used to call him to the Torah on Shabbat, Monday, or Thursday, when the Torah is read in shul), which can be in any language (other than Hebrew) which was used in countries in which Jews lived - Aramaic, Arabic, German, French, Slavic, etc. During their sojourn in these countries, such kinuim were found to be attractive to and became used so much by Jews that eventually the Rabbis ruled that they could be used to call a man to the Torah (but only in combination with the man's first Hebrew name). In effect, this means that a name from another language "became" a Hebrew name. From a posting by Professor G. L Esterson Searching for First and Last Names In many on-line database search forms, the first name field is optional, so how do you know whether you should include a first name in your search? Searching on-line with only a surname increases the number of 'hits' you will get, thus increasing your choices of sites to visit and potentially find information. Using a full name on the other hand, reduces the number of hits you get, which can be helpful when you're dealing with a popular surname. When searching with an uncommon name, search with only surnames; use full names when you're searching for information about someone with a really common name. A surname taken from a place is called a Toponym. Surname Navigator - Search multiple databases with one surname entry. This is a very interesting site as once you fill in with a surname, because of its unique multiple database searching, many different sites that the site finds containing the surname selected by you pops-up. Although I didn't find any truly relevant connections, it did provide me with some interesting links. These are the countries that Surname Navigator searches:
"A Dictionary of Jewish Names and their History" - authored by Benzion C. Kaganoff published by Schocken Books, New York in 1977 Buy from Amazon.com and "The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names" are two fine books with realistic naming information. Bear in mind though, that names of ancestors or the correct spellings of names is not scientific. "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland" - authored by Alexander Beider Buy from Amazon.com Note that many times, old records spell a name one way, while shtetl records may spell (or even name the same person) differently. Much of these differences come about because of the specific location within a country. My surname, Margulis, is pronounced Mar goo liss in Ukraine, and Mar GO liss in Lithuania and Poland. This is one of the problems that a Jewish genealogical researcher faces, so therefore Mr. Daitch and Mr. Mokotoff created a Jewish version of the Soundex system. This system allows a search on every possible name that uses most of the same letters and will return every possible name it identifies with those letters. A free database covering these area include: the Ukraine, Belorussia, Bessarabia, Lithuania, and Russia. "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire" and "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland"
Buy
from Amazon.com
- authored by Alexander Beider. Beider is a Moscow born Jewish émigré living in Paris and is a proven skilled and savvy name smith. He is a computer consultant and project analyst by day, and moonlights in libraries and archives, in Paris and elsewhere, to research his favorite topic -- Jewish names. His books are published by Avotaynu, Inc. of New Jersey. Check this site for Jewish names: "Everyman's Judaica" - A great research resource. Click on the image for additional information. http://www.amazon.ca/Everymans-Judaica-Geoffrey-Wigoder/dp/0491016042
"Hebrew Deeds of English Jews Before 1290" - authored by Myer David Davis and published in London by Publication of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibit, No. 2, Office of the "Jewish Chronicle", 1888). "Jewish Family Names and Their Origins: An Etymological Dictionary" - authored by Heinrich W. & Eva H. Guggenheimer Buy from Amazon.com "Jewish Naming Convention in Angevin England" - by Eleazar ha-Levi. The purpose of this paper is to use the naming conventions adopted by the Jews of Medieval England (c.1070 - 1290) as a way of generalizing the rules of period Jewish naming. Three basic rules were applied in naming Jewish children throughout the medieval period and, even, up to the present time: the Talmud, kinnui (secular) versus shem ha-kadosh (sacred) names, and the role of the female in Jewish ritual practice. "Jewish Personal Names: Their Origin, Derivation and Diminutive Forms" - authored by the late Rabbi Shmuel Gorr and later edited by Chaim Freedman and published by Avotaynu in 1992. "The Origin of Jewish Surnames" - authored by Benzion Kaganoff "Russian Jewish Surnames" - authored by Boris Feldblyum General Name "Inherited surnames were virtually non-existent among European Jews at the beginning of the 19th century. Depending on where your family came from, adoption of surnames occurred officially as late as 1845 in Prussia, 1826 in Russia. Jews in Prussia were forced to take surnames in 1812. The rules were applied in Austria in 1787, under French (Napoleonic) rule in 1808, and in most of Germany before 1820." "The Jews however did not adopt the names with enthusiasm -- they helped the government tax and draft and restrict the Jews. In the culturally more advances countries, the adoption of surnames was linked to a wide range of civil and civic rights; in many cases, however, these rights were soon limited again or rescinded." "Brothers often took the same surname; cousins didn't coordinate. It wasn't just a matter of indifference, though, that cause different names to be adopted." From a posting by Michael Bernet mBernet@aol.com on 11/21/02 on JewishGen "In the case of oral traditions, the number of generations from the event will impact the story. Says Chaim Freedman, noted genealogists and author, "If someone's grandfather says HIS grandfather was a fourth generation descendant of a famous rabbi, there are 32 possible lines of descent." If the link is not found by the current generation, and the next generation must look for it, there will be 64 lines to research." This was obtained from an article entitled "It's All Relative: Seeds of Truth" by Schelly Talalay Dardashti in her column - City Lights -in The Jerusalem Post dated February 14, 2002 Schelly Dardashti e-mail address: schelly@allrelative.net I found the following posting on JewishGen of February 20, 2002 by Jeanne Gold quite interesting as she showed the sources she had used to find Lomza - and Israel MORRIS. This information could be used by others - a sort of a template to follow for finding information. Thank Jeanne Gold Groupie@digging4roots.com not me. Using the Morse/Tobias search pages stevemorse.org Next I tried the Consolidated Jewish Name Index and more than 180 names came up for the DM 694000 (MORRIS). Specifically for this surname, I found the following references most suggestive: MORES - A,B; MORETS - B,J,N; MORETZ - B,M; MOREZ - B; MORICE - S; MORIS - I,Q,m; MORISSE - R; MORITS - C, H, J; MORITZ - A, H, I, L, M, P, Q, R, S, T, i ,j, n which means these surnames can be found in the following: A: JRIP and most interesting: m: Surnames in the Lomza, Poland, Yizkor Book Analyzing the Geographic Distribution (habitat) of a Surname - Alexander Kott alexkott@yahoo.com offers a simple method to analyze a surname, which in turn helps to speculate about the geographic origins, etymology and migration of the surname Ancestry.com - Behind the Name - the etymology and history of first names which deals with English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Muslim, Indian, Irish, Mythology, Biblical and many more name subjects Kabalarian Philosophy behind a name - Ask yourself: "If I did not have a name, how could I identify myself? If I had no name, who would I be?" Personaemicon Online - facts about people's names and their meanings. Denmark: Top 100 Surnames in Denmark and more English Versions Of Foreign Names - this list is not a bible, just more commonly acceptable name conversions. The population of the 19th century England to which most of today's Family Chronicle - Surname Origin ListFamily
Chronicle Family names (surnames) were not used officially by Jews in Germany (except in Hesse-Cassell) until the early years of the 19th century (the year depends on location). Male Jews were known by their first name followed directly by the name of their father sometimes with the addition of Jud; Females were known by their first name+wife/widow/daughter of [full name]. Submitted to JewishGen Discussion Group by Michael Bernet on 12/22/01 Foreign Name Cross-Referenced - This site allows you to cross-reference English given first names to their Czechoslovakian, German, Hungarian, Polish, Slovakian, Russian or Yiddish or equivalents. Great site! German Names - according to Alexander Beider, author of several books on the subject of names, he observed that "Jews borrowed a very significant number of names from their Christian neighbors during the 11th to the 13th centuries." His research into Jewish first names also led him to question what many Jewish historians have long held as fact -- that the Jews of Eastern Europe were descended from the earlier Jewish settlements in the Rhineland. "This idea is very simplistic" and accounts for only part of the picture, he said. "It should be nuanced" "German Jews did not name children "after" a living ancestor. That was as much a non-no as it was in Eastern Europe. Nor was there a hard-and-fast rule about whom children were named after ; it was something worked out by the parents on the basis of those who had died, those who had already had a child named after them, the social or rabbinic standing of an ancestor, whose side of the family needed appeasement and so on--and often on the basis of a relative who had died in the months immediately preceding the birth." In the 19th century, Jews in Germany strongly began to adopt a certain set of about 500 German secular names which were ultimately recognized by the rabbis as acceptable to be written in a Get (Jewish divorce document).
Given Names Database - Another useful database of likely Given Names abbreviations can be referenced at Some of the entries included in the And Hebrew Naming - The website : "My Hebrew Name" offers a free, online, database to look up, view, print and save your/their Hebrew name (s). Your Hebrew name is displayed using the Hebrew characters with nikud (vowels) and provides a transliteration for those who have not yet mastered the reading of this ancient/modern language. You do not need Hebrew fonts to view or print the Hebrew names. Holland - In the Netherlands, as in all of French Napoleonic occupied Europe, the Jews were ordered to choose [and register with the local "Maire"] a surname [as all (!) inhabitants were considered citizens], over here that was in 1811. Hungarian Naming - "Many of my Hungarian Jewish relatives had names that are on Rachel's list or are similarly Germanic or Hungarian." "Rachel doesn't indicate the context in which she found these names "For example, my mother has a cousin she always referred to as Pinchas who identified himself as Paul to immigration officials and was called Pityu in Hungary. Many affluent and assimilated Hungarian Jews spoke Hungarian or German at home and were given Hungarian or German names, rather than Yiddish names at birth. In the birth records their religious (Hebrew names) are in parentheses following the Hungarian given name." Hyphenated names http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/jewish_social_studies/v012/12.1lang.html http://www.avotaynu.com/djsretoc.htm Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris Iranian Naming - as in family names around the world, Iranian names (of any religious origin) can indicate geographical location, physical or personality characteristics, occupation, etc. Jewish Given Names Found in Les Noms Des Israilities en France www.pantera-designs.com/pnec/personaemicon.htm Jewish Men Names, 6th to 11th Centuries www.pantera-designs.com/pnec/personaemicon.htm Jewish Naming Traditions - There are many sources for explanation of Jewish naming traditions. Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions differ greatly. For detailed information: http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/GivenNames/slide7.html http://www.jewishgen.org/sefardsig/differ.HTM http://www.kolot.com/FS1999/names.shtml http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/jewish.html Jewish Naming Guide - a table listing many of the popular names with suggestions for what Hebrew/Jewish names they might take "In traditional circles in the shtetl were kinnuim fairly loosely associated in the way that secular names and their Hebrew equivalents are used nowadays, or were there more rigid naming conventions and if so how do we determine what applied at that time?" Names in the Fayvush family of Yiddish names were kinnuim for the Hebrew name Yechezkeyl in only the following countries: Austria, Germany, and Holland. To my knowledge, Fayvush was not a kinnui for Yechezkeyl in Lithuania. Khazarian Names - Kevin Brook Medieval Jewish Names - organized by period and location and by etymological origin. Medieval Spanish Jewish Names of the 13th and 14th Centuries and Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century Middle Names "We have to be careful in interpreting 'middle names'. Name Searching on the Internet - people search database follow the link for People Search and enter the name you are researching. Also try Google Names from Hebrew Chronicles of the 10th to 13th Centuries Naming Customs - In a message dated 1/15/2003 10:15:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, DanielGee@btopenworld.com writes: "as I understand it. It is traditional to name a baby after a deceased "That is a common misunderstanding. It is common to give a child a name by which to keep the memory of the deceased among the living. Among Ashkenazim in general, one doesn't call a child "after" a living ancestor. However, there is NO qualm about giving many children (cousins etc) the same name, either after the same ancestor or a different ancestor." "In Sephardic circles it is an honor to name a child after a living relative. Often the name is reversed so that the new baby is Yakov Yosef after a father named Yosef Yakov. This is a tradition." Religious naming practices among observant Jews: 1. Boys are not named until the 8th day after birth, when they undergo Bris Milah (circumcision) "Every boy was given a "shem Kadosh" (holy name) at the circumcision. This was the name by which he was called to the reading of the Torah, on the marriage contract, on a divorce, and under which he was buried and remembered at ceremonial occasions), e.g. Yizkor). (Girls were usually given just one name, which could be Biblical, descriptive (e.g. Scheinele {beautiful} or Braunele (brown-haired), or an attribute (Gittele {good}, Eydele {worthy}) They were also frequently given names derived from popular names in the non-Jewish world?" "For many reasons -- to make it easier in the non-Jewish world, because the name was considered to be "too holy" for every day use, or just as a local custom -- Jewish boys were generally given also a "kinnuy" (literally name by which he's called). These were frequently a rough translation of the Hebrew name, associated with the Hebrew name, or look-alike or sound-alike to the Hebrew name." "The kinnuy had official status, both in the Jewish community and in the non-Jewish world, going back a thousand years. Judah was associat4ed with a lion and Jews named Judah were called Leo or Leon in ancient Latin records. The kinnuy always had to be included in a get (divorce) and many rabbis published lists of kinnuyim in books concerning the granting of a get." "The kinnuy was often coupled with the Hebrew name as a couplet, e.g. Judah-Loeb. Some kinnuyim eventually took on the quality of a stand-alone name and were treated as if they were actually Hebrew names (e.g. Faivel Fayvush and similar which are actually corruptions of a much older kinnuy Vives, a kinnuy/translation for Chaim (Life). The Fayvush etc. name then developed its own kinnuyim including Phoebus (sound-alike), Uri (Hebrew for light -- attribute of the Greek sun god Phoebus), Shraga (Aramaic for candle) and Feiffer (sound-alike)." From a posting by Michael Bernet New York Times Names Index - The index lists all the names that have appeared in the NY Times including obituaries from 1851 to 1998. There is also a separate Obit Index. These libraries have a subscription to this index: Princeton University; Monmouth University; Clark Library; City University of the City of New York. Patronymic - A name derived from that of the father. Example: in a typical Russian name "Mikhail Sergeievich Gorbachev" the second name is a patronymic: it means "son of Sergei", and signifies that this man's father's first name was Sergei. Many Jewish family names originated as patronymics: for example my family name was originally Israelovici, and became my great-grandfather's last name because his father's firs name was Israel. This was quite typical in Romania, where the modern-style family name was not universally adopted until late in the 19th century. From a posting to soc.genealogy.jewish on November 18,2002 by Robert Israel israel@math.ubc.ca Patronymic is not just a Russian phenomenon. We see the same thing in Jewish records all over Europe, before (and after) inherited surnames. To this day, a Hebrew tombstone will say Abraham ben Isaac, Abraham son of Isaac - often with no surname at all. Christians also use and use patronymics throughout Europe. The Netherlands and Nordic countries used patronymics until very recently - and now we have many inherited surnames which ends in -son and some which end in - daughter which derive from them. Within Britain, patronymics were used, but not as recently as some other countries. From a posting by Sally Bruckheimer on JewishGen on November 19, 2002. Sephardic Naming "There is really no way of knowing whether a particular family is Sephardic or not just by last name or location" according to a posting on JewishGen dated March 3, 2002 by Leon Taranto LBTEPT@aol.com
"Differences in Sephardic Ashkenazi Genealogy Naming Conventions" - authored by Jeff Malka Sephardic naming tradition is naming after living grandparents and other living family members. As a result, across a given generation, there were multiple repetitions of the same first name, since, not only could one set of parents name children after their four respective parents, but so could all their siblings use the same parent's name, as well as uncles' and aunts' names. The Sephardic tradition: First son named after father's father Second son named after mother's father First daughter named after mother's mother Second daughter named after father's mother Searching In Slovakia Surnames Here is a
Slovak and Carpatho-Rusyn surnames index Soundex Soundex - how to use and what it is, and other sites designed to assist you in either learning a language or giving you the necessary information to make your own translations and information about names Soundex - The 1880, 1900 and most of the 1910 censuses have Soundex indexes on microfilm, which are coded surname indexes based on the way a surname sounds, rather than how it is spelled. Soundex is a code that gives numeric values to most consonants in a surname. All vowels and some consonants are disregarded. 1 - B P F V 2 - C S KG J Q X Z 3 - D T 4 - L 5 M N 6 R Disregard A E I O U W Y H Soundex Calculator - for both Windows and Macintosh systems It also does Daitch-Mokotoff calculations, as well. Using The Soundex System Rules - some of the basic rules for Soundex include: 1.) vowels don't exist. 2.) S and Z and c and ch and tz and ts are the same 3.) m and n are the same 4.) only the first four Soundex-recognized letters count as being a part of the name. Never drop the first letter of the name; that first letter IS the first character in the Soundex code. There is a coding variation in the original Soundex documents that NARA does not have on its website. There was an article written on this in a past issue of NGS Quarterly, Volume 89, No. 4, December 2001. You can contact NGS at Using this coding variation, certain names like ASHCROFT, PATSCHKE, DEMSHKI, BURROUGHS, and KATSCHKE will have a different Soundex code than if you used the instructions on the NARA site. Phonetic systems (Daitch-Mokotoff, American Soundex), are useful in locating variant spellings. While most tools convert only one name, Steve Morse's site converts an entire list of names to the desired coding Toponyms "Surnames named after the place where the family lived are called Toponyms. In Eastern Europe, families, almost universally took on a Toponymic surname after they had moved from that place to another place, frequently nearby. Typically, such names would be Warshawsky, Kalisher, and on of our surnames, Olkeniztki (from Olkenick)." "However, in reading "The Memoirs of Glueckel of Hamlein", a Jewish housewife and businesswoman who lived in the latter part of the 17th century, it was very clear that the important Jewish families had Toponymic surnames that reflected their current living communities. Not only did they have such Toponymic names, but they also simultaneously had hereditary surnames, which they used simultaneously. Glueckel's father, was from Stuttgart and was called Samuel Stuttgart. Glueckel Stuttgart married Chaim Hamlein and became Glueckel Hamlein. One of Glueckel's daughters married Moses ben Loeb Altona. Altona was a Danish city near to Hamlein. Another child married Samson Baiersdorf. However, once they had taken the name it remained. And so it went." The previous 'tidbit' was sent to me by Joe Fibel JFibel@msn.com To Transliterate Names from Hebrew to English or vice versa requires a great familiarity with Hebrew, a familiarity with at least half a dozen European language and with the variety of Jewish names, much time, much patience and a lot of luck. Who knows, you may be right 25% of the time." Michael Bernet, New York US Board On Geographic Names Table http://pages.prodigy.com/ukraine/translit.htm What's In A Name? Yiddish Equivalents for English Names There are NO Yiddish equivalents. There are Yiddish names, many of them based on Hebrew, Biblical or Rabbinic names. When folks emigrated from their shtetl, or came to this country, they decided for a what ever reason, to change their name to be" more American". Sometimes they were able to find a rough, sound-alike or look-alike name. Rarely could their Yiddish name be translated into an exact English name. For Biblical names, for example, the English equivalents (e.g. Moses for Moshe) were available, but when you're Americanizing your name, why use one that lets people know you are Jewish? Most of the time, parents of a new born bay, would chose a name that had the same initial sound. "In truth, the notion that there are really English equivalents to Hebrew names in any serious way is really a "Bubbe Maisa." I was named Robert because by grandmother's name was Rivka and I was given the Hebrew name Rafael because it sounded like Rivka. It is true that in certain cases there are naming patterns associated with times, places and families who immigrated to the US and attempting to guess the original Hebrew or Yiddish name from the English equivalent for the purpose of seeking earlier documents has validity. However, to believe that there are real rules to this is to believe that Scott and Jennifer and Tracy have "Hebrew equivalents." This is a waste of time. The most important thing to remember is that the traditional Jews from Europe (Chassidim, Mitnagdim, and plain old Ashkenazi Jews from Oberland, Austria and Germany) tended to name their children after deceased relatives. Jews from Sephardic countries tend to name their children after living relatives." From a posting by Rafi Guber on JewishGen Naming
Kin is not standard, but in is one of several suffixes used to form a patronymic or metonymic surnames. If you want to learn more about how surnames were created among the Jews of Eastern Europe, especially those residing in the Russian Empire, use Alexander Beider's Book "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames From the Russian Empire" ovna = daughter of ovich or ovitch = son of ... these are the father's name a patronymic. Surnames were in the main, disregarded. Nachmanovich is a Russian patronymic or a stipulation of the father's name, i.e. son of Nachman. We are lucky when this form is used, because it gives us the preceding generation, just as the Hebrew 'ben' or 'bar' would i.e. Jacob ben Isaac. Yacov ben Yitzhak. A Greek equivalent to this name would have been Nachmanides, a form similar to Maimonides. (Moses ben Maimon) From a posting by Joe Fibel. Almost any Russia area name ending -ko (-ka for women) is a diminutive. Often women did not have a Hebrew name, only a
Yiddish or Slavic one. Naming Patterns "Using Litvak Naming Patterns to Derive Names of Unknown Ancestors"
- an
article by Harold Rhode in the Fall 1995 issue of Avotaynu
"Alternate Surnames in Russian Poland" - authored by Lauren B. Eisenberg Davis's JewishGen InfoFiles. It is about Polish names: It is confusing to see a name sometimes ending in ski or ska, but it is very easy to overlook the names ending in -owy/ -owa. The explanation is the same; grammatically speaking, names ending in -ski and names ending in -owy originated as adjectives. As such, they change endings depending on gender (and other grammatical considerations). Stawowy means literally 'of the -saw_" (usually referring to 'body of water, pond," although -staw_ can mean other things). It takes a masculine ending -y when referring to a male; but when referring to a Mrs. or Miss Stawowy, you would indeed say Stawowa. The bottom line is, whenever you make a general statement, count on it; there will be exceptions. But the only way to proceed is to start with the general statement, then tackle the exceptions if need be. Names Written records exist for Ashkenazi Jewish common people mostly as civil records which began in most of Europe by Napoleon in 1812 when an edict, he directed, required a surname of all of his subjects. A helpful surname search feature, besides searching in the usual manner, is now you can browse for family surnames at this site offered by Helm's Genealogy Toolbox 'Behind the Name' - a web site that offers 'the etymology and history of first names relative to English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Indian, Irish, Mythology, Biblical and more at List of Names - taken from Avotaynu's List of Beider names Name Changing at Ellis Island In the following excerpt from the Genealogical Journal, Volume 23, Numbers 2 & 3, 1995, the following information is of importance to the researcher. "Page 79: "Ellis Island's Myths and Misconceptions" "Myth: Immigrants often had their names changed at Ellis Island." "the majority of passengers were detailed on the ship's manifest before the vessel left the port of departure. The purser or ship's officer was familiar with the name and ethnicity of the many passengers who typically used the port. The ship visited the port several times each year. The captain and the medical officer swore affidavits to the accuracy of each group of lists, with one to thirty people in a group." "On arrival in the port of New York, the US inspectors boarded each vessel and examined the manifest and tickets of all classes of passengers. For those passengers taken to Ellis Island, immigration officials reviewed the questions and answers with each person. The inspectors developed systems to prevent the misspelling of names. To handle difficult names, interpreters were on hand who could understand more than thirty languages from Albanian to Yiddish." "Between seeing the name on the manifest and writing it on a landing card there was a chance of changing the name. A few immigrants requested a name change, as a new beginning. Historical records and individual testimonies indicate that most name changes occurred during the naturalization process, not at Ellis Island." "Names were rarely changed intentionally. From mere confusion or a lack of communication, names were sometimes cropped, spelled phonetically, or substituted with the name of a hometown. Will this most common myth about Ellis Island ever change?" "Names were *not* changed at Ellis Island as evidenced that passenger manifests were *not* created at Ellis Island. The stories that names were assigned at Ellis Island is pure myth, nothing more, nothing less and only serves to perpetuate misinformation for those searching their ancestry." "Passenger manifests were created (usually) by the purser of the ship under the direction of the captain. Upon arrival at the port in the U.S. the passenger manifest was *handed* to the immigration officials." "If a name was misspelled by the purser, and the immigrant was literate and could point out the error to the immigration official, the name was corrected on the manifest ..." "Most name changes came about as a result of the immigrant desire to Americanize names and this usually happened some time after arrival. Try comparing the passenger arrival record to what appears later in either city directories, or on naturalization papers. Also bear in mind that immigrants arrived with identification papers ... and in some cases those papers were false and can thus explain a name different that what the family name actually was at the time." Another possibility: there might have been relatives in the US who recommended a name to your ancestor who came to the US on a ticket with the name, or it may have been changed any time later. It the early days (1900 included), there was no necessity of changing a name through a court order, one day someone would decide his last name sounded better as Morris than Manischewitz (or whatever), and started to use that, so don't expect to find a record of the change itself. To track down a change, you would have to check every record you can think of in the US, backwards. Posted by Sally Bruckheimer. "There are legitimate reasons that names were changed, but the story that they were changed at Ellis Island for whatever reason is not one of them." There are many sources If you assume that your ancestor change his name and was done through the legal system and not simply by customs, you can check the court records. In most states, the person would petition the local superior court for permission to change their name. The court would then review the petition, hold a hearing and then grant the change. The petition and court order would be kept on file. If you can't find the petition under the original name, you might look for it under the changed name. In some locations, it is possible that this function of name changing would be handled by a probate court, or in the case of a child or divorce, a family court. Family Names: Check out this newsgroup alt.family-names You have to type in this URL in order to join this site, but you will find users posting names, birth dates and other information. Titles such as Reb is a Yiddish honorific equivalent to Mister. Definition of ( Note there are no absolute Hebrew/Yiddish/English equivalents. Originally, various Biblical names were translated into German and were known as "kinnuyim." Later on, these German names were translated back into the Hebrew equivalent of the Germanized name. Hirsch, for example, became Zvi - another name for deer.) Binyamin = Wolf = Ze'ev, Judah = Loeb / Leo = Aryeh. Issachar is rendered as Baer / Ber which is translated back into Dov; (the Issachar = Baer / Ber process i a little complicated) Generally, the Biblical names are older, the Dov, Ze'ev, Aryeh, Zvi names appeared in the last two centuries or so. an in Poland, for example. There are four very commonly used animal names (both in Hebrew and in Yiddish) which are frequently used in the naming of boys, especially in Eastern Europe, over the last few hundred years. Therese are the Hebrew names Aryeh, Tsvi, Dov and Ze'ev (In Yiddish - Leyb, Hirsch, Behr and Wolf - meaning literally in English, Lion, Buck, Bear and Wolf. In Hungarian, wolf is Farkas (pronounced Farkash) Because of the tendency for many Jews to move around in Europe and North America during this period, many Jews often tried to 'localize' their names into the local linguistic equivalents. The result was that, for example, Aryeh or Leyb often became Leo, Leon, Loeb and other equivalents in various parts of the world. Very often, diminutives were also used, such as Velvel for Wolf and Beryl for Behr. Information obtained from a message on JewishGen submitted by Chaim Charutz on 12/18/00 Many 'popular' names were simply adopted by Jewish people for what can be described as the need 'for the local consumption' without |
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