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{{short description|Surnames whose bearers are Jews}}
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'''Jewish surnames''' are [[surname|family names]] used by [[Jews]] and those of Jewish origin. Jewish surnames are thought to be of comparatively recent origin;{{sfn|Schreiber|2003|p=190|ps=: "Jewish family names are of recent origin. Until 1800, the father's name would often be the family name; for example, Aaron ben (son of) Samuel was known as Aaron Samuel. In the early Middle Ages, Cohen, Levi, and their Hebrew abbreviations Katz (from the initials of Kohen Zedek, Priest of Justice) and Segal (from S'gan Levi, Levitical Head) are mentioned."}}{{Rp|page=190}} the first known Jewish family names date to the [[Middle Ages]], in the 10th and 11th centuries.{{sfn|Weiss|2002|p=15|ps=: "The first Jewish family names appeared in the 10th and 11th centuries as surnames for Jews of North Africa, Spain, France and Italy. At the beginning, surnames were not relevant. They were only used for outstanding individuals, not for families. Such family names were set up for educated people, scholars, poets and other notable citizens. Only in special cases they became true family names. In fact the existence of a family name gives a family group its credits, therefore outstanding families tried to demonstrate their prominence, because of a long-established family name. However, Jews in Central and Eastern Europe survived until the 13th century with no significant family names, except again for outstanding individuals. At the turn of the 19th century (Joseph II) Jews had to have family names in the following countries: Austria, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Prussia, Russia, and Ukraine. In 1787, the government of Ukraine required Jews living within its borders to assume "German-sounding" surnames so they could be distinguished from so-called "native Ukrainians". Ten years later in 1797, Jews of Lithuania were required to do the same. In Russia, Jews assumed surnames more slowly after the law requiring them to do so took effect in 1804 (with the integrated part of Poland). By the end of the 19th century, all European Jews had surnames."}}

Jews have some of the largest varieties of surnames among any ethnic group, owing to the geographically diverse [[Jewish diaspora]], as well as [[cultural assimilation]] and the recent trend toward [[Hebraization of surnames]].   
Some traditional surnames relate to Jewish history or roles within the religion, such as [[Cohen (surname)|Cohen]] ("[[Cohen|priest]]"), [[Levi (surname)|Levi]] ("[[Levi]]"), [[Shulman (surname)|Shulman]] ("[[Shulman|synagogue-man]]"), [[Sofer (disambiguation)|Sofer]] ("[[Sofer|scribe]]"), or [[Kantor (surname)|Kantor]]/[[Cantor (surname)|Cantor]] ("[[cantor]]"), while many others relate to a secular occupation or place names. The majority of Jewish surnames used today developed in the past three hundred years.<ref name="ujew">{{cite journal|title=Еврейские фамилии: история происхождения и разнообразие (Jewish Surnames: History of Origin and Diversity)|journal=U-Jew!|date=2016|volume=16|url=http://ujew.com.ua/evrejskie-familii-istoriya-proishozhdeniya-i-raznoobrazie|language=ru|quote=История большинства еврейских фамилий укладывается в три столетия ... связанные с религией: Шульман – служитель в синагоге; Рабинович – раввин; Сойфер – писатель священных текстов. Особой популярностью пользовались два титула: Коэн – священный жрец и Леви – помощник священника.}}</ref>{{sfn|Singer|1901–1906|ps=: "The use of surnames thus became common among the Arabic-speaking Jews, who naturally carried the custom into Spain... As has been seen, surnames were not unknown among the Jews of the Middle Ages, and as Jews began to mingle more with their fellow citizens the practice of using or adopting civic surnames in addition to the "sacred" name, used only in religious connections, grew commensurately. Of course, among the Sephardim, this practice was common almost from the time of the exile from Spain, and probably became still more common as a result of the example of the Maranos, who on adopting Christianity accepted in most cases the family names of their godfathers. Among the Ashkenazim, whose isolation from their fellow citizens was more complete, the use of surnames became at all general only in the eighteenth century."}}

==History==
Historically, Jews used [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[patronymic]] names. In the Jewish patronymic system the first name is followed by ''ben-, bar-'' or ''bat-'' ("son of" in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], "son of" in [[Aramaic]] and "daughter of," respectively), and then the father's name.

Permanent family surnames only gained popularity among [[Sephardic Jews]] in [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] and elsewhere as early as the 10th or 11th century and did not spread widely to the [[Ashkenazic Jews]] of Germany or Eastern Europe until the 18th and 19th centuries, where the adoption of surnames was imposed in exchange for [[Jewish emancipation]]. European nations gradually undertook legal endeavors with the aim of enforcing permanent surnames in the Jewish populations. Part of the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|Alhambra Decree]] of 1492 contained a provision mandating fixed legal surnames for Sephardic Jews, but it was not until the 18th century that the rest of Europe followed suit. The [[Kingdom of Prussia]] began sequentially requiring Jews in its eastern provinces to adopt surnames in the 1790s in an edict affirmed by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] following his invasion of Prussia in 1812. In 1787, [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II]] promulgated an edict requiring all Jews in [[Austria]] to acquire surnames. The [[Russian Empire]] mandated the assigning of surnames to Jews by their local community leaders in 1804. [[France]] adopted a similar policy in 1808. By the middle of the 19th century, most European Jews had acquired surnames under government pressure.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beider |first=Alexander |title=A dictionary of Jewish surnames from the Russian Empire |date=1993 |publisher=Avotaynu, Inc |isbn=978-0-9626373-3-9 |location=Teaneck, NJ}}</ref><sup>:9-10</sup>

Surnames were derived from a variety of sources, such as the personal names of ancestors, place names, and occupations. In the 18th century, a custom developed amongst the Eastern European Jews of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] and [[Russian Empire]]s where surnames began being passed from mother to son as opposed from father to son, but the trend seems to have died out by the early 20th century.

An exception was members of the Cohanim (priestly caste) and [[Levite]]s (descendants of Levi) who performed certain religious duties, who had always appended the surnames Cohen and Levi respectively (modern spelling in English may vary), which were usually preceded by ''ha-'' meaning "the" in Hebrew. These names are seen in many various forms today, all coming from this root. For example, the name Levine in English-speaking countries, the name Löw in Germanic countries and the names Levi, Lévai, or Lévay in Hungary, Europe, or America. Although Ashkenazi Jews now use European or modern-Hebrew surnames for everyday life, the Hebrew patronymic form (''ben''- or ''bas''-/''bat''- with the father's name) is still used in Jewish religious and cultural life. It is used in the [[synagogue]] and in documents in [[Halakha|Jewish law]], such as the [[ketubah]] (marriage contract).

== Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities ==
{{Further info|List of Sephardic Jewish surnames}}
Surnames were not unknown among the Jews of the Middle Ages, and as Jews began to mingle more with their fellow citizens, the practice of using or adopting civic surnames in addition to the "sacred" name, used only in religious connections, grew commensurately. Among the [[Sephardim]], this practice was common long before the [[Alhambra Decree|exile from Spain]], and probably became still more common as a result of the example of the ''[[conversos]]'', who upon adopting Christianity accepted in most cases the family names of their godfathers. Among the [[Ashkenazi]]m, whose isolation from the mainstream majority population in the lands where they lived was more complete, the use of surnames only started to become common in most places in the eighteenth century.

On the other hand, the use of surnames became common very early among the Arabic-speaking Jews, who carried the custom into the [[Iberian Peninsula]] (modern Spain and Portugal). Among [[Sephardi Jews]] are found such names as [[Abeldano]], corresponding to ''Ibn el-Danan''; [[Abencabre]], corresponding to ''Ibn Zabara''; Tongay is another Sephardi Jewish last name and is derived from the root word Torah ({{Script/Hebrew|תּוֹרָה}}) in Hebrew; [[Avinbruch]] or [[Auerbach (surname)|Auerbach]] corresponding to ''Ibn Baruch''; and Beizaee, corresponding to ''Iza'' (Hebrew root for "God is perfection").<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sephardim.com - Sephardic surnames|url=https://www.sephardim.co/|access-date=August 15, 2020|publisher=Sephardim.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Hacen|Hagen]] corresponds to [[Hassan (surname)|Hassan]] or [[Hazan]]; and the like. Biblical names often take curious forms in the Iberian records, ''Isaac'' appearing as [[Acaz]], ''Cohen'' as [[Coffen]] or {{Proper name|Coffe}}, ''Yom-Ṭob'' as [[Bondia (surname)|Bondia]], ''Ẓemaḥ'' as [[Crescas]] and/or [[Cresquez]].

[[:es:Arias (apellido)|Arias]], a patronymic surname, became common throughout the Iberian peninsula. Among the Jews of Spain and Portugal, it had the hidden meaning "the lion of Israel is on high." A well-known Arias was the humanist and Hebraist [[Benito Arias Montano]].

Sephardic Jews who settled in [[Wallachia]], Romania, coming from [[Trani]], Italy, in the 1700s began to adopt [[Mitrani]] as their surname with a reference to their city.<ref name=mihai>{{cite journal|author=Mihai Alexandrescu|title=David Mitrany during the First World War. Some ambiguities in his biography|journal=Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai - Historia|url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=677791|volume=62
|issue=2|year=2017|page=50}}</ref>

The ''Ḥen'' family appears to have adopted a translation of the name of their home village, Gracia, near [[Barcelona]].<ref>Loeb. ''R. E. J.'' iv. 73.</ref> Indeed, among the Sephardi the tendency to adopt family names from localities is largely developed; hence were derived such names as [[Espinosa (surname)|Espinosa]], [[Gerondi]], [[Cavalleria]], [[De La Torre]], [[Del Monte (surname)|del Monte]], [[Lousada]], and [[Vila Real, Portugal|Villa Real]]. The name ''Sasportas'' deserves special attention, as it is really the [[Balearic dialect]]al form of [[La Porta]].

Many families, especially among [[New Christians]] (Jewish converts to Catholicism) and [[Crypto-Jews]], but not restricted to them, took Spanish and Portuguese family names, sometimes using translations (such as Vidal or de Vidas for ''Hayyim'', Lobos for ''Zev'', de Paz for ''Shalom'', and de la Cruz or Espírito Santo for ''Ruah''); phonetic similarities according to a [[kinnui]]-like system, sometimes choosing between already existing ones (such as Pizarro/Pissarro, Mendes, Fonseca, Calle, Fernandes or Rodrígues); even [[given name]]s (for example, de Jesus or de Miguel). [[Julio Caro Baroja]], supporting [[José Leite de Vasconcelos]]' thesis  in his "Anthroponymy Portuguesa, 4" argues, for example, that the surnames related to ''calle'' ([[English language|English]]: "street"), that would be the equivalent in something like a ghetto, are of [[Sephardi Jews|Jewish]] origin. This is the case with Alonso Calle, treasurer on the first voyage of [[Christopher Columbus]] to the Americas, who was one of the settlers of Sephardic origin who comprised the crew.

Some Sephardic or Hidden/Undeclared Jews for fear of persecution or worse felt compelled to anglicize their names (For example, the  original, Italianate Principe thus became Prins in early Amsterdam, and Prince in England or early America later on). Anglicized Sephardic families were also known to have intermixed with similar Christian surname communities and family groupings, often later converting.

The [[Curiel family]] is part of these New Christian families that emerge around the time due to persecution. Members adopted the Portuguese last name of Nunes da Costa and the Curiel family were [[Nobility|ennobled]] by [[John IV of Portugal|João IV of Portugal]] June 14, 1641.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Jacob-Curiel-alias-for-Duarte-Nunes-da-Costa/6000000004120044177|title=Jacob Curiel, alias for Duarte Nunes da Costa|website=geni_family_tree|date=September 26, 1587 |language=en-US|access-date=October 1, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShYX4qoEYPYC&q=duartes+nunes+coimbra&pg=PA333|title=Empires and Entrepots: Dutch, the Spanish Monarchy and the Jews, 1585-1713|last=Israel|first=Jonathan|date=January 1, 1990|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781852850227|language=en}}</ref>

==Ashkenazi Jewish communities ==
{{Further info|List of Ashkenazi Jewish surnames}}
[[Jew]]s have historically used [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] patronymic names.  While permanent family surnames started appearing among [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic Jews]] in [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] and elsewhere as early as the 10th or 11th century, they did not spread widely to the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazic Jews]] of [[Germany]] or [[Eastern Europe]] until later. However, Non-Ashkenazi Jews who had immigrated to what was considered [[Ashkenaz#Medieval reception|Ashkenaz]] (such as Sephardic Jews who fled the Inquisition) would often keep their surnames and/or Ashkenazize them (e.g., "Melamad" was kept; "Leoni" would be Ashkenazized to "[[Leib]]"), and some of the already-settled Jews in communities in large cities (such as [[Prague]] or [[Frankfurt am Main]]) began to adopt various surnames.

[[Matronymic surname]]s, derived from the name of the [[matriarch]] of the family were adopted by many households,<ref>[[Erika TRimm]], [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110912586/html ''Matronymika im aschkenasischen Kulturbereich'']</ref> see [[:category:Jewish matronymic surnames]].

Other surnames came from the man's trade such as Metzger (butcher) or Becker (baker), see [[#Occupational names and nicknames]]. A few are derived from personal attributes, such as [[Joffe]] (beautiful), or special events in the family history. The majority of Middle Age surname adoption came from place names, see [[#Toponymic surnames]], (for example [[Shapiro]], from Shpira, [[Speyer]], a Rhenanian city known for its famous Jewish community in the 11th century), often a town name, typically the birthplace of the founder of a rabbinical or other dynasty. These names would permutate to various forms as families moved, such as the original Welsch becoming Wallach, Wlock, or Block. Since these surnames did not have the official status that modern ones do, often the old surname would be dropped and a new one adopted after the family moved their household.<ref name="Kaganoff">{{cite book | title= A Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their History | author= Benzion C. Kaganoff | date= 1996| publisher= Rowman and Littlefield Publishers | isbn=9781461627203| pages = 17–22 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2IxzRvU_nwcC&q=jewish+surname+history&pg=PP2 | access-date= June 3, 2014}}</ref>

Many surnames in the Netherlands derived from the German versions. For example, [[De Waal (surname)|Waal]] derived from [[Wahl (surname)|Wahl]] and Voorzanger (Chazan) derived from Vorsänger.
 
The process of assigning permanent surnames to Jewish families (most of which are still used to this day) began in Austria. On July 23, 1787, five years after the [[1782 Edict of Tolerance|Edict of Tolerance]], the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph II]] issued a decree called ''Das Patent über die Judennamen'' which compelled the Jews to adopt German surnames.<ref>[http://sh1.webring.com/people/bt/touviagoldstein/documents.html Original text of the decree] issued by [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor|Joseph the second]] on July 23, 1787</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Zaleisky |first= Adalbert |title= Handbuch der gesetze und verordnungen welche für die polizei-verwaltung im österreichischen kaiserstaate von 1740–1852 erschienen sind |publisher= F. Manz |year= 1854 |isbn= 978-1-148-91162-5|pages= 168–169 |url=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Handbuch_der_gesetze_und_verordnungen_welche_f%C3%BCr_die_polizei-verwaltung_im_%C3%B6sterreichischen_kaiserstaate_von_1740-1852_erschienen_sind.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.me.com/ebauer/translations/page4/page4.html |title=iCloud |publisher=Web.me.com |access-date=November 8, 2015}}</ref> Prussia did so soon after, beginning with [[Silesia]]: the city of [[Wrocław|Breslau]] in 1790, the Breslau administrative region in 1791, the [[Legnica|Liegnitz]] region in 1794.  In 1812, when [[Napoleon]] had occupied much of Prussia, surname adoption was mandated for the unoccupied parts; and Jews in the rest of Prussia adopted surnames in 1845.<ref name="Kaganoff" /><ref name="Lars Menk 2005. pp. 3-4">Lars Menk: ''A Dictionary of German-Jewish Surnames''. Avotaynu, Bergenfield, 2005. pp. 3–4</ref>

Napoleon also, in a decree of July 20, 1808, insisted upon the Jews adopting fixed names.<ref>"''L'Univers Israélite''", lvii. 472</ref> His decree covered all lands west of the Rhine; and many other parts of Germany required surname-adoption within a few years. The city of [[Hamburg]] was the last German state to complete the process, in 1849.<ref>Czakai, Johannes:  Hamburg’s Jews Take Permanent Family Names (translated by Insa Kummer), in: [http://jewish-history-online.net/ Key Documents of German-Jewish History], Retrieved May 19, 2017.  {{doi|10.23691/jgo:article-194.en.v1}}</ref>

At the end of the 18th century after the [[Partition of Poland]] and later after the [[Congress of Vienna]] the [[Russian Empire]] acquired a large number of Jews who did not use surnames.  They, too, were required to adopt surnames during the 19th century.

==Medieval France==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2019}}
In [[medieval France]] the use of Biblical names appears to have been more extended, judging by the elaborate lists at the end of Gross's ''Gallia Judaica''. True surnames occurred, especially in the south, like Farissol, Bonet, Barron, Lafitte; but as a rule local designations were popular, such as "Samson of Sens", etc.

==Israel ==
{{Main|Hebraization of surnames}}
{{see also|Hebrew surname}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2014}}
Many [[Aliyah|immigrants]] to [[Israel|modern Israel]] change their names to Hebrew names, to erase remnants of exiled life still surviving in family names from other languages. This phenomenon is especially common among [[Ashkenazi Jews in Israel|Ashkenazic Jewish immigrants to Israel]], because most of their surnames were taken recently, and many were imposed by authorities in Europe as a replacement for the traditional Hebrew patronymic form.

A popular form to create a new family name using Jewish patronymics sometimes related to poetic Zionist themes, such as ''ben Ami'' ("son of my people"), or ''ben Artzi'' ("son of my country"), and sometimes related to the Israeli landscape, such as ''bar Ilan'' ("son of the trees"). Others have created Hebrew names based on [[Phonetics|phonetic]] similarity with their original family name: ''Golda Meyersohn'' became [[Golda Meir]]. Another famous person who used a false patronymic was the first [[Israeli Prime Minister]], [[David Ben-Gurion]], whose original family name was Grün,"green" in German, but adopted the name "Ben-Gurion" ("son of the [[lion]] cub"), not "Ben-Avigdor" (his father's name).

== Iran ==
Most of the [[Jews in Iran]] had no permanent surnames before [[Reza Shah]]. After surnames became mandatory, many Persian Jews employed job related names as their surnames. Many Jews worked in non-Muslim professions like goldsmith, silversmith, dealers of coins, money changing and seller of spirits. Others engaged in medicine, silk manufacturing and weaving, locksmith, tailors, shoe makers, merchants of second hand items.<ref>Between Foreigners and Shi‘is: Nineteenth-Century Iran and its Jewish Minority (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007), page 155.</ref> Many other Jews were engaged in jewelry trading, opium and wine manufacturing, musicians, dancers, scavengers, peddlers and other professions that were generally deemed non-respectful.<ref>Between Foreigners and Shi‘is: Nineteenth-Century Iran and its Jewish Minority (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007), page 201.</ref>

Many Jews adopted these professions as their surnames, such as Barzegar (the ones in Meybod, Yazd, meaning farmer), Abrishami (silk maker), Almasi (diamond maker), Boloorian (crystal maker), Dehghan (wealthy farmer), Fallah (farmer), Zarrinkoob, Javaherian, Gohari (gold seller), Noghrehforosh (silversmith), Mesforosh (coppersmith), Sarraf, Sarrafan, Sarraf Nezhad, Banki (money changer), Zargar, Zarshenas (goldsmith), Hakakian or Hakkakian (connected with raw material, finished product or implements associated with that trade) for example Roya Hakakian. Jews in Iran also employed the son of or daughter of patronymics, using Persian suffixes such as ''-pour'' (son of), ''-zadeh'' (born of), ''-nezhad'' (from the race of) and ''-ian'' (from the group of). Some examples of these names include Davoud pour (son of David), Davoud nezhad (from the seed of David), Davoud zadeh (born of David), Rabbi pour (son of a rabbi), Rabbi zadeh (born of a rabbi), Yaghoub pour (son of Jacob) and Jafar nezhad (from the race of Japhet). [[Levite]] and [[Kohanim]] surnames became Lavi, Lavaee, Lavi Zadeh, Lavaeeian, Kohan, Kohan pour (son of a Kohen), etc.

Many Persian last names consisted of three parts in order to distinguish from other families with similar last names. Some Persian Jewish families that had similar surnames to their Muslim neighbors added a second surname at the end of their last names. As an example Jafar nezhad Levian (From the race of Japhet and from the Tribe of [[Levite]]). The purpose of Levian at the end is to distinguish from Muslim Jafar nezhad (From the race of Japhet).

Many Jews employed the Turkish suffix ''-chi'' (meaning "merchant of") to denote their profession. Examples of such include Abrishamchi (silk merchant), Saatchi (watch seller), Talachi (gold seller), Noghrechi (silver seller), Arakchi (merchant of alcoholic drinks), Meschi (copper merchant), Aeenechi (merchant of mirrors), etc.<ref>''Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews'', by Houman Sarshar, {{ISBN|978-0827607514}}</ref>

== Toponymic surnames==
Many modern Jewish surnames are [[toponymic surname]]s, names derived from place names. There are general names like [[Deutsch (surname)|Deutsch]], [[Frank (surname)|Frank]], [[Franco (name)|Franco]], [[Frankel]], and more localized ones from almost every European country.

The Netherlands has contributed [[Leeuwarden|Leuwarden]], [[Nijmegen|Neumegen]], [[Limburg (Netherlands)|Limburg]], [[van Thal]], and various other [[Tussenvoegsel|van]]s, as [[van Ryn]] ([[Rhine]]), etc.

Germany has contributed the largest number. Some refer to well-known cities as [[Speyer]] (in the Middle Ages Spira) (hence Shapira or [[Shapiro]]), [[Poznań|Posen]] (hence [[Posner (surname)|Posner]] and [[Posener (disambiguation)|Posener]], as well as [[Posner (surname)|Pozner]]), [[Berlin]] (hence [[Berliner (surname)|Berliner]] and [[Berlinsky]]), [[Wrocław|Breslau]] (anglicised to "[[Bresslaw]]"), [[Bingen am Rhein|Bingen]], [[Kassel|Cassel]] (cf. [[David Cassel]]), [[Treves]] (whence, according to some authorities, originated the very popular [[Alsace|Alsatian]] name of [[Dreyfus (surname)|Dreyfus]]), [[Dresden]], [[Fulda]] (hence [[Foulde]]), and [[Oppenheim]]; others, to less familiar towns, like [[Auerbach (surname)|Auerbach]], [[Bischoffsheim]], [[Utting am Ammersee]] (hence Utting), [[Hildesheim]] ([[Hildesheimer]]), [[Landshuth]], [[Sulzberg (disambiguation)|Sulzberg]]. House signs such as those in the ''[[Frankfurter Judengasse]]'' gave rise to the names of some of the best known of Jewish families: [[Rothschild family|Rothschild]] ("red [[shield]]"), [[Schwarzschild]] ("black shield"), [[Adler (surname)|Adler]] ("eagle"), [[Ganz]] or [[Gans (surname)|Gans]] ("[[goose]]"), [[Strauss|Strauß]] ("[[ostrich]]"), and [[Ochs (surname)|Ochs]] ("ox").<ref>I Kracauer, ''Die Geschichte der Judengasse in Frankfurt.''  Frankfurt, 1909. pp 453ff.</ref> Some names may seem to be derived artificially, but can also refer to towns, e.g., [[Birnbaum (surname)|Birnbaum]] (translated into "[[Pear]]tree"), [[Rosenberg (surname)|Rosenberg]], [[Kornberg (surname)|Kornberg]], [[Sommerfeld (disambiguation)|Sommerfeld]], [[Grünberg (surname)|Grünberg]] (hence [[Greenberg (surname)|Greenberg]]), [[Goldberg (surname)|Goldberg]], and [[Rubinstein]]/[[Rubenstein]].

The English [[Crawcour]] (cf. [[Siegfried Kracauer]]) comes from [[Kraków|Cracow]], while ''[[van Praag]](h)'' is the name of a [[Prague]] family that settled in the Netherlands before going over to England. The name [[Gordon (surname)|Gordon]] may in some cases be derived from the Russian [[Grodno]]{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}} but is also said to have been adopted by Jews in the Russian Empire in honor of [[Lord George Gordon]] (1751–1793), a Scottish nobleman who converted to Judaism in 1787 in Birmingham.

From Poland have come names such as [[Polano]], [[Pollock (surname)|Pollock]], [[Polack]], [[Polak]], [[Pollak]], [[Poole (surname)|Poole]], [[Pool (surname)|Pool]], and [[Polk (name)|Polk]]. The names [[Altschul]] or [[Altschuler]] are derived from the ''Altschul'' ("old school/synagogue") of Prague.

Sephardic surnames, as already mentioned, are almost invariably local, as [[Almanzi]], Arwa and Aruesti (from [[Hervás|Hervas]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Pleasant Are Their Names: Jewish names in the Sephardi diaspora |date=2010 |publisher=University Press of Maryland |isbn=978-1-934309-24-7 |editor-last=Demsky |editor-first=Aaron |series=Studies and texts in Jewish History and Culture; 19 |location=Bethesda, Md |pages=116–117}}</ref>), Bejarano (from [[Bejar]]), [[Castro (surname)|Castro]], [[Carvajal (disambiguation)|Carvajal]], [[Espinosa (surname)|Espinosa]]/Spinoza, [[Silva (given name)|Silva]], [[Leon (surname)|Leon]], [[Navarro (surname)|Navarro]], [[Robles (surname)|Robles]], [[Sevilla]] (Spanish), and [[Almeida (surname)|Almeida]], [[Carvallo]], [[Lisbona]], [[Miranda (surname)|Miranda]], [[Paiva (disambiguation)|Paiva]], [[Pimentel (surname)|Pimentel]], [[Porto]], [[Pieba]] and [[Verdugo (surname)|Verdugo]]  (Portuguese). Many Italian names are also of this class, as [[Alatino]], Di Cori (from [[Cori, Lazio|Cori]]), [[Genovese]] (from [[Genoa]]), [[Meldola]], [[Montefiore (surname)|Montefiore]], [[Mortara (surname)|Mortara]], [[Pisa]], [[Rizzolo]], [[Romanelli]] (with its variants [[Romanin]], [[Romain (disambiguation)|Romain]], [[Romayne]], and [[Romanel (disambiguation)|Romanel]]), [[Sonnino]], Vitalis (from [[Jaim]] or [[Haim|Chaim]] and its variants Vidal, Vidale and Vidas); Verdugo and its variants Berdugo, Bardogo, [[Paradiso (surname)|Paradiso]] an anagram for the word diaspora (dispersion).

Even in the East there are names of these last two classes, [[Barron (surname)|Barron]] (from [[BarOn]]), [[Galante (disambiguation)|Galante]], [[Veneziani]], though there are a few Arabic names like [[Alfandari]] and Ḥaggis; Greek, as [[Galipapa]] and [[Pappo]]; and a few Turkish, as [[Jamila (surname)|Jamila]], [[Gungur]], Bilbil, and [[Sabad]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Franco |first1=Moïse |title=Essai sur l'histoire des Israélites de l'empire Ottoman, depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours |date=1897 |location=Paris |publisher=A. Durlacher |pages=284–285 |url= https://archive.org/stream/essaisurlhistoir00franuoft#page/284/mode/2up |access-date=January 9, 2018 |language=fr}}</ref> Going still farther east, the curious custom which prevails among the [[Bene Israel]] may be mentioned of changing Biblical names to similar [[Hindu]] names with the addition of ''-jee'', thus [[Benjamin]] into [[Benmajee]], [[Abraham]] into [[Abrajee]], [[David]] into [[Dawoodjee]], [[Jacob]] into [[Akkoobjee]].

== Occupational names and nicknames ==
Another frequent source for Jewish and German-Jewish surnames is the names of trades and occupations; such names as [[Kaufmann]] and [[Marchant]] ("merchant") became prominent. Others of the same kind are: Bialasik, [[Banks (surname)|Banks]], Brauer, Breyer, and Brower ("brewer"); [[Spielmann]] ("musician"); [[Gerber (surname)|Gerber]] ("tanner"); Goldschmit (Goldsmith); Silverschmit (Silversmith); [[Steinschneider]] ("stonecutter"); [[Graveur]] ("engraver"); [[Shoemark]] or [[Schumacher]] ("shoemaker"); [[Schuster]] ("cobbler"); [[Schneider (surname)|Schneider]], [[Schneiders]], and [[Snyders (surname)|Snyders]] ("tailor"; in Hebrew {{Script/Hebrew|חייט}}, [[Chait]]/Khait (and at times [[Hyatt]]{{citation needed|date=February 2014}})); [[Wechsler (disambiguation)|Wechsler]] ("money-changer"); [[Zimmermann (surname)|Zimmermann]] ("Carpenter"). Related, and likewise generically German, names are derived [[metonym]]ically for a common object or tool of a profession: e.g., Hammer for a blacksmith, Feder ("quill") for a scribe, and Lein ("linen") for a dealer in cloth; [[Balsam]] a dealer in Balsam.

There are other occupational names that are more distinctively related to Jewish culture and religious roles: Dayan (Jewish religious judge in a Beth din); Parnass, Derus, Gabbay, Singer, [[Hazzan|Cantor]], [[Voorsanger]], [[Chazan]], [[Cantarini]], from the synagogue officials who were so called; [[Schochet|Shochet]], [[Schaechter]], [[Schechter]], from the ritual [[shochet|slaughterer]] (also Schub or Shub: Hebrew acronym for ''shochet u-bodek'', ritual slaughterer and kosher meat inspector); [[Shadkun]], a marriage-broker; [[Rabe (surname)|Rabe]], [[Rabinowitz]], [[Rabinovich]], [[Rabinowicz]], and [[Rabbinovitz]], [[rabbi]]s (occasionally Anglicized to [[Robinson (name)|Robinson]] or [[Robbins (name)|Robbins]]); [[Behar (surname)|Behar]]/Bahar, abbreviation of the Hebrew honorific title "''ben kavod rabbi''," which signifies "son of the honorable rabbi",<ref name=":0" /> [[Benmohel]] (one variant of which is [[Mahler (surname)|Mahler]]), son of one who performed [[circumcision]], the sacred rite of Abraham. A number of Arabic names are of similar origin: [[Al-Fakhkhar]], a potter; [[Mocatta]], a mason or possibly a soldier (''[[Al-Muḳatil]]'').<ref>For the various forms of ''[[Cohen (surname)|Cohen]]'' see [[Jewish Encyclopedia|Jew. Encyc.]] iv. 144.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[German family name etymology]]
* [[Hebrew name]]
* [[Jewish name]]
* [[List of Jewish nobility]]

== Citations ==
{{sfn whitelist|CITEREFSinger1901–1906}}
{{reflist|30em}}

== General bibliography ==
* {{JewishEncyclopedia|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=N&artid=51|article=Names (Personal)}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |title=Names |year=2003 |encyclopedia=The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia |publisher=Schreiber Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DK5K72JymAEC&pg=PA190 |others=consulting editors Alvin I. Schiff and [[León Klenicki|Leon Klenicki]] |editor-last=Schreiber |editor-first=Mordecai |editor-link=Mordecai Schreiber |edition=3rd |isbn=978-1-887563-77-2}}
* {{cite book|last=Weiss|first=Nelly|title=The origin of Jewish family names: morphology and history|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6i4XAQAAIAAJ|year=2002|publisher=P. Lang|isbn=978-0-8204-5644-7}}
* Eva Horowitz and [[Heinrich Guggenheimer]]: [https://books.google.com/books?id=_dQP4nHgyVUC Jewish Family Names and their Origins: an etymological dictionary]. KTAV 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-88125-297-2}}, 882 pages
* ''What’s in a Name? 25 Jewish Stories''. Jewish Museum of Switzerland, Biel 2022. ISBN 978-3-907262-34-4.

=== German Jewish surnames===
* Lars Menk: ''A Dictionary of German-Jewish Surnames''. [[Avotaynu]], [[Bergenfield, New Jersey|Bergenfield]], 2005.
* Franz D. Lucas and Margret Heitmann: ''Stadt des Glaubens''. Olms, 1992, {{ISBN|978-3-487-09495-3}}.
* A. Heppner: "Die Stamm-Numeranten". In: ''Breslauer Juedisches Gemeindeblatt, Amtliches Blatt der Synagogengemeinde zu Breslau''. Breslau 1928.
* [[Leopold Zunz]]: ''Namen der Juden: Eine geschichtliche Untersuchung''. Leipzig 1837.
* [[Johann Jakob Schudt]]: ''Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten. Vorstellende, was sich Curieuses ... mit denen ... Juden zugetragen''. Frankfurt & Leipzig, 1714–18.

===Other regions===
* [[Alexander Beider]]: ''A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia''. Avotaynu, Bergenfield, 2004, {{ISBN|1-886223-19-X}}.
* Alexander Beider: ''A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland''. Avotaynu, Bergenfield, 1996, {{ISBN|0-9626373-9-4}}.
** (first edition) Alexander Beider: ''Jewish Surnames in Prague (15th–18th Centuries)''. Avotaynu, Bergenfield, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-9626373-5-3}}.
* Alexander Beider: ''A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire'': Revised Edition, two volumes. Avotaynu, Bergenfield, 2008, {{ISBN|1886223386}}, 10,008 pages
** First edition: 1993, {{ISBN|0-9626373-3-5}}.

== External links ==
* [http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/printarticle.aspx?id=2126 "Names and Naming"] by Alexander Beider, ''[[The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe]]''

[[Category:Surnames of Jewish origin| ]]
[[Category:Jewish families| ]]
[[Category:Jewish culture|Surname]]