Many of the names that people think "sound" Jewish are, in fact, simple German, Russian or Polish surnames. The point? You generally can't identify Jewish ancestry by a surname alone. Actually, there are really only three surnames (and their variations) that are generally specifically Jewish in nature: Cohen, Levy and Israel. Yet, even variations of these common Jewish-specific surnames may not be Jewish. The surnames Cohan and even Cohen, for example, could indeed be Jewish in origin; but could also be an Irish surname, derived from O'Cadham (descendant of Cadhan).
While few names are specifically Jewish, there are certain surnames that are more commonly found among Jews:
- Names ending in -berg (Weinberg, Goldberg)
- Names endin in -stein (Einstein, Hofstein)
- Names ending in -witz (Rabinowitz, Horowitz)
- Names ending in -baum (Metzenbaum, Himelbaum)
- Names ending in -thal (Blumenthal, Eichenthal)
- Names ending in -ler (Adler, Winkler)
- Names ending in -feld (Seinfeld, Berkenfeld)
- Names ending in -blum (Weissblum, Rosenblum)
- Names having to do with wealth (Goldberg, Silverstein)
- Names derived from Hebrew words (Mizrachi, from mizrakhi, meaning "eastern, or easterner")
Estee Reider, in Jewish World Review, also points out that some Jewish surnames may originate from professions that are exclusive to Jews. The surname Shamash, and its variations such as Klausner, Templer and Shuldiner, means shamash, a synagogue sexton. Chazanian, Chazanski and Chasanov all derive from chazan, a cantor.
Another common origin for Jewish surnames are "house names," referring to a distinctive sign attached to a house in the days before street numbers and addresses (a practice in use primarily in Germany, by both Gentiles and Jews). The most famous of these Jewish house names is Rothschild, or "red shield," for a house distinguished by a red sign.
As I said before, you can't assume that any of these name are Jewish, no matter how Jewish they may sound to you, or how many Jews you know with that name. The third most common Jewish surname in America (after Cohen and Levy) is Miller, which is also obviously a very common surname for Gentiles as well.
More in-depth discussions of Jewish surnames can be found at Jewish Names from Judaism 101, History of German Jewish Surnames: Is My Surname Jewish? by Esther Bauer, PhD, and The Names of the Jews by Joachim Mugdan at JewishGen.
Goldberg etc… are nothing to do with wealth per se. These names are to do with Jews having been banned from trading and/or practicing in their professions of choice, and thus being forced to trade physical, not-so-tracebable things in their respective home countries, way back when. Analogous (or close) to a very well known example whereby Cromwell only let Jews back into England to lend money, as per it being forbidden for Christians.
Unless you’re trying to reinforce some horrible stereotypes. Which really don’t need reinforcing. And especially as you claim to know something about geneology.
I in no way mean to imply that the surname refers to someone who was wealthy – by “wealth” I was referring to the surname’s origin. In the case of Goldberg, it derives from the German gold ‘gold’ + berg ‘mountain’, ‘hill.’ I appreciate your additional explanation!
My paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Kefferstein.She was an immigrant from Germany before W W II . Does anybody know if that is or was a traditional jewish name ?
My father is a born-again Christian so when I married a nice Jewish boy and had my children raised Jewish, I was bashed for a long time. However, recently something came up that my grandmother may have been Jewish but her parents converted to save themselves from persecution, she gets angry at the thought of it. She was born in 1922 and her name is Helen Myrtle Jacobs. Could she have been Jewish?
There is a some controversy in our family concerning the possibility of my grandmother being Jewish. She proclaims herself to be a Christian German born in 1922. Her name is Helen Myrtle Jacobs. Could it be possible that she was Jewish?
Or is the name deceiving?
Dawn
My wifes grandfather was named Goldsmith is this a jewish surname,her Granmothers surname was Allen?
Cheers Carl
I believe that if you’re Jewish where the names are concerned you would know. I believe that you would always somehow experience favour in all aspects of your life. At our place of worship in my island, there is such a great prayer for the peace for the city of Jerusalem and for her people the Jews. Our hearts have grown so fond of the Jews and in our prayer for her peace, we experience such abundance of Blessings, there is NO LACK OF ANYTHING!!!. It is so intense when we pray for her, there is such great weeping in the building for her wounds and how for so long we as Christians have failed to perform our duty ie to stand in the gap for her safety and peace. But great is our God, His faithfulness endures forever. While we were still in slumber mode He has always been there for His people. For in their time of despair, He rises up against her enemies. The punishment He inflicts upon them in the form of natural disasters is beyond our comprehension. Professionals will blame these on climate change and scientific reasons, but this is the last days and i am sure in my heart that it is the hand of the Adonai Avir Yakov’(mighty God of Jacob). No one knows what the future holds but i for one knows who holds the future. My God, My Father and My Friend. The King of the Universe, Adonai Elohai Yisrael, who left His throne to die, to save us from the snares of the enemy, the God of the Jews, He holds the future. He was, even before time began, He spoke and things came to be!!!! So take heart friends, do not be worry, you will know if you have Jewish blood in you, you will experience a great sense of boldness and great great favour in where your family, education & work are concerned as my family and i stand in the gap with, by and for you. The God of your Fathers, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob with whom He made covenant with, is faithful to the end. He will protect you, provide for you and He will bless you with abundant Peace. Hope and Trust in Him only, for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye. We weep with you for your wounds and rejoice with you in your successes!! Shalom Yerushalayim! and Blessed be her people the Jews!!!
Not sure I agree with Love that if you’re Jewish where the names are concerned you would know. Too many names are common amongst Jews and Gentiles and too many times people changed their religion to survive. Too many names took on the sound of the country / region they moved too. Names were translated into that language and countries sound.
Personally I think many of us think we are something other than we even know.
If I married a man from Spain and moved there and had a dozen little ones and raised them in Spain , speaking Spanish, living a Spaniards lifestyle…And when they grow up and have kids, and their kids have kids 100-200 years later no one would even know that their great great great grandmother was American. What makes you think you know if your great great great great grandmother moved to another locale with her new husband and started a “new” life there or not?
Many Many many many Years ago in Italy when there was a terrible recession many citizens moved to South America, Brazil…and other Spanish speaking countries. Were they Spanish no…did they “become’ Spanish??? Genetically no, of course not, but when they had children and they had children and so on…did they speak Italian …no. Did they remember their great great great grandparents ways? No they were living the life of Spaniards….and there they remain.
And so it has been since time began. Normans moved to England and their names lost their French sound and became Anglicized. And there they have lived in England for generations and generations calling themselves Brits!
What do we really know unless our families have kept meticulous histories?
Hi,I was told that some Spanish names are Jewish,would you know if that is true?Thank you Josie
You have to be careful to understand the goym, as they cannot understand what we are discussing here. Being Jewish, is not a religion. It is a culture. We have our own language, our own alphabet, we read and write right to left, our own customs, and our own book of worship known to others as the Old Testament. You cannot convert, and say you are a Jew now. You can say, you worship the faith, but you are by no means a Jew, that’s a DNA issue. That’s like an Asian saying they wish to convert to be an African. We Jews are non-caucasian, stemming from a gene pool that centered in/around Egypt. That’s Northern Africa if you need to check a map. We are a minority that receives no special treatment, no box to tick on any form (which usually includes every ethnicity know), and don’t want your sympathy. Pick your battles.
Dr. S.A, as you said it is a gene pool. So how would you find out if this gene is in you?
What if names ending in – sky, like kowalsky, rockatansky, etc ?
Dr. S.A. Visotsky, your comments remind me of the exclusive nature of Judaism. It is a culture as you say AND a religion as well, but mostly a way of life. But even if you adopt the culture and follow every Jewish rule, you will never become a Jew according to the orthodox or conservative people in the Jewish community. You have to have Jewish DNA, which has be preserved by marrying a fellow Jew. I’m not sure the Jewish community understands the message this is sending out to the rest of the world. It basically says that anybody other than Jewish is not good enough. I think most goym understand very well what is being discussed here, they would like to know if they have Jewish ancestry and from what I read here, most would be proud to have it. That is a positive thing..
There are some religious nuts on this site! Holy Mackeral!
DNA? There is no “Jewish DNA” but however, if there are families identifiable/ verifiable you can trace that family. There are supposedly those of priestly families (Not always traceable) Kohan, Cohen, (equivalent to kaf-heh-nun) or Levy (from Lamed-waw-yod) and variants. But Judaism is a religion, not a race. And many names that sound Jewish can be German Catholic as I found out growing up in the Cincinnati area. My original last name was Phillips and although there are Jewish Phillipses like Jewish Phillipses who helped in the Revolutionary War and are buried in the Charleston and Savannah area. I was raised Baptist and became Jew by choice. Then I found out later MY own Phillips branch was possibly Jewish anyway and can be traced to SC. It is not a clear cut thing to go by names. Are you Jewish? BE Jewish whatever your name is. That’s how you tell for sure. We all do this “you don’t look Jewish/ name doesn’t sound Jewish” and it can be disconcerting. I’ve changed my name. I try to eliminate the guessing.
To Dr. Vitosky,
I have very serious doubts that you are a Dr. in any field. I, on the other hand, am an anthropologist, and I can tell you definitively that there is no “Jewish DNA”. There are DNA sequences with Semitic indicators (Semitic meaning Middle Eastern), but absolutely NO genetic indicators specific to Jewish heritage. Your entire post made NO sense and completely failed to address the question asked. The question was “Is my surname Jewish?”. Your completely inappropriate rant about Jewish genetic exclusivity has NO place in this forum. The people who find their way to this topic simply want to know if they might have Jewish ancestry. YOU NEED TO GROW UP AND STOP EMBARRASSING JEWS. You are the reason, you are the excuse, other groups use for holding prejudice against us.
Seems you cannot talk about Jews without someone getting into a fit about it or someone antagonizing someone else.
I agree, Tony. And in response to Miss Rose, this thread, written by herself and other Jews reinforces negative stereotypes than the outside community does, in my opinion. Arabic and Farsi also written right to left and the Indian caste system is another prime example of marriage by blood (or “DNA” as these goofballs say). There is nothing exclusively unique about any of the arguments on this thread other than a common theme of hubirs.
To Max,
You are misguided my friend, and my comments were not a rant.I am an academic, be sure of that. I have spent the majority of my adult life in Public Service, with a focus on International Security and Economic Policy, Law & Public Policy Administration, & Public Diplomacy, serving 5 Administrations. Every school boy knows what the word “Semitic” means, we are not intellectually challenged, and my post made perfect sense.I am an ethnic Jew, it is my ethnicity. In keeping with your Anthropological line of reasoning, we can agree that ethnicity is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, consisting of a common language, a common culture (including a shared religion) and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy. Biological anthropology, or physical anthropology, focuses on the study of human population using an evolutionary framework, as well as “trying” to explain geographical human variation and race. If trying is an exact a science as it has progressed, it’s a coin toss at worst. In the 1980s, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Jews are indeed a race, for purposes of discrimination, full stop. Race is a genetic distinction, and refers to people with shared ancestry and shared genetic traits. 3) If there is no basis to my commentary, why is it that you are not considered a Jew, if your mother is not Jewish? I do not practice the Jewish faith. According to you then, I am not a Jew? You better call the World Jewish Congress, and the Jewish Diplomatic Corp and inform them then, and I suppose I better surrender my passport as well, nu?The Jewish faith, as a religion, is one small aspect of many, which make up the Jewish Culture, full stop.
Many German Catholic surnames that sound Jewish actually are. This is a result of the persecution suffered and the desire to escape. Upon retreat, many Jews sought to replace one way of life by substituting their religeon with a more socially acceptable faith.
Jewish DNA is indeed identifiable. I believe the cost is not prohibitive should one choose this route.
http://www.forward.com/articles/134758/
Dr. SA Visotsky, are related to the famous Russian singer of the 1970’s who challenged the Soviet Communist system through his songs?
It’s interesting that you worked in Public Relations through five administrations, but you neglect to say what you really did. Were you a clerk? A secretary?
It’s interesting also that you consider a ruling of the US Supreme Court to be the last word in a question of genetics, when they are not scientists nor do they claim to be. Persecution based on religion is one thing – but in the current US politic morass it’s better to claim victimhood based on “race”, so that’s why US Jews had themselves declared a “race” by the highest (arbitrary) authority in the land. What’s a few bribes to get what you want, nu?
The court justices simply felt that the religious group called “Jews” deserved to be treated as a separate “minority” although they are classified as “white” on U.S. gov’t documents. There is no checkbox yet on census forms for “Jew” or “Semite”, and there won’t be, since it implies a form of begging for assistance based on skin color. The Israelis are already receiving billions from the US taxpayers automatically and don’t need to beg, anyway. If the Jews truly wish to be a separate and distinct race, there would be a mandatory category added to the standard list. Since Jews come in all colors and from all backgrounds, this would be a tough “race” category to prove. It’s a ragbag case much like “Latino”, since Latino can be anything, racially. Everyone knows this, but we nonLatinos kowtow and give scholarships to the “oppressed Latinos”. I know many “half-Latinos” (usually the mother an immigrant) who as college kids check off “Latino”, although the kid is pale-white-Irish or German, just to get affirmative action and scholarships over their half-brethren, the “whites”.
Obviously the categories that our great and marvelous U.S. Supreme court has decided upon are NOT related to blood.
@Dawn Marie. It is most likely your grandmother is Jewish. Jacobs is a *very* common Jewish surname. There were and are many Jews who convert to Christianity and other religions. Her family may have had Jewish roots, but perhaps, they did become Christians to avoid mistreatment and persecution. That is a very common choice.
My name is Miller and I’m not a Jew. The name Miller is supposedly the third or fourth most common of all the U.S. names, (after Smith and either Jones or Johnson) The two most common sources of Miller are English and German and both referring to a flour grinder. The German (and probably the English) version being a variation of Mueller. Anyway I have no desire, nor would I be especially proud, to be Jewish. Especially after following the events in Israel-Palestine over the last several decades.
The worth of an individual is not about from whom he came from, other than maybe his direct descendents/parents. Its about what he/she makes of their life through one’s own actions.
What about Bemrose? I’ve heard of many Jewish people with the last names containing “rose” or “rosen” but i’m not sure, I don’t want to sound racist or anything, I just don’t know diddly squat about my family history, so I was curious about where Bemrose originates.
I have the documents showing I’m descended from Irish Jews, Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants. So what does that make me? A typical citizen of the United States of America! I embrace all religions, including those based on nature. My father created a beautiful place in the woods behind our house, with places to sit and pray. When I’m there I know that God is there, and it doesn’t really matter what you call Him or what name you use for the building where you worship.