Jewish surnames: list and meaning

The content of the article

• Jewish names and surnames
• The origin of Jewish surnames
• Value
• Beautiful Jewish last names
• Popular
• Funny
• Russian Jewish surnames
• Common
• Famous

Generic names, the carriers of which are Jews, are called Jewish. You can divide them into several types. The most numerous variant of their formation are geographical names. The next type is the characteristic features or external data of a person. A particularly interesting version of the emergence of Jewish family names is artificial creation.

Jewish names and surnames

The now popular Israeli names are very diverse. Not a single nation can boast of so many beautiful generic names. All names and surnames of nationality are unique, and each has its own meaning and origin. The history of most of them dates back to only three centuries, because the ancient people were scattered around the world and for a long time did not need identification and a system. In Russia, Western and Eastern Europe, the process began only after the relevant laws were adopted at the state level.

The origin of Jewish surnames

Until the 18th century, Jews who lived in Russia and Europe did not have generic names. The origin of Jewish surnames began in the Russian Empire, when a law was passed obligating people to have their own names by gender. They were created in haste, which explains their diversity in the modern world. Officials sometimes came up with a name for a person in their own way, depending on their appearance, weather conditions and mood. Sometimes Jews came up with generic names on their own. The second option was used by wealthy Jewish families, because appropriation was worth a lot of money.

Value

The names of the men – the founders of the clan – gave rise to many surnames around the world. Often Jews acted simply: they took their name or patronymic or father, and made it a nickname. The most common name for the genus is Moses (Moses, Moses). In difficult cases, an ending or suffix (letter “c”) was added to a proper name: Abrahams, Israel, Samuels. Another meaning of Jewish surnames: when they end in “sleep” / “zones”, the carrier is the son of a particular person. Davidson, then a descendant of David. Abramson is the son of Abram, Jacobson is Jacob, and Matison is Matis.

Beautiful Jewish last names

Jews often pray for their loved ones, calling them by their mother’s name. This religious factor played a large role in the fact that the ancient people immortalized both male and female names, fulfilling an important political or economic mission in its history. The most beautiful Jewish surnames are those that arose on behalf of the mother. And there are a lot of them:

• Riva – Rivman;
• Gita – Gitis;
• Baila – Beilis;
• Sarah – Sorison etc.

As already mentioned, the beautiful names of the Jews were created by wealthy representatives of the ancient people. The dictionary contains many examples. List of the most popular alphabetically:

• Goldenberg – the golden mountain;
• Goldenblum is a golden flower;
• Hartman is a solid person;
• Tokman is a persistent person;
• Muterperel is a sea pearl;
• Mendel is a comforter;
• Rosenzweig – rose branch;
• Zuckerberg – Sugar Mountain.

Popular

The first place in the ranking is occupied by Rabinovichi and Abramovichi. No less popular are Jewish surnames, whose roots are German – Katzman, Urgant, Blayshtein, Bruhl. Family names associated with religion are also often found among Jews: Shulman (synagogue minister), Soifer (writer), Levy (priest’s assistant), Cohen (priest). In the list of popular items of the genus, the third ones are those that are educated according to a professional attribute:

• Kravets (tailor);
• Melamed (teacher);
• Schuster (shoemaker);
• Kramer (shopkeeper);
• Shelomov (helmets master).

Funny

As modern Jews joke: “Funny Jewish surnames under certain circumstances can be formed from any word in the dictionary.” The subject names of the genus include such as Hat, Rag, Footcloth, Starch, Peat. Cool are Naphthalene, Medallion, Barrier, Penthouse, Sole, Nagler. The list is supplemented by funny generic names related to flora and fauna: Merin, Lysobyk, Tarantula, Khaidak (microbe).

Russian Jewish surnames

On the territory of Russia, the mass emigration of Jews occurred after the accession of Poland during the reign of Catherine II. Trying to infiltrate society, representatives of the ancient nation sometimes took Russian generic names for themselves. As a rule, Jewish surnames in Russia ended with “ovich”, “ov”, “he”, “ik”, “sky”: Medinsky, Sverdlov, Novik, Kaganovich.

Common

Jewish immigrants chose their family names based on the city, region or country from which they came. This distinguished them from other members of the community for identification. Until now, common Jewish surnames correspond to the place of residence of their ancestors, for example, Pozner, Warsaw, Bialoblot, Urdominsk. Another series consists of often-sounding generic names that came from male personal names: Yakubovich, Levkovich.

Famous

Currently, many Jews occupy prestigious positions in Russian politics and show business. Famous Jewish surnames among politicians: Avdeev, Lavrov, Dvorkovich, Shuvalov, Sechin, Shokhin, Sobchak. The list can be continued for a very long time, because it began a long time ago, with the advent of V.I. Lenin, who did not hide his Jewish origin. Today, according to unofficial data in the Russian government, the number of Jews is 70%. On the Russian stage, too, many beloved musicians belong to the representatives of the ancient people:

• Varum;
• Agutin;
• Linnik;
• Galkin;
• Gazmanov;
• Milyavskaya;
• Valley (Kudelman);
• Moses and many others.