"Alternate Surnames in Russian Poland"
Authored by Lauren B. Eisenberg Davis's JewishGen InfoFiles. It is about Polish names
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/pl-sname.txt

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?"
http://www.kabalarians.com/cfm/your.cfm

(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. From a posting by Chaim Charutz

Many 'popular' names were simply adopted by Jewish people for what can be described as the need 'for the local consumption' without any direct equivalency. Selection was simply based on the finding a popular local equivalent, retaining usually the first letter of the Jewish name. Thus Izak was 'converted' to Izydor or Igor, Chaim to Heinek and Rubin to Rom

The population of the 19th century England to which most of today's Anglo-Jews emigrated was far more homogeneous; thus, "foreign" names stuck out like a sore thumb. So the rate of Anglicization of Jewish names was far higher than in USA -- where Jewish names would hardly stand out in the New York City phone book among the names of German or Russian gentiles. From a posting by Judith Romney Wegner

Register to win the Ultimate Family History Journey at Ancestry.com!

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.

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!
http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/names.html

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."

"There are two reasons why some mistakenly assume that children were named AFTER a certain living person.

1. In Western European countries it was the official civil
(not Jewish) rule that Jews without specific surnames had their fathers' names tacked on after their own. My oldest recorded ancestor in the direct male line was Suessel Hirsch; all his children had Suesslein tacked on their names: Hirsch Suesslein, Salomon Suesslein, Mandel Suesslein, Elkan Suesslein and so on. Hirsch's son Suesslein was called Suesslein Hirsch, Salomon's son might be names Suesslein Salomon and so on. This was very close to the Hebrew naming system where the word for "son of" (Heb. "ben," Aramaic "bar" would be placed between the name of the son and of the father. This pattern often continued for a generation or so after family names were acquired; often these family names were the names of the father, e.g. my ancestor Baruch, son of Wolff took the full official name Baruch WOLFF. Again, though the second part of their name was that of their father, it remained the father's personal name and was never the son's personal name."

2. "There was no rule about giving someone the same first name as that of a living person. In my mother's family there were many ancestors named Leo and many named Jonas. As a result my mother had nearly a dozen cousins named Jonas (her grandfather had 16 children) and another dozen named Leo. She also had a brother named Jonas; the only reason why she didn't have a brother Leo was that she had only one brother."

"From about 1850, with the spread of reform Judaism and a giving up of traditions, some Jews in Germany (and France and Hungary and the United States . . . were less concerned about Jewish traditions and here or there a child might even be given the father's name, but it was relatively rare and cannot be said to have been part of a style or subject to a rule."

"It warms my heart to see how JewishGenners are eager to help fellow Genners understand their ancestry but we should all be careful not to simply repeat as if true stories that we have not properly learned or studied." From a posting by Michael Bernet

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).

Bunya and Bona JewishGen Digest Archives of October 17, 1999
http://www.jewishgen.org/

Given names were often changed when someone had a serious illness. I personally was given a second name of Harvey (English for Chai - life) when I was only a few months old as I had a serious health problem. This was done by my parents to "fool" the Angel of Death which explains why my middle name is Harvey (Chai for life).
 

Remember that in certain locations and certain eras, it was common for a Jew's second name to be actually the first name of his father.

Another point to remember, when wondering why an ancestor's name on a tombstone (or in any other written form) was/is different is because of the following possible reasons:

1. People mumble
2. People forget
3. People decide they prefer one name over another
4. People are misinformed

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.

The database also contains thousands of English names linked to the Hebrew names, although one's English name (s) and Hebrew name (s) may not be related. The Hebrew Name database contains direct transliterations of many Hebrew names, offering many links between English names and Hebrew names based on popular usage. From a posting by Pamela Weisberger pweisberger@hotmail.com

"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 (e.g. civil records, Jewish records, census records) or whether her relatives used these name in Hungary or after they emigrated. She also doesn't indicate whether they also Magyarized their surnames. My less affluent, more orthodox Hungarian relatives spoke Yiddish at home and used Yiddish names among family but had a Hungarian name used outside their immediate circle."

"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."

"Other examples include my father B. Kereszt, Hung. in 1903, who was named Elemer, a very Hungarian name that is not really a Magyar version of Elmer. His family spoke Hungarian at home. He could only understand Yiddish, which my mother spoke at home, because he had studied German in school. He had a brother born Miksa who was called Max. Several cousins were named Arpad, another traditional Magyar man's name with no Anglo counterpart. I've also come across or have family named Maria (Marika), Ludvik (Lajos), Marta, Frieda (Fried), Hugo, Kornel (Cornelius)." Submitted by Vivian Kahn, Hungarian SIG Coordinator

A table listing many of the popular names with suggestions for what Hebrew/Jewish names they might take
http://www.kolot.com/FS1999/names.shtml

"In traditional circles in the shtetl were kinuim 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?"

There are many sources for explanation of Jewish naming traditions. Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions differ greatly. For detailed information:

Obtained  from Avotaynu's List of Beider names
dagnlist.htm

Organized by period and location and by etymological origin
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/jewish.shtml

"We have to be careful in interpreting 'middle names'. In most places, Jews did not have middle names as we know them in the 21st century US."

"Many Eastern Europeans had a patronymic, usually with a '-witz' or '-owna' ending, with variations because of different languages. However, sometimes the patronymic did not have such ending- this was common in Western Europe-Marum Moses was Marum the son of Moses."

"It is also possible that the 'middle name' is not a separate name, but part of a double name- Abraham Samuel Ruslander had the first name 'Abraham Samuel' and no middle name. He could be called Abe or Sam or something else. It can be confusing as nobody specifies."

"The 'middle' name can also be a nickname, some characteristic which is used to distinguish the holder of the name from others of the same first name. My favorite is a Dutch 'Verooglooper' (please excuse the spelling, I don't have any copy of a document at hand). Abraham Verooglooper-Abraham the Gimp in English. Sometimes you get a place name used this way as well."

"It is possible that the wife's name is added-like Mina's Abraham (in English) as opposed to another Abraham. Minin could well be this, as the form is right."

"And there can be a Yiddish, a Russian, a Polish, a Lithuanian, a Hebrew name-it is possible that one of those got tossed in with another."

"And of course there are various types of diminutives of the various types, so there are lots of possibilities. For this particular situation I don't have any firm answer. " From a posting by Sally Bruckheimer sallybru@bluemoon.net

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.

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.

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"

People search database
Follow the link for People Search and enter the name you are researching.
http://www.yahoo.com

"Using Litvak Naming Patterns to Derive Names of Unknown Ancestors"
An article by Harold Rhode in the Fall 1995 issue of Avotaynu
http://www.avotaynu.com/subindex/indexl.htm

Naming Practices among Observant Jews - Religious

1. Boys are not named until the 8th day after birth, when they
    undergo Bris Milah (circumcision)

2. Girls are named in synagogue by their father the Saturday
    immediately following their birth.

"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)

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

"Differences in Sephardic Ashkenazi Genealogy Naming Conventions"
Authored by Jeff Malka
http://www.jewishgen.org/sefardsig/differ.HTM

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

http://www.sephardicgen.com/turkey_sites.htm

http://www.ifmj.org/sephardic/sephardic_surnames.shtml

http://www.millennialstar.org/tag/sephardic-names/

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.

Phonetic systems (Daitch-Mokotoff, American Soundex)
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
www.stevemorse.org/census/soundex.html

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 one of our surnames, Olkeniztki (from Olkenick)."

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

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

Alternate by dialect and the spellings of these alternations also vary.

Abram (Abrasha, Abramchik, Abrashenka in Russian)

Adolf
Normally used as a nickname for the name Abraham. The origin of the name comes from the Gothic name Atha-ulf and means "Edelworlf" in German and "Noble wolf" in English. Jews used the name at least from the 13th century.

Agathe
Means a good women a kind of a equivalent to the Hebrew name Tova.

Albert
Formally linked by the rabbis to Avraham. The rabbis specified that for men having both names, the two names must be written in the Get as follows: Avraham hamechune Albert, where both components of this legal double name must be written in Hebrew characters. The specific choice of the Hebrew representation of the secular name Albert was chosen such that its pronunciation came as close as possible to that of the original German name Albert. Of course, the given name Albert could have been adopted by Jews with other Hebrew names as well.

Aliza
Ayin - Lammed - Yod - Zayin - Heh
A Hebrew female name meaning "joyful"

Anna
Russian Niura (NYU RHA), Niusia (NYU SYA) and Niula (NYU LAH) Are only a few of the many other diminutive forms of the feminine name Anna (others are: Anushka, Anichka, Aniuta and plenty of others). Russians do love to use diminutive name forms when addressing their babies, pets, ids, family members and close friends. From a posting by Alexander Sharon on JewishGen

Andzia
A variation of the name Anna

Ariz
Meaning tree of cedar according to Angel Arriz Tizoc angelarriz@hotmail.com who also states that 'Arriz comes from Ariz and Ari in Hebrew Leon of God means 'lion'.

Arn
Either being Aharon or its kinnui Uren

Avrum
A Yiddishized version of the Hebrew "Avram", which is Abram in English.

Baruch
In English it could be Bernhard or Barnett. Or for Dov (Hebrew for bear).

Basha
(Hebrew or the Yiddish variations: Basa, Basha, Pessel, Pesia,
Pesha) Also: Beile or Basia or Bessie. although Bashe can be a Yiddish name by itself, it is often a Yiddish nickname for the Hebrew name "Basia" (Batia in the modern Hebrew dialect).

Bendet (Bendit)
A shortened form of Benedict which is Latin for 'blessed' It is Barukh in Hebrew. It was common for such names to be used as kinuim and coupled with Barukh.

Berko
The names Dov and Ber are Hebrew/Yiddish equivalents and are often paired together. The "ko" ending is probably an endearment.

Berl (Berel, Beryl)
(most) frequently, the diminutive of the name Ber (Baer) which is Yiddish/German for bear. In Hebrew, the Ber name would be Dov - or (more likely before the 19th century) Issachar. It has no linguistic link to Binyomin. Both Ber and Baruch (blessed, which becomes Benedikt) are frequently rendered Barnet. Another derivation is Bertshik and Bertzig.

Berlin
This was given to a son of Berl, which was usually another name for Dov/Ber/Issachar. It does not necessarily reflect that someone came from the city of Berlin.

Beryl
As a female name, it is pronounced Buril. As a Yiddish male name, it is pronounced Bearil

Betzalel
A Hebrew name, that of the artisan- designer of the Tent of the Covenant after the exodus.

Binyamin
Other variations are Bunem, Bunma, Bina, Bima, Binish, Binka, Bimla, Bishka, Bunmi, Binya, Bimla, Boehm, Benjamin, Ben

Broche
A Yiddish variation of the Hebrew word/name "Bracha" (blessing, fem.)

Bunya (Bona)
The name Bunya came from Bona and Bona is a very common old Jewish name. It is a nickname for the Hebrew name Tova. It is found in the 11th century as the name of the wife (perhaps second wife) of the Ragm'a, Rabenu Gershom ben Jehuda Me'or Ha-Gola, one of the first great German-Jewish scholars and leaders (960-1028). We know this wife because the Ragm'a gave her a new "ketubah" (marriage contract) in place of the old one that she lost. And from this deed we know her name Bona bat David. Source: "The Early Sages of Ashkenaz" by Avraham Grossman, published in Jerusalem 1988 by the Magnes Press page 111/112. There are known Jewish women in France in the 13th century with the name Bonne. (E in French is A in German)

Chaike
A diminutive kinnui for the Hebrew name Chaya for a female in 19th century Poland. Other Yiddish kinnuyim for Chaya are: Chaikel, Chaitse and Chaitshe. A European name linked to these Yiddish names is Helena.

Charna (Tsarna)
A name of Slavic derivation meaning 'black'.

Chana
Refers to mercy

Chasia

"It is not one name but two names Chasia. The first name is a modern Hebrew name and is written with: Cheit - Samech - Yud - He and means God is my shelter as Ilan Ganot mention in his letter. But what he said about:

Chatzkel
Actually a nickname for the Biblical Hebrew name Yechezk'el or Ezekiel.

Cheikel
See also Chayim Khayka/Khayki which is the Yiddish name Khaykl see also the Belarus Given Names Data Base - enter the search name Cheikel and then specify the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex option.
http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/srchbela.htm

Cohnan
A truncated form of "Elchanan".

Daisy
Dreyzl, Dreiza, Dreizel - all forms of the Slavic name Drozha

Daniel
The Hebrew name, transcribed into Latin characters as Danieyl, was very popular with the Jews of Germany during the 19th century. They adopted the German secular version 'Daniel' of the Hebrew name ' Danieyl' for use in social and other non-Jewish communications with other German citizens. The adoption was so widespread that the German rabbis who were responsible for setting how to write Jewish given names in a Get (Jewish divorce document) accepted the use of certain German secular names, among them Daniel, as a valid secular kinnuim for various Hebrew names, not only for the Hebrew name Danieyl.

Subsequently, these secular names which had been adopted in Germany, were also used by Jews in other European countries, like Poland, Hungary and Romania. The earliest recorded Daniel name in Germany, according to Alexander Beider's book is in 1235. In 1300 it was written in Latin as Daniel (Hungary); Daniel in Nurnberg, in German, in 1325 - and many others well before the 19th century. From a posting by Prof. G. L. Esterson.

Dov
"Hebrew for bear and Ber, Baer, is the kinnuy for Issachar whose totem is an ass, a very tough and useful animal in the ancient hills of Canaan, but hardly the sort of name you'd want your son to carry around in Europe, (so think quickly of another animal that has four legs, is tough, and isn't kosher and has a more noble reputation). Again, a variation on Ber has been used among Ashkenazim as a kinnuy for Issachar for almost a millennium, the "back formation" to Dov is relatively recent." From a posting by Michael Bernet

Dreizel
A Yiddish version of Therese, or Schprintze of Esperance

Eli
The Hebrew for "My God" and is used frequently as part of several compound names including: Eliyahu, Eliezer and Elimelech. Actually these are nicknames. The name Eli is a name itself. It is spelled in Hebrew: ayin - lamed - yud. Eli was the high priest during the time of the prophet Shmuel. His two sons were killed by the Philistines. He died upon hearing the news that the Philistines had captured the Holy Ark.

Eliezer
A Hebrew name that means "My God is help". It first appear in Genesis 15: "And Abram said, Lord God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?"

Elke
A name traditionally associated with German or Slavic origin. Elka, the name of many Russians, is another derivation. The Hebrew could be another variation like Eli or Eliana. The literal translation of Elka could be "of or belonging to El (God)" Elka. The feminine versions of Eliahu, Elijah the prophet.

Emanuel
In some parts of Europe, Emanuel was coupled with the Hebrew name Menachem and its kinnuy Mendel. Mendel (Mentel, Mennle, Manny) Hebrew for 'consoler'. Not every Menachem is a Mendel. The Menachem-Mendel combination was so popular that it was treated virtually as one name. There are two names similar to Menachem- Nachum and Nachman - that also mean 'consoler' - in Yiddish, both of these may be pronounced as Noh-Chem.

Faya
Diminutive of the Yiddish name Fayvish. There are a number of linked Yiddish names including Faya and Faybesh.

Feygeleh (Feyga, Fiegele , 'Feygeleh')
Commonly assumed to be derived from name for bird (Vogel in German). In fact, however, Feygeleh is derived from an older German version of Violet. From Kaganoff's "Dictionary of Jewish Names and Their History", this is his definition: "The name Viola, which in French and Italian meant "violet" had in German the forms Veil, Veigelein, and was pronounced Feil, Feigelein. Among Polish Jews the name form was misinterpreted in two ways -- it was either understood as Feigel (feygl, "bird" in Yiddish) a translation of the Hebrew Tzipporah, or as a diminutive of Feige (fayg, "fig" in Yiddish)".

Feivel
Uri, Shraga and Phoebus (of which Feivish and Feivel are yiddishized corruptions) all mean basically 'bright', 'shining', 'light'.

"Fayvush or Faivel are the kinnuim of Shraga. Fayvush is an ancient Jewish name whose origin was the Latin vivus (living, alive), a loan translation (calque) from Hebrew chaim (life). Later the name Fayvush was erroneously considered to be a derivation from Phoebus, god of the sun--consequently Fayvish became the kinnui not only for the Biblical Hebrew name Uri (light) but for the Aramaic name Shraga (candle) in the Rabbinic period. Folk legends along with true and false etymologies gave rise to these interwoven associations between Hebrew name and kinnui." From a posting by Sonia Kovitz

"More precisely, Feivel is a diminutive of Feibush, which is a Yiddish corruption of Phoebus (NOT PhoebE -- which is a female name; Phoebe is one name for the Goddess of the Moon, whereas Phoebus is a poetic name for the Sun. Both names have roughly the same meaning, namely "bright one" or "shining one" Thus Phoebus is a good translation of the Hebrew name URI (from OR, meaning "light"). The name Uri occurs in the Torah in the name of Bealel ben Uri, who was appointed by God to take charge of creating the artifacts for the tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 31:1ff). From a posting by Judith Romney Wegner

Fulya (Fulia, Fule)
This given name appears in the Poland Given Names Data Base and is considered a rather rare name.

Gedalia
The Polish Yiddish variation of this Jewish name is Gedalje

Gella
A girl's name meaning "Yellow"

Gnesze
A real name and it has nothing to do with names like Geniza or Genesis. The name is derived from the very old Jewish -German name Genandel and the spelling in Yiddish is: Gimel - Nun - Ayin - Sin - Aleph. In another variant on this name I find the spelling with Samech instead of the Sin. The name Genesia (Gimel - Nun - Ayin - Samech - Aleph ) is also a Variant on the name Genandel.

Hadassah
The Hebrew name of Queen Esther, the biblical hero

Hecht
In Yiddish, it means Pike (like in fish) according to "Langenscheidt" German-English dictionary.

Hersch (also Herschel, Hertz, Hertzel)
Defined as a deer. In Hebrew the name representing deer is Zvi, Tsvi or Tsui and the Biblical name is Naphthali. The English name would be Harris, Harry or Harold.

Heshe
A diminutive for Herschel.

Hirsh/Girsh/Gershon
A kinui for the Hebrew name Tsvi Gershon is derived from the same name Girsh/Hirsh. The Hebrew word GER, means proselyte, joined to the religion and since such step, makes him a stranger within his new community, than Ger means also stranger. The first time that the name Gershon appears in the Bible, in Genesis Chapter 46 : 11. "And the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari." It means 'A stranger lived there'. Rishon in Hebrew, means first. It seems like Gershon is the combination of the two words.

Another opinion by Judith Romney Wegner states "The answer is that Gershon is totally unconnected with Hirsch/Girsch. It is an original biblical Hebrew name, not a relatively modern Yiddish one!" "Gersh occurs only because G is the letter used by Russian for the H sound in the German word Hirsch."

Gershon appears in Exodus 2:22 as the firstborn of Moses The name Gershon appears at Exodus 6:16 as the firstborn of Levi (who was the third son of Jacob and Leah).

Hadassah
Common today, but uncommon in the 19th century. In the 19th century Hadasso was more commonly called Hodes or Hudes. In that form it was not uncommon.

The two above names Sima and Hadassah where sometimes combined with each other into the Yiddish "double" name Shim-Ode (also written Shimode) and versions like Shim-Oda, Shim-Uda and Shim-Ude. Especially the latter half of this name, Oda/Ode/Uda/Ude, was short Yiddish version of Hadassah that only seems to have been used in the area around Vitebsk. I have a feeling that most women with this name were somehow related and all descended from the same ancestor!" From a posting by Perets Mett

Hinde
Defined as doe. It is the same in middle high German, and in modern German is Hindin. It is related to the somewhat archaic English word "hind".

Herz
Defined as heart

Hirts / Herts
An older German / Yiddish form of the newer Hirsch / Hersh. The German Herz is cognate with the English hart, which became obsolete except in Britain, where it means a mature male red deer. The obsolescence may have been constrained by the phonetic confusion with the word for that vital organ called heart in English and Herz in German. From a posting by Norman H. Carp-Gordon

Hodesh (Chodesh)
Means 'month'. Kodesh, with a Hebrew letter kuf, is related to the word for Holiness. The female name Hodes or Hodas is a derivative of the Hebrew name Hadassah.

Hoshea (Ozias, Oshea)
The Prophet's name in the Bible. Sometimes used in place of Yehoshua (which is Joshua). Both Hoshea and Yehoshua can be abbreviated in Yiddish as "Shea" - but the form "Ozias" appears more like a way of writing "Hoshea".

Hudl
Spelled with an aleph after the heh

Ida
An abbreviation of Idalia. A very common Jewish name in past Eastern Europe. Idalia (Ida) a feminine version of Judah (Yudl, Yiddele)

Ignac (Ignacz, Ignacio)
The Hungarian rendering of the Latin name Ignatuis, derived from an old Roman family called EGNATIUS. It certainly was a very common name among Hungarian Jews, mainly in the 19th century. In English there is the Ignace form but used very rarely. Most of Latin languages has an equivalent, because of the famous Saint Santo Ignacio de Loyola.

Irit
The Hebrew name of the flower asphodel.

Irsha
Used until several centuries ago in Ukraine, derived from the Yiddish name Hirsha

Ita (not Eta), corresponds to Esther in Hebrew. It was a commonly used name in Eastern Europe

Itka
In English it could be Ida or Etta or Edith or Sally.

Jenta - (Jetta, Jette, Yetta, Yenta, Yente, Jente, Ita, Yitta, Yetti, etc.) Some consider Yetta as a nickname for Yocheved, while others suggest the full name as a contraction of Yehydith (Judith) or even as a contraction of Esther. It could also be considered a Yiddish version of Janet.

Jerome
Same as the Hebrew name Yirmiyahu and in the US it would be Jeremy. Jerome was a Christian bible scholar who helped create the Latin Vulgate. The name is Greek for "Holy Name" - the closest popular Hebrew name would be "Shem Tov".

John
Most people named John are not Jewish - the given names of 'John' being associated with two notable figures in early Christianity. That is what Christians want you to believe. The name is actually a contraction of Yochanan.

John ben Levi of Giscala (gush Chalav) was the leader of the revolt of the Jews against the Romans (66070 CE), Yochanan heSandlar a very important rabbi of the Mishnaic period, and more recently Yochanan Twersky, Hebrew author and member of the famous Twersky rabbinical family. From a posting by Michael Bernet

Jonathan
Associated with Yairsha (or Yerzha; zh as in treasure). Jonathan is a Biblical name from the Book of Samuel. He was the son of the first king, Saul. The name means G-d has given.

Josef / Yossef, Yosef / Joseph,
Means: [he] will add. Yoshe is a nickname. However, it is simply a diminutive for Yosef, and does not form a legal Hebrew double name, one required for being called to an Aliyah, or to be used in a Jewish contract. The Yiddish name Yoshe does not, however, form such a legal Hebrew double name with Yehoshua.

The source for this are the Hilchot Gitin (rabbi's guides for writing Jewish contracts), such as Arukh HaShulkhan, or the Beit Shmuel. On the other hand, the diminutive Yiddish name Yoshke does form a legal Hebrew double name with Yosef. So the upshot is that Yoshe is a diminutive of Yosef, but not one that is required to be sued in Jewish contracts. The use of the name Yoshe Ber for HaRav Solveitchik z"i, was an endearing means used by those that loved and respected this great man to express their feelings toward him. From a posting by Prof. G. L. Esterson

Lipman Pike was the first professional Jewish baseball player in America. His full name was Lipman Emanuel Pike and was one of two baseball playing brother beginning his professional career in 1866.

Also Lipman or Liebman is a common kinui for the Hebrew name Yom Tov (e.g. the 16-17th century author of the commentary "Tosfot Yom Tov, whose full name was Yom Tov Lipman Heller Halevy). According to Kaganoff, the name is also associated with the Biblical name Eliezer, via the name Gottlieb" From a posting by Michael Bernet

Lotti
Short for Charlotte, a German name derived from Charles. Another variant is Lieselotte, also abbreviated to Lotte, Lottie, etc. Spanish is Carlotta, and it is a widely used feminine given name in France, England and other European countries.

Madeleine, Magdalena
Madeleine is simply the French version of Magdalene, which in turn is of the name of the well known NT character, Mary Magdalene. The connection between Miriam and Magdale is purely fortuitous and consists only of the fact that 'Maria Magdale' is the NT Greek version of this woman's original Hebrew name, which was Miriam of Migdal (Migdal being the name of a place in ancient Israel). Of course, there's no linguistic connection between Miriam and Madeleine, since one is a woman's name and the other a place name. This information was posted by Judith Romney Wegner on JewishGen forum.

Maimon
The name of the father of one of the most celebrated figures in Jewish history, the RAMBAM of Cordova.

Maliniak
Russian word meaning raspberries, raspberry bush, raspberry juice and as an expression meaning "piece of cake". The root word also appears in the Russian word for robin (redbreast) and in the Russian word for a vodka made from raspberries.

Maria
A Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Miriam, was one that was generally avoided among Ashkenazi Jews, who associated it with religious and social persecutors. Even among assimilated Jews, its was rarely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Markel
A kinui for Mordechai. In some places it became Morkel.

Mary
Technically is originally a Jewish name -- it is an Anglicization of the Greek Maria, which appears in the New Testament as the name of Jesus' mother --- Maria itself being a graecization of the Hebrew name Miriam (just as Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua).

Masha
The name "Musha", a female version of Moshe (Moses), may have been Anglicized into "Marsha.

Menachem or "consoler"
Mannes is a kinui for Menachem. Mendel appears to be derived from Mannes and the two may be related to Emanuel, itself of Hebrew origin, but often substituted for Menachem in civil use.

Merka
A Yiddish name linked to the Hebrew name Mordekhay

Merle
A thrush (bird) known as Amsel in German. Amsel/Anshel is a popular kinnuyim for the Hebrew name Asher.

Mindy
(in Jewish Molca or Molka)

Miriam
Mirl is a diminutive of Miriam, like the Yiddish film "Mirele Efros."

"Miszka
A name that could have been used for either a male or female in 19th century Belarus. Here is a breakdown of the two main possibilities: Miryam and Moshe, both Hebrew names having numerous linked Yiddish and secular names."

"ka is generally the Russian female diminutive form, while -ko is male. Mishka would be a female name - Mishko might be a diminutive for Moses." From a posting by Sally Bruckheimer.

Mordechai
A man with this name was very likely to use this name only when being called to an aliya to the Torah when in shul, in a formal Jewish contract (Ketubah or get), and in very few other circumstances. From a posting by Prof. G. L. Esterson

It is a Hebrew name (actually from a Persian god) and its Yiddish forms include: Motke, Mordke, Motte, Mottek, Mork, Morkl (and variant spellings). The family names Mark and Marx often indicate a progenitor named Mordechai.

Moreynu
Hebrew for teacher is Moreh and the title Moreynu means 'our teacher.'

Moses
In Egyptian, Moshe means both "a son" and/or "a beloved son". Mase or Mashe means to give birth. Others see the word as related to the Hebraic mush, and of Semitic origin introduced to the Egyptian language by the Semitic Hyksos. The first mention of Moshe is in Shemot chapter 2 , versicle 2-10. You can read the passage in versicle 10:

"When the child matured [his mother] brought him to Pharaoh's daughter. She adopted him as her own son, and named him Moses (Moshe). 'I bore (mashe) him from the water,' she said.

Thus, his naming is prefaced by a phrase that is literally translated, 'he became to her as a son' (cf. Ibn Ezra; Hadar Zekenim). Significantly, the suffix moshe is found (and exclusively so) in the names of many Pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty, such as Ka-moshe ('son of [Ra's] majesty'), Ra-amses (son of Ra), Ach-moshe (Ahmose; 'son of the moon,' or 'the moon is born') and Toth-moshe (Tutmosis; 'son of Toth').

According to other ancient sources, the name Moses comes from the Egyptian mo (water) and uses (drawn from) (Josephus, Antiquities 2:9:6, Contra Apion 1:31; Philo De Vita Moses 2:17; Malbim). I know some sources state that Moses' Egyptian name was Monius (Ibn Ezra; cf. Abarbanel; Josephus, Contra Apion 1:26, 28). Other ancient sources claim that Moses' name was preserved among the Gentiles as the legendary Musaeus, teacher of Orpheus, from whom the Muses obtained their name (Artapanus, in Eusebius, Preparatio Evangelica 9:27). From a posting by Dr. Shimon Barak ISRAEL

Mousha
Although not a translation, the name "Musha", a female version of Moshe (Moses)

Movsha
Linked to the Hebrew name Moshe

Nachum and Nechama
Essentially the masculine and feminine forms of the same name. Both are segula names, names that can be used to ward off evil, sometimes added to other names, but can also be used by themselves out of preference, rather than their evil-warding properties.

Naphthali, Zvi, Hirsch
Essentially variants on the same name. Hertz, NOT to the common kinnui Hirsh. This seems to be based on a fallacy. In the 19th and 20th century, Herts was the common kinnui for Naftoli

Natan
(a prophet who warned King David re Batsheva) means "to give."

Nechama
Means "consolation". The name Nechama would generally be given to a baby girl after the death of a loved one. The male form is Menachem or "consoler".

Neche
One of many names derived from the Hebrew Nechama
(consolation) equivalent to the male Menachem (often rendered Mendel).

Nethan'el
The Ashkenazi pronunciation is Noo-Son-El and this is sometimes abridged to nicknames like Sooni, Nissan, Neissn and other names in which the "S" is central and essential.

Niuroczka (NYU ROH CHKAH)
A diminutive form of Niura.

Orel (Orelis)
In Lithuania) is a form of Aharon

Osias, Sheya and Yeshayoh
The same names for Yeshayahu

Osnia (Osnea)
From the Hebrew name Osnat and this name from Osna or Osnea ("Get mesudar", Elasar Mintz page 309).

Ovsey (Owsey, Osej)
A Russian name. It was quite popular among Jews in Lithuania particularly, and was taken as a secular name by people named Yehoshua

Owsey (Ovsey, Owsej)
A reflection of the humiliating practice of the Russian government and the Orthodox Church to deprive Jews from their basic heritage and even use traditional Jewish names.

Biblical names that have been adopted by the Russian Orthodox Church for the pantheon of their own saints, have been forbidden to be used by the Jewish people. A bastardized versions of the proud names of our forefathers have been forced to used. Thus Moses became known as Movsha and Joseph as Owsey. Alexander Sharon in a posting.

Pelagia
A classical Greek name associated with the sea.

Perl
Itself a Yiddish name meaning Pearl. The equivalent Hebrew name is Peninah, but that was not in regular use among Ashkenazi Jews until relatively recently.

Peter
A Hebrew word (Petter) meaning 'First Born' and though it has a Christian association, it is actually another name for Bechor (also first born in Hebrew) or the female: Bechorah.

Polya
An affectionate form of Polina, a female given name analogous to Pauline. Polina derives from Apollon (Apollo)

Raphael (Rafael, Refel)
A Hebrew name of an archangel and means "God Heals (me)"

Raisha
Possibly a familial pronunciation of a variety of first names, derived from Rosa, Rachel, Ruhamma, Raitzel or Reichel, which all tended to be intermixed in usage and derivation.

Romek
The diminutive form of Roman.

Rose
The English form of Rosa which is Latin. Rozina, Razina is the Hebraic form. Roza or Ruzhena or Rozaliya, Ruzaliya is the equivalent in Ukrainian language.

The Russian equivalent is Roza or Rozaliya. Shoshannah is a six sided desert bloom that is often mistaken for a rose. This (believe it or not) is important in name conversion because while there women who moved to Israel named Rose who became Shoshannah, many chose the more correct name form for Rose and became "Vered." When searching in Israel, it is a good idea to consider both possibilities. Both are common Israel names, but Vered would be the name taken by those who were sensitive to retaining a more exact connection to "Rose." From a posting by Rafi Guber.

Rudy
Used in America as an actual name -- was originally a nickname (spelled "Rudi" in some languages) for the common central- European name Rudolf/Rudolph. The closest-sounding Hebrew name for which a boy might be given Rudolph/Rudy as a sound-equivalent is the biblical name Reuven (which appears as "Reuben" in English bible translations; also found as Ruben/Ruven/Rubin in other European languages). The western European name Rudolf comes from two ancient German words meaning "famous wolf." So (especially in 19th-century Germany, where many Jews acquired secular education following the Enlightenment) a parent could have selected Rudolf as an "equivalent" for the common Hebrew name Ze'ev. From a posting by Judith Romney Wegner

Samuel
Used by many European immigrants to the US, when their original Hebrew name in Europe was Shimon or Shmueyl. This is a list of names (not all Hebrew/Yiddish names had the same frequency of occurrence - some were more popular than others, Shmueyl leading the list -- Nesaneyl, Saadya, Shabsay, Shalom, Shaul, Shaye, Shimon, Shimshon, Shlomo, Shmarya, Shmaryahu, Shmueyl, Shneyur, Simcha, Sinai, Yehoshua, Yeshaya, Yisraeyl, Zekharya, Ziskind, Zushe, Zusman. It has been observed that many Hebrew/Yiddish names either beginning with the Hebrew equivalent of the English letter "s" or something sounding like "s" (e.g.., "sh" or "z") led naturally to the English names Samuel or Sam. It was also pointed out that other European names which had a popular European nickname beginning with an "s" or "sh" sound, like Srol or Shaye, could also change into Sam or Samuel in the US.

Schoene
In English, it was often translated to Jenny.

Seldis
From Selde and/or Salida, a woman's name which means "good fortune" or "blessing." In Yiddish, the name is Zelda. Also appears as Seldes, Selden, Sedlis. Salida is from the Old German which means "happiness" and is a feminine variation. In Hebrew, the name Asher means "happy".

Selig
A translation of "Asher" ("happy" or "blessed"). Also appears as Seligman, Seligmann, Zelig, Zelik, Selik, and many other variations substituting "z" for "s" and "k" for "g".

Selma
Of Greek origin and is a fairly common name in Europe and found quite frequently among Jews.

Sendor
Same as Alexander - in Hungary they use the name Sandor

Shabad
An acronym for either "shaliah bet din" or "Shamash bet din" both representing a bailiff type person in a rabbinic court.

Shaia (Shai, Yishai, Yeshayahu, Yakov)
A shortened version of Yeshayahu. The given name Shai is found in many vital records from north-Eastern Poland. It occurs over 160 times in the birth records in Lomza from 1827 to 1886. It was used both in the Polish period 1827-1867 and the Russian period 1868-1886. It is usually spelled SZAIA or SZAJA.

Sharf
The name means 'sharp' in Yiddish and is a translation of the
Hebrew 'harif', a term used to describe a brilliant Talmudic student.

Sharlott
An acronym for 'shalom rav leohave toretekha' (great is the peace for those who love your Torah).

Shaya
Derived from the Hebrew Yeshayahu (Isaiah) or Yehoshua (Joshua) or Hoshe'ah (Hosea)

Shevin
A descendent of Sheva which is a shortened form of Bat Sheva (Batsheba)

Shifrin
A descendent of Shifra (a Biblical name.

Shoshannah (Shoshanna, Szaszana {Polish})
Of Hebrew origin and is an equivalent (and the direct translation) of the name Rose (Roza, Ro'zia). It means lily. Suzanne is known in Polish as Zuzana (diminutive: Zuza, Zuz'ka). See also Rose.

Shraga
Means candle or lamp, light or fire in eastern Aramaic. It comes from the Greek Phoebe - god of fire

Shtull
'Shtul' is yiddish for 'steel' and describes the inner strength and faith of the Jewish person.

Sima (Simcha)
A Hebrew name meaning Joy.

Simkin
Means a son or descendent of Shimon (Simon).

Slavin
Means 'descended from Slawa (a Polish name that means 'glory') Also appears as Slovin, Slava, Slova, Sluva, Sliva.

Soroka
A name applied by the naming commission to a very talkative person as the name means in Russian, 'magpie'.

Sourkes
A variation of Sarah, affectionately called 'Sorke' in Yiddish. Also appears as Sirkes, Sirkin.

Sprintze
Derived from the Spanish name Esperanza, which means hope.

Steres/Stiress
Probably derived from Esteres, which would be a designation for someone whose mother was named Esther, just as Rifkin is a child of Rebecca.

Sussman
A kinui for Yoel, Eliezer, Meshullam, Emanuel or Ezriel.

Szmeterling
A Polish spelling of the German (and possibly Yiddish) for 'butterfly'.

Tadek
A diminutive of the Polish name Tadeusz. This Polish name was accepted by the rabbis to be written in a Get (Jewish divorce document), along with whatever other Legal Hebrew name a Polish Jewish man may have had. There are about 500 such German/Polish names that were accepted for such use in Germany, Poland and Hungary during the 19th century. This was an outgrowth of the Enlightenment and the absorption of German Jews into the secular culture of Germany, followed by the spread of these names to other countries. In the case of Tadeusz, the name was written in Hebrew characters as if it were a Yiddish name, and its pronunciation would have been (in Latin characters) Tadeush. From a posting by Prof. G. L. Esterson, Ra'anana, Israel

Tanya
Mostly a secular name-used by Russian women. name Tania (Tanya) originates from name Tatiana (Tatyana). Refer to the heroine name of A. Pushkin romantic poem, and based on this poem, classical Russian repertoire opera "Eugene Onegin".

Tevel (Tevya, Tevka, Tuvia {Hebrew)
A Yiddish name linked to the Hebrew name David and my Hebrew name Tuvia ben Chaim. I was named after my maternal grandfather, Tuvia Soloski who died in 1900 and was one of the first to be buried in the Duluth, Minnesota Jewish Cemetery.

Thanks mom!

Todros
A Jewish name of the Hellenic era and is found in the Talmud. It is a "Hebraicized" Teodoros, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Nataniel (Eng. Nathaniel) meaning "gift of God".

Tzipporah
Hebrew for bird. The wife of Moses was named Tzipporah, but many of today's Tzipporahs are named after a relative named 'Feygeleh' which is commonly assumed to be derived from name for bird (Vogel in German). In fact, however, Feygeleh is derived from an older German version of Violet.

Uziel
God is my strength

Vitke
Polish Witka, a short and friendly version of Wiktoria (Victoria)

Wolf or Wolff (Vulf, Velvel)
Acommon first name among Ashkenazi Jews. Originally, it was a kinnuy for the Hebrew name Benjamin (Jacob blesses his son in the last chapter of Genesis and refers to him as a wolf; Wolf/Wolff is German for wolf). The common Yiddish form was Velvel. William, Wilhelm, Wolfgang, etc. are common variations in English, German, etc. More recently, you may find Wallace, Wilbert, Warren, Werner, etc., literally any name beginning with a 'W'.

Around 1800, it became common to give 'back-formations' into Hebrew of German/Yiddish kinnuyim, especially those associated with animals. A boy named Wolf would thus be given the (additional) Hebrew name, Ze'ev, which is Hebrew for Wolf. Benjamin-Ze'ev is today a common combination, with or without the German/Yiddish Wolf or the diminutive Velvel. Wolf(f), Wolfson, Wolvovitz, Wolfheim, Wolfberg, etc. are family names usually after an ancestor with the first name Wolf.

Yair - (actually Yo-ir)
A widely used Hebrew name in Israel today, but is of Biblical origin and means "he will light", "he will shine" etc and is equivalent to Meir.

Yankel
A popular diminutive for Ya'akov/Jacob. The most common English equivalent would be Jacob, Jack, Jake or James. Yankel (Yankiel, Jankiel) became a first name in Russian Empire This is associated with the Russian administration rules which did not allow Jewish people to use Christians saints name. Thus Yakov (Jakub) has been transformed to Yankiel, Moses (Moisiey) to Movsha, Joseph (Iosif, Jozef) to Osip, Isaac (Isaak) to Itsik, Israel to Srul, Salomon to Shloyme (Szlojme). Forbidden also were ancient names David, Jonathan, Mattityahu (Matvy) etc.

Yankev
A form of Yaakov

Yedidya
Amadeus or Amede, French Amedee, Amadis; = Godolewa or Godelewa feminine low German name; Gottlieb masculine German name.

Yehuda (Judah)
The progenitor of the Tribe of Judah, whose symbol is the lion - the "lion of Judah".

Yekhezkel
A biblical name with a diminutive form Khatzkel.

Yonah
In Ivrit means dove and can be a name in itself (e.g. Jonah in the bible?) The prophet's name Jonah probably does not originate from the word for dove; the first syllable is very common among Hebrew names and refers to God (Jonathan, Jochanan, Joram, Joel, Yoilish, etc.); in this case what the second syllable stood for has been lost.

The correct Hebrew for a male dove is Yon; Yonah is the feminine form. Today's usage of Yonah as a feminine name is based on folk etymology, as a Hebrew translation of the Yiddish 'Teybeh' (and variants). However, Teybeh is not derived from a dove (Taube in German), but from the Hebrew name 'Tovah', meaning 'good one'. Attributed to Michael Bernet JewishGen Discussion Group

Yonatan - Natan, Notel, Nosel, Nisel, Nusan.
Yonatan was King Saul's son and David's good friend and means "God's gift.

Yoshe
A kinnui for Yehoshua (Joshua) or Yeshaya (Isaiah) or Yoshiahu (Josiah). Yoshe can also be the equivalent to Yosef or Joseph.

Yura
Aa diminutive form of Yuri, usually applied to a boy or a very dear friend

Yuriy (Russian and Ukrainian) and Jerzy
Originated from an old Czech form of the name - Juri (Jiri in the modern form. Georgios (from georgos which means farmer in Greek)

Yutl
Afemale derivative of Yehuda.

Zacharya and Zachary
A Biblical name; in English Biblical tradition, it would be Zacarias. The name was borne by a biblical prophet and also by the father of John the Baptist.

Zahava
Means gold as does Zlata More "refined" and "rarer" is paz,
meaning "fine gold" for which the feminine would be Pazit.

Zalaman and Solomin
Both derived from the Hebrew Shlomoh (Solomon)

Zalmen (Zalman)
The Yiddish 'form' of the name Shlomo, often appearing as a double name "Shlomo Zalmen".

Zalman is derived from Shlomo = Solomon (the king) = Salaman = Zalman. According to Beider, the Latin form of Salamanus for a Jewish name dates back to Worms (Germany) ca 1090, and Zalman (with the initial Zayin) was first recorded in Hebrew in South Germany, as early as 1298.

In many communities Zalman remained simply a kinnuy associated with Shlomo, i.e. Shlomo-Zalman, but in Eastern Europe especially, it took on an independent existence, and was often coupled with the name Shne'or.* Zalman has frequently attained, like many other kinnuyim, the status of a shem kadosh, equivalent to a true Hebrew name.

Shneur - Zalman of Lyady was the founder of Chabad (Lubavitch) Hassidism, and that name was borne by a number of his successors, including the last Rebbe - and many of his followers and admirers. Shneor itself is a kinnuy and derives from the Sephardi Senior which is from the Hebrew Bachor (first born, a common first name among Sephardim).

And Israel's third president, originally known as Shneur-Zalman Rubashov took the Hebrew acronym of this name, SHaZaR as his "Israelized" surname.

Zaydl or Zeydl
An amuletic name, that is a name for good luck. It is similar to the feminine name Bobel or Bubele. A boy who is born after the death of siblings might be called Zaydl so that he would grow up to be a grandfather. It is also a surname. From a posting by Ida Schwarcz

Zissel
Derives from the German / Yiddish Zis = sweet

Zosia (Zos'ka)
The diminutive from Zofia (Sophie)

Zhulik
Now part of the Yiddish language and used as a term of
endearment to a child or young person. Sometimes because we "assume" that a young person is naturally mischievous or, when a child is actually misbehaving but not badly and certainly not a brat. Just naughty enough to bring a smile to a parent or grandparent. I often call my younger granddaughter a Zhulik, with a broad smile and a lot of love and pride in the saying. From a posting by Susana Leistner Bloch Winnipeg, Canada

"Maternal surnames constitute a frustrating area for research. Finding a listing for the first time gives us information and we take it as a fact for we are given no specific reason to disagree. In the larger context, I think that is just a natural process. We nevertheless take it - or at least should take it - with the potential that its truth may be challenged at some point in the future. And then one finally starts finding the multiple records that are supposed to list the same name, and they don't. How to "choose" which is the right one?

Death records contain the most potential for flaws. First, the information is given, obviously, by a third person, who could make mistakes since he/she is without the knowledge of the decedent. This happens most notably with children being the informants. Secondly, the information is given in a state of fresh grievance, which can hinder clear and accurate thinking. Birth and marriage records and social security applications lack these particular problems, and although they are never full proof, they warrant better validity." Such is the frustration of maiden names. From a posting by Howie Zakai

RSL is the RootsWeb Surname List. With this tool, you enter the surname you are researching. This site allows you to use Soundex and to specify a location. Once finished, this site will return instances when the surname of interest is identified, with the date, area (including migration movements) and a link to the person who sent in the information
http://rsl.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rslsql.cgi

"Jewish Family Names and Their Origins: An Etymological
Dictionary" - authored by Heinrich W. & Eva H. Guggenheimer - Jewish Family Names and Their Origins:...

"Jewish Surnames in Prague: (15th-18th Centuries)"
Authored by Alexander Beider

Russian middle names ending in '-ovitch' (men) or '-ovna' (women) are standard usage in Russia, right up to the present, and refer to the name of the person's father.

Sephardic from Izmir, Turkey. Ab is Arabic for "father"; u is a grammatical suffix; as is a proper name. As was the name of the Arab warlord who invaded Egypt in the eighth century, turning it into a Arab and Muslim society.

Adhami
A common Jewish name from Iran, although it can be found among non-Jews in the Middle East, as well. It comes from the name Adam.

Adom
Odem is a red stone and the Hebrew word for lipstick and adom in Hebrew means red

Affenkraut
A German name meaning monkey weed

Ahronson
Almost exclusively associated with Cohanim.

Aronowitz
Almost exclusively associated with Cohanim.

Behr
Common German name in the Rhineland, Baden, Saarland and Moselle during the late 1500s and early 1600s.

Benveniste
A famous name among Spanish Sephardim. The name later became Epstein and Horowitz

Berg - (Bergen)
German for mountain or hill. Burg means 'castle.' Both are often used as part of a town or village name, and occasionally interchanged.

Berlowitz and Berlfein
Meaning or origin of BERLFEIN?

"Three guesses:
1. A dealer/worker in precious stones, BERRYL Fein, (fine beryl, of
    Goldfein, Silberfein)

2. Another spelling for PERLFEIN--a specialist in pears (Perle in German).
   Or the descendant of a woman named Perl (the FEIN is added as above,
   or as below, respectively)

3. A descendant of BERL. It was common to tack a non- relevant German
    syllable on the end of a "Jewish" name to make it seem a thoroughly
    "German" surname (of BERNSTEIN, BERNFELD, HIRSCHBERG,
    HIRSCHMANN Posted by Michael Bernet

"I was mistaken. BERNSTEIN is German for "amber." When I thought about it a little, I realized that I could not come up with any common "Jewish" surname that tacked STEIN to a common Jewish first name. Words such as Blaustein, Guenstein, Rothstein etc all are names of gemstones. Wasserstein and Scharfstein suggest whetstones, Kalkstein means limestonne, etc. In some cases the -STEIN name may have been an indicator of trade or profession, in some of geographic origin, and in some a made-up name possibly based on a former first or surname.

BERNSTEIN may have been a dealer or worker in amber; it may also have been assumed by someone as an "improvement" on the name "BER," BAER" or "BEHR:" Heating amber will soften it and eventually it will burn, which is why in Germanic languages the word for amber is a literal translation of Burn-Stone (in German it is Bernstein, in Dutch it is Barnsteen etc.).

Other endings that were *sometimes* tacked on arbitrarily to the end of a name include - BERG, -FELD, -BAUM, -BLUM, -STOCK, -SO[H]N, -T[H]AL

NISSENBAUM ("nut tree") was often derived from the first name Nissen (either Nathan, or Nissan), BIRNBAUM ('pear tree") from Behr," Michael Bernet

Binenbaum
According to Alexander Beider's book "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire" published in 1993 these surnames, when translated, mean either "bee tree" or "bee hive": "Binenbaum A; Bienenbaum (German) bee tree (bee hive) (Binenbojm)" "Binenbojm (Khotin, Rovno) A: Binenboym (Yiddish) See Binenbaum"

Block (aka Bloch, Blach, Bleich)

Borgenicht
A German name meaning "do not borrow"

Further, Chava Agmon havahug@barak-online.net states on JewishGen Forum of 3/2/02 'many people do not realize that the name Caro / Karo is not necessarily only a Jewish name. She further quotes Paul Jacoby LL.D as stating that the name is 'not necessarily Jewish'. The posting is very interesting to those researching this surname.

Cohen
Almost exclusively associated with Cohanim.

Chotev
Wood cutter (also Kotzetz and Chotekh meaning chopper/cutter)

Cooper
In Russian, the equivalent of this surname is Bodnar. It also translates to hooper.

Dobrzeniewski
This surname is associated with one of the following localities in the Bialystok region: Dobrzyniewo Wielkie; Dobrzyniewo Fabryczne (near Bacieczki); Dobrzyniowka (near Zabludow)

Dreyfus
From German Dreifuss literally meaning three feet. See Bernie Hirsch's web page for more information
http://home.sprynet.com/~bernie06//famtree/fam-main.html

Eselkopf
A German name means donkey's head

Feuerstein (fire stone)
Old Diaspora name. It would be a direct translation of the German name Feuerberg (Fayerberg, etc. in Yiddish). The name Feuerstein (fire stone) is usually translated in Hebrew as Halamish (flint stone)

Finkelstein
Some were Cohanim, the majority not.

Fisher
A name common to all of the languages from the Teutonic group including Scotland, which along with England, had considerable input from the Danes, and of course, Yiddish - no early contact with the Danes as far as I know). The spelling varies a bit, but it's basically the same word with the same meaning (someone who fishes). From a posting by Roberta Sheps

Fraentzel
A German diminutive of Francis or Frantz

Frankfort
Of Oldenzaal (Overijssel, Netherlands)

Galgenstrick
A German name meaning gallows' rope

Gattin
German for wife/spouse. In Romance languages (both Romanian and Italian are Romance languages) Gatti, Gatto, etc. means 'cat' and it could be a form for the common Jewish (Kohanic) name KATZ. Gattin may also be a variant of Goietin, the name of a famous Hungarian family of rabbis, orientalists and experts on Arab and on French literature and history.

GEWIRTZ - GEVIRTZ
In Yiddish or German means spice

Glatzer
The name may be derived from the Prussian town Glatz, known in Polish as Klodzko

GLATZER is additionally one of those surnames that started off as a distinguishing mark of a person, such as WEISS, LANG, STARK, KRUMBEIN. It means "Baldy." (German Glatze = bald patch)

Our ancestors were realists. They had no ads or media to delude them into thinking they had to be absolutely beautiful or miraculously perfect. Being bald, or limping was neither a shame nor an insult. The female given name Kahle (Kaele/Kehle), once common among German Jews,
happens to mean "bald" but is actually derived from Karoline (Caroline)

Glinka
From the village of Glinki - see Bernie Hirsch's web page for further information
http://home.sprynet.com/~bernie06//famtree/fam-main.html

Goetz
A common contraction of the German name Gottfried and Gottschalk. Among Jews, it is generally used as a byname with the Hebrew name Elyakim, sometimes Shaltiel. Sometimes it's rendered Getz, Getzl.

Goldberg
Some Goldbergs were Cohanim, the majority not.

Goldbort
In German/Yiddish it means gold (yellow) beard

Golub
Means 'dove' and is similar to "Columbus"

Gottlieb
In "A Dictionary of Jewish Names & Their History", Benzion Kaganoff explains that Gottlieb (a German name meaning "Beloved of God") was often translated into Hebrew as Yedidyah Gottlieb. In turn, the name Eliezer was often associated with the German-Yiddish name Gottlieb and shortened to Lieb.

Guliack
The bearers of this surname came from the town of Dbuosary, then Ukraine, now Moldova

Harlap (Charlap)
Family related to the Yekhia-Don Yekhia Family

Hirsch
From German hirsch, meaning deer. Har-Esh might also be a Hebrew-sounding rendition of the name Hirsch or Hersch, meaning deer. The Hebrew translation for this would be Tzvi, but Hirsch etc. is properly associated with Naftali. From a posting by Michael Bernet

Joachim
Commonly used by Christians in Germany during the late 1500s and early 1600s. Used more commonly perhaps than by Jews.

Jacobi
Common German name in the Rhineland, Baden, Saarland and Moselle during the late 1500s and early 1600s.

Kagan
Almost exclusively associated with Cohanim. The word Kagan comes to our lexicon from the Chussar Nation which was located between the Black and Caspian Seas. The leaders of the Chussars were called Kagans. Some time in the 5th Century, the "Big Kagan" of the Chussars decided to unify the nation by imposing a single religion. After consultation with Clergy of the 3 religions, he decided that the Jewish religion was the one for them (the aristocracy).

The Princes (Kagans) became Cohanim. When the Attila the Hun invaded their territory, the Chussars moved West (most to Hungary) some to Russia. The ones that arrived in Russia adapted the Russian way of life but not the religion. (for more on that, read the book "The 13th Tribe"). You'll find that a Russian Cohen will most likely be called Kagan or Kaganowicz. From a posting by Arie Wishnia ariewish@att.net

With respect, very little in your history of the Khazar (in Hebrew: Kuzari) nation bears a resemblance to the known facts. In recent times a well researched book written by Kevin Brook was published and there are references to it on the internet.

The background to the name "Kagan" is prosaically simple. A
Russian speaker can pronounce a hard "K" but not a soft "H", which becomes a "G", hence "Kahan" becomes "Kagan". So Mr. Cohen became Mr. Kagan in Russian speaking lands. For the most part up to 1917 you could rely on him being Jewish and a Cohen, because if you were changing your name you would tend to try for one which was no so obviously Jewish. After 1917 all bets are off. From a posting by Charles Vitez

Kahanna
Almost exclusively associated with Cohanim.

Katz
"Means" cat in German. "It's a name, borne by some Jews. In many cases, as you say, it is an acronym derived from cohen Tzedek (cohen of righteousness).

Question: I was told that KATZ meant cohen tzadik (righteous cohen)
(Reply == ) In many cases, among Jews, it is not the name of a Kohen.

==The name may be derived from the sign on a house or an inn

==It may be abbreviated from the name of a town (Katzenellenbogen, Munkacs, Katzenberg )

==It may be derived from a trade or office (Katzin [heb] = official; Katzav [heb] = butcher; Katzir [heb] = harvest; katzar [heb] = short

==the Katz ancestor may have owned a cat, sold cats, skinned cats, tanned cat pelts.

==the Katz ancestor may have looked like a cat, spoken like a cat, had eyes like a cat, even smelled like one

== none of the above, simply chance, whim or fate.

== Coincidentally, Aaron was the name of the first Kohen. It is relatively rare today for a Kohen to have the first name Aaron; perhaps Katz was your ancestor's idea of a pun on his name. Or, perhaps, the local naming official knew something of the Kohen-Katz connection and thought an Aaron would be well named as Katz." From a posting by Michael Bernet

The name is almost exclusively associated with Cohanim. KATZ is a Hebrew acronym for "Kohen Tzedek" (Righteous Kohen/Priest) and was adopted by many who claim kohen lineage. It is an Ashkenazi surname. From a posting by Avrohom Krauss

Alexander Sharon posted - "Katz is a Sefardi surname and it appears in the Jewish Galicia records before the introduction of Germanic names."

Katzenellenbogen
Some suggest that when family names were made mandatory, this was given to Jews in a derogatory, insulting fashion. It means Cat's elbow.

Katzav
Usually reserved for a retail butcher, not for the Schochet who slaughters the animal

Klapholtz
The rattle used by the sexton to waken the people

Klausner
Cloister man

Klopman
The man who knocks on the shutters to rouse people for morning worship

Klusberg
Berg is German for mountain

Korotkin
The name means "Short People" in Russian

Kushnir (Kushner)
A shortened form from the Ukrainian surname Kushnirenko - son of kushnir, i.e. furrier.

Langberg
It is used both in Germany and Scandinavian and eastern European countries as well. In a Danish article
http://www.rostra.dk/slesvig/sydslesvig.doc

it says: (in Danish) "Langbjerg (Langberg), ved Hanved. Flensborg Amt". Meaning: In the Province of Flensborg, near Hanved is a place called Langbjerg or Langberg (translates as "long mountain/hill") It is now in Germany just west of Flensborg, near the Danish border.

Levin
This surname became very popular as a Jewish name thanks to its use in "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy about the time Jews in Russia were taking surnames. The name looks Jewish to us and now so many Russian Jews are named Levin, Levinskiy, etc. that Russians think it's a Jewish name.

Levy
May indicate Levite descent, but may also be a 'simplification' of other names, e.g. Loewi, Loewenstein, etc.

"The Levites had their own duties as scribes and teachers; some of them were singers or instrumentalists in the Temple in Jerusalem, some did assist the Kohanim in the Temple duties. The only duties the Levites now perform is to wash the hands of the Kohanim before these mount to the Dukhan to pronounce the threefold blessing."

"HaLevy (The Levy) was used to differentiate between Moshe The Balegule, Moshe The Levy, or Moshe The Cohen. haLevy or haKohen is a title that was always used as an indicator of status, not as a means of differention. It was/is an integral part of the correct Hebrew name, Shem haKadosh, used in religious contexts--circumcision, reading the Torah, marriage, divorce, ill-health, death, memorial, tombstone. The Levy (or a derivative like Levine, Levinson, Levitas) was used by some as a surname, in addition to the Levy title."

"Sgan "sameh, gimel, nun" (in modern Hebrew) means second to (Second to the person in charge), therefore, if Sgan is an assistant, and "Segan" or "Segal" is also an assistant, then "Sega (n)(l)" before the Levy means that the person was an assistant to a Levy."

"SegEn is a deputy, not a second nor an assistant-deputy prime minister, deputy chairperson, deputy clinic head, lieutenant [to a captain--the original French usage of the military term]. Segan means "deputy to." SegeL means, among other things, a corpus, staff, bureaucracy etc. Segan and Segel are not the same in meaning."

"As a Levy, I know (from Hejder) that I was to assist a Cohen. I do not recall (its over 58 years) that the Leviates had also assistants. Again, the only assistance was to wash the Kohen's hands on the rare occasion when he was about to pronounce the threefold blessing."

"There is no mention anywhere in history that the Levites were considered deputies to Kohanim. The term Segal, its application to Levites, and the explanation that it meant Segan Leviyah, did not arise before the 11th century in Europe. I believe the attribution is erroneous. I am researching the topic and hope to include it in a forthcoming article, together with one or two other puzzling Jewish name combinations." Posted by Michael Bernet

Lew
From the given name Lew (Lev in Yiddish) for further information see Bernie Hirsch's web page
http://home.sprynet.com/~bernie06//famtree/fam-main.html

Loew
Common German name in the Rhineland, Baden, Saarland and Moselle during the late 1500s and early 1600s.

Lurias and Luries
"Everyman's Judaica" lists a number of Lurias and Luries. The Lurias listed were born in Russia, Lithuania, Poland and Italy. One of the greatest Lurias was the leading cabbalist (and healer), Isaac ben Solomon Ashkenazi Luria, known as Ha-Ari (the Lion) (1534-1572), born in Jerusalem and brought up in Egypt, and settled in Safed (Tsfat), North Israel, where he founded/established the renowned kabalistic school of thought and College of Kabala. The Luries mentioned in 'Judaica' were born in Poland, Lithuania and the U.S.

Maiman - (Maimon)
A popular Sephardic last name in cities like Du Shan Bey and Tashkent. The belief among those who have the name is that they are descendants of the Rambam (Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon - Maimonides).

Margulis (Margolis, etc.)
Means pearl in both the Greek and Hebrew Languages. Variations include: Margolis, Margulies, Margoulis, Margolieth, etc. From my observation, Margolis seems to appear most often in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, while Margulis shows up most often in Ukraine and Russia. In the Dvinsk Database (Latvia) there are 21 Margolis records. Most bearers of this name who originated from Poland, descend from a Polish family of Talmudic scholars who themselves descend from RASHI (1040-1195). The Jewish Encyclopaedia has a number of biographies of families bearing the name or a variant of all of whom descend from Margolieth family of Poland. The definitive Margolieth family history is Ma'a lot' ha Yuhasin by Ephraim Zlamn Margolioth (1762-1828).

Notable bearers of this name include: Russo-Polish Rabbis Isaac Margolis (1842-1887). Other Russian names are: Margulies, Margolin, Margolius, Margoliot, Margolouth, Margoliuth, Margarita, Margolies, Margoles all of which are matronymic in origin being derived from the first-name of the mother of the initial bearer. From an email from Jerry Margolis

Medved
A Russian word meaning "Bear" - it may refer to an eponymous "Ber" - "OW" is a genitive-plural suffix and "sky" makes it an adjective.

Moel (Mohel)
From the Yiddish word Mohel, meaning circumciser

Mogilner (Mogilno)
Probably referring to someone who lived near a burial ground as Mogilchik is Russian for gravedigger. In Polish, 'mogila" means "grave". There are towns with the name Mogilno in Ukraine, another near Poznan and still another in Belarus near Stolbtsy, as well as a Mogilyani east of Rovno.

Moss
A Hebrew abbreviation from 'Mocher Sefarim' Mem- Vav Samech' and it means Book Seller. In Holland, normally the family name Moss means the above abbreviation. Of course, it can be also abbreviation for a lot of places in Europe or names Moshe. According to Beryl Kaganoff (page 59) of the nearly 750 names in British records of Jews in the 12th century, thirty eight were called Moss or Mosse (for Moses).

Nagorny, Nagurny
Names based on personal characteristics; stems from Polish nagorny meaning: (living) up a mountain). The name is found in Lomza, Ostroleka and Mazowieck.

Nemerov
There were many Nemerovs from the Guberniyas of Kiev and Chernigov as well as from Odessa. The name derived from Ukrainian town of Nemirov.

Vitaly Charny Vcharny@aol.com stated that "I know about NEMIROVSKY records prior 1984/95 - a record of 1893 originated from Bobruisk with reference to Kiev as a hometown." From a posting on 2-5-03

Oberman
Leslie Oberman at his web site created a wonderfully descriptive page relating to the meaning of the name
http://www.oberman.org/

Ochsenschwantz
A German name meaning ox tail

Ovshievich
Found in Akkerman Uyezd; Ovseevich; no particular Uyezd; Ovseiovich found in Oshmyany, and Slonim Uyezds; Ovsejovich found in Oshmyany and Grodno Uyezds; Ovsievich found in Cherkassy, Chigirin, Kiev, Kamenets Uyezds; Ovsiovich found in Kiev, Kamenets, Odessa Uyezds

Paraylo(s) (Carvalho - pronounced CarbalYO)
It has many derivates, including Carbajal/Cavajal, Carbajo/Carvajo, Carballo/Carvallo. Carvalho is the Portuguese version of this name, and it/was a common Sephardic/Converso name. The famous Luis Carbajal family of New Spain (modern day Mexico) were Conversos who were burned at the stake there by the Inquisition in the 1500s.

Popper
A Jewish family in Bohemia, prominent since the 17th century in finance, business, leadership and scholarship. It is generally held that the name originated from Frankfurt-am-Main in Germany. The two "f's" in Frankfurt are rendered with a peh in Hebrew and Frankfurt was commonly abbreviated Peh" Peh. Popper was thus just a shorthand way of saying Frankfurter. From a posting by Michael Bernet.

Propn
Means cork. a.k.a. Probnovich. There is some information that it is a Slavic word: "Propinacja" (small-scale production of alcohol, transport, and inns often used all together).

Raab
From the German language meaning vine, or tendril, or from Rebhun, a partridge.

Rappaport
Almost exclusively associated with Cohanim.

Reis
A *very common* Portuguese-Brazilian surname. It translates into "Kings" and it originates from the 3 kings who visited Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem. Eventually converso Portuguese Jews could have taken the REIS surname which eventually became KONIG in Germany or in German speaking countries. But I really doubt that there is any correlation between the surname REIS and the German-Jewish surname REISS which originates from shields depicting a Giant, stemming from the German word Riese (== giant) (source Kaganoff). From a posting by Tom Venetianer tom.vene@uol.com.br

Rose
Royz in Yiddish means rose - resh vav jod zayin. In Poland, the name would be spelled Rojz and Alexander Beider finds it in Biala, Radzyn, Pulawy, Janow and Warsaw. Artificial names starting with Rojz - abound in Poland and they all derive from the name of the flower.

Ross
In German it means horse.

Roterozen
From German rote Rosen, literally red roses

Rubenstein
Derived from the name Reuven

Rucka/Rutzki
From numerous place names and nouns, most of which are connected with the Polish root rudy, meaning red-haired, ginger-haired, or ruda, ore. Further information available at
http://home.sprynet.com/~bernie06//famtree/fam-main.html

Saba (Sabah)
In Turkish it means 'morning'. Dov Cohen's lists of 7,300 brides and grooms of Izmir, Turkey, covering the late 1800s and early 1900s, includes brides and grooms with the Saba surname. Saba is also the name of one of the islands in the Netherlands Antilles, located in the Caribbean Sea. The Encyclopedia Britannica lists Saba as a pre-Islamic kingdom in southern Arabia.

Another interpretation, this one by Michael Bernet, the Saba name has many origins: It is a variant of Sheba, the country on the gulf of Suez that was home of the Queen of Sheba. The name of a prominent Jew, Abdallah ibn SABA, in Arabia who allied himself with Mohammed and converted to Islam, reputedly he was the founder of the Shi'ite sect. The names of a number of regions in the middle east. Aramaic (not Hebrew -- in Hebrew it's Sav) for grandfather. The names of a number of Amoraim (compilers of the Talmud) in Mesopotamia around the 4th century. And there are a few more interpretations, according to Michael in a posting.

Scheier
A variation of Schorr, a symbolic reference to the name "Joseph" where Joseph is compared to an ox ("shor" in Hebrew). Also appears as Schayer, Schauer.

Schaye is the same as Yeshayahu (i.e. Isaiah) and is a very common Yiddish rendering of the biblical name

Schick
An acronym, but may have two different meanings. One is from "Shem Yisrael Kodesh" (the name of Israel is holy). The other may represent a descendent of the famous 16th century Italian rabbi, Shmuel Yehudah Katzenellenbogen.

Schimmel
In Judaism, a form of Shimon (Simon).

Schlesinger
Means, literally "of/from Silesia"--and before 1918 some of Silesia was a part of the Austrian empire. It was therefore quite a common Jewish name in the Austrian empire. The Encyclopedia Judaica has 13 principal entries under that name, including a number of renowned rabbis, musicologists, scholars and economists. The Schlesinger family in Vienna was wealthy and influential and held the position of Hofagenten (court factors) to a number of kings and the emperor. It is not unlikely that a Jewish landowning family would be related to this branch.

Schmalz
A German name meaning grease

Schmelkin
A variation of Schmulke which is a form of Schmuel (Samuel) therefore, Schmelkin means a descendent of Samuel.

Schoenteil
The German translation of "Bonaparte" and was assumed by
some Jewish families in Germany in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte who brought them freedom.

Schoffjockel
A handyman or laborer, or an owner, herder or trader in sheep - perhaps a vet specializing in sheep. Jockel seems to mean Jack, guy, fellow. Some additional meanings of Schoffe part are 1.) a lay assessor or magistrate; 2.) mean, shabby, deceitful (probably a Judaeo-German word from the Hebrew 'shafel') 3.) to scoop or draw water.

Schram
This word was applied to a man with a slight facial scar as that is the meaning of the word and was probably given by the naming commission.

Schulman
Source of the Germanic name meaning school [synagogue] man

Schultz
The name taken by a synagogue official in a community, as it is from the German "Schultheiss" (village magistrate" or "overseer")

http://www.deadfred.com/surnamePersR_05.php?ID=90382

http://lastnames.myheritage.com/last-name/Schwaube

Schycha
Shimche or Shimke would be Yiddish for Simchah; Shimshe would be Yiddish for Shimshon (biblical Samson). Shimshe might also stand for Shim'on (Simon); other alternatives are Sishyeh (Siskind or Sismann).

SEGAL (but not Siegel)
Spelled Samekh-gimmal-lamed, is a name used to indicate Levitical ancestry and is used also with other names as an indication that the person is a Levite. SEGAL is said to be an acronym, with a number of different provenances. There is much doubt about the accuracy of the explanation for the SEGAL term (often written as an abbreviation, with a "double quote" between the middle and last letter, i.e. SeGa"L). The term goes back 1000 years among Ashkenazim.

It is not unreasonable that an ancestor may have alternated between the Levy/haLevy designations and the Segal designation, and may occasionally have used both--and in either order. A Levite's tombstone usually shows a water pitcher (often tilted, sometimes with a basin, sometimes held in a hand) reflecting the Levite's only remaining duty, that of washing the hands of the Cohanim before these mount the Dukhan to recite the threefold blessing.

In earlier times (and still today among the very religious) surnames are not mentioned on a tombstone, only the name of the person, the name of the father, and the status if a Kohen or a Levi.

Selig
Among German Jews it was common to use the word Selig after
a name, the equivalent of "of blessed memory."

Shaltiel (Sealtiel)
A famous name among Spanish Sephardim. My own maternal family has many Shattil surnames.

Shapiro
Some were Cohanim, the majority not. The majority of Shapiros can be associated with the Hebrew for sapphire.

Shkolnik (Slavik) (Skolnik, Shames) means sexton

Shochet (Schochet)
"According to Benjamin Edelstein's dictionary of Jewish last names (AGJA's recent edition, Spanish) some other last names related to the Schochet are:

Shub, Shuub, Szub, Szubb, Schub - acronym of Shochet Ubodek Schar, Scher, Szer, Shar, Sher, Schere - acronym of Shochet Rab (another meanings are related to scissors/tailors) Reches (Spanish phonetics Rejes) - acronym of Rab Chazan Shochet (another meaning is related to Rachel)"

"Diccionario de Apellidos Judios - Su etimologia, variantes y derivados Benjamin Edelstein Asociacion de Genealogia Judia de Argentina - Editorial Dunken Buenos Aires 2003." 
From a posting by Carlos Glikson Buenos Aires cglikson@ciudad.com.ar
ISBN 987-02-0309-4

Siegel
Spelled in Hebrew samekh-yod-gimmal-lamed; Segal is ALWAYS spelled without the yod. Siegel can have been a seal maker, a brick maker, or an abbreviated Siegalnovsky etc. If a person surnamed Siegel is truly a Levite, it's a coincidence or a misspelling. The correct pronunciation, if it is indeed an acronym meaning deputy, is Segal, not Sagal because the first vowel of Segen/Segan is a sounded shva, not a patach. What I am increasingly coming to believe is that the true origin of the name also requires an "e" for the first vowel. From a posting by M Bernet

Silver
See Srebnick

Singmirwas
A German name meaning sing me something

Sirota
In Slavic, the word means 'orphan' and may have described an orphan or may have described a person who looked sad and depressed.

Skolnic
The position of sexton is the source of the Germanic names Schulman (school [synagogue] man), Klausner (cloister man), ... Klopman (the man who knocks on the shutters to rouse people for morning worship), and Klapholtz (the rattle used by the sexton to waken the people), and the Slavic for Schulman, Shkolnik (Skolnik), as well as the Hebrew Shames (shammas), which means sexton. As posted by Sam Aaron

Sluzewsky (Sluzewski)
Associated with the Polish town names and/or the Polish nobility surname. Check such places as Sluzewiec (known as the Warsaw hippodrome), Sluzewo or Sluzew in Poland. Meaning of the name derivates from 'sluga', Slavic for the 'servant', most probably king's (royal) servant.

Smolkin
This is my wife, Shirley's maiden family surname. I have tracked it back to Ossipovich Belarus where the Smolkin family owned an apple orchard. Any relatives out there?

Sobotka
Means Sabbath in Czech though the Hebrew letters of both surnames are quite different. The Sobotka Family was originally from Prague and was possibly connected to the Family of Rabbi Low. Sobotka is a village north of Prague. There are also villages of the same name in Poland. Beider's book states that it means bonfire and also from a village in Grodno Guberniya.

Sokol [soh koow]
In Polish identifies a falcon, a bird used in hunting.

Spector (Spektor, Speckter)
A Polish version of the Jewish surname Spektor which often denoted a trade related to the production or sale of viewing lenses i.e. magnifying glasses or eye glasses.

Sperling
A name applied by the naming commission to a very vivacious, active person.

Srebnick / Silverman (Silver)
Means silversmith, from the Polish word srebro (silver) which is very similar in many other Slavic languages. Silber in German.

Steinloff (most probably a corruption of Steinlauf) A family from central Galicia mainly around Brzesko, Bochnia and Wisnicz.

Sukenik
Professor Eliezer Sukenik (1889 - 1952) was Israel's premier archaeologist. He acquired many of the Dead Sea scrolls for Israel and devoted the rest of his life to their study.

Taschengreiger
A German name meaning pocket grasper, etc.

Temperaturwechsel
A German name meaning temperature change

Thal
Means valley in German

Verderber
A German name meaning despoiler

Vernik
Name means varnish in Polish

Vinokur (or Winokur)
Name may have an ancient origin. Wino (vino) depicts the wine in Slavic languages. Etymology of the 'kur' is associated with the smoke (kurit' in Russian - smoking), associated with the technology of the moonshine produce. The raw material had to be warmed up to the boiling point to initiate a fermentation process and where there is a fire there is also a smoke.

Russian Tsar, Peter the Great introduced a monopoly for certain common products in Russia in order to get more taxes. A basic and popular Russian foods, like vodka and salt (later matches and few others) were monopolized by the government, who licensed only certain business people to be engaged in production of those basics. Moonshine making was forbidden, and probably in this historical time all the vinokurs have re-engineered themselves into wine making specialists and became a vinodels (wine maker).

There are other Jewish names in Slavic, associated with winemaking, like Winiarz, Winiarski and names related to the moonshine making: Gorzelnik. Probably the most famous moonshine maker name is Bronfman. From a posting by Alexander Sharon.

Volpe and Volpi
Not unusual surnames in Italy. Volpe means fox in Italian.

Weisser
The 'white one'

Yecke
Refers to German Jewish practices and is Yiddish for jacket. The origin of the name (yekke) is not known for certain. s.elijah_yecke@yahoo.com

Yeshayahu (Jesha'ayahu)
Three words are being connected to one name, Yesha, meaning: Salvation  help, Ya, meaning: God, and Hu, meaning: he / its. So: Salvation Is God.

Yekhia-Don Yekhia Family
This family went from Portugal into northeast Russia, Latvia and Belarus and is related to the Charlap (Harlap) family

Zelda See Seldis

Zmudik (Zhmud)

Refers to the area of Kovno Guberniya including the Shavli, Tels, Rassein and western part of the Kovno districts according to Alexander Beider's "A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire". He notes that the name Zmudik was found there in the beginning of the 20th century. He also found the name Zhmud as far away as Ekaterinoslav Guberniya.

In the book "Lithuanian Jewish Communities", the authors describe the Zhamot (Zhmud, Samogitia) region of northern Lithuania as a separate area under the Council of the Land of Lithuania. There is also a reference to a Polish town 82 km ESE of Lublin.