Behind the Name: Jewish Surnames

BIEBER German, Jewish
From Middle High German biber "beaver", German Biber, or Yiddish biber, hence a nickname, possibly a nickname for a hard worker, or from some other fancied resemblance to the animal... [more]

BLUM Jewish
Means "flower" in German and Yiddish.

BLUMENTHAL German, Jewish
Derived from German Blumen "flowers" and thal "valley".

BLUMSTEIN Jewish, German
Means "flower stone" in German.

BÖHMER German, Jewish
Variant of BÖHM

BRIEFMAN Jewish
Most likely means "brief man". Its origin can be traced back to Israel.

CHAIKIN Jewish
Metronymic from the Yiddish feminine name Khayke, a diminutive of Khaye meaning "life".

COHEN Jewish
Means "priest" from Hebrew כֹּהֵן (kohen)... [more]

DAVID English, French, Scottish, Jewish, Czech
From the given name DAVID.

ESPINOSA Spanish, Jewish
From the Spanish espinoso, meaning "thorny", ultimately from Latin spîna and spînosus, respectively meaning "spine" and "full of spines, spiny"... [more]

EZRA Jewish
From the given name EZRA.

FEIGENBAUM German, Jewish
Means "a fig tree" in German.

FELD German, Jewish
Means "field" in German... [more]

FELDT German, Jewish
Variant of FELD

FERMI Italian, Jewish
Locative surname coming from the town of Fermo in Marche region, not far from Rome... [more]

FISHER English, Jewish
Cognate of FISCHER.

GASS German, Jewish
Name for someone who lived on a street in a city, from German gasse.

GOLDHIRSCH Jewish
Means "golden stag" in Yiddish.

GREENBERG German, Jewish
Anglicized form of the German surname Grünberg, which is formed from the words grün "green" and Berg "mountain"... [more]

GREENSPAN Jewish
Anglicized form of German Grünspan which meant "verdigris"... [more]

HABER German, Jewish
Derived from German Haber "oats"... [more]

HAREL Jewish
Means in Hebrew "mountain of God".

HAYES (3) Yiddish
Metronymic from the Yiddish name Khaye "life".

HERSCHEL German, Jewish
Variant of HIRSCH (1) or HIRSCH (2).

HERSHEY Jewish
Derived from the name HIRSH.

HIRSCH (2) Jewish
Derived from the given name HIRSH.

HOCHBERG German, Jewish
Means "high hill" in German.

HOROWITZ German, Jewish
From the German name for Horovice, a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.

JÄGER German, Jewish
From Middle High German jeger(e) meaning "hunter".

JORDAN (2) Jewish
Derived from the name of the Jordan river in Israel, which is derived from yarad meaning "descend" or "flow down".

KAMINSKI Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish
Name for someone who came from a town called Kamien... [more]

KAUFFMANN German, Jewish
Variant of KAUFMAN

KAUFMAN German, Jewish
Means "merchant" in German.

KLEID German, Jewish
Occupational name for a tailor, from German Kleid "garment, clothing".

KLEIN German, Dutch, Jewish
Means "little" from German klein or Yiddish kleyn... [more]

KRAKOWSKI Polish, Jewish
Habitational name for a person of the city of Kraków in southern Poland.

KRAMER German, Jewish
Variant of KRÄMER.

KRANTZ Jewish, German, Dutch
Variant of KRANZ

KRAVITZ Jewish
Occupational name meaning "tailor" (from Polish krawiec)... [more]

LANDAU German, Jewish
Derived from the German town of Landau, which meant "land valley".

LANGER German, Jewish
German form of LONG.

LEHRER German, Jewish
German surname meaning "teacher".

LEVI Jewish
From the given name LEVI.

LEVINE Jewish
Derived from the given name LEVI.

LOWE (1) Jewish
Germanized variant of LEVI

MAIER German, Jewish
Variant of MEYER (1).

MAKSIMOV Russian, Jewish, Bulgarian
Means "son of MAKSIM".

MANDEL German, Jewish
Variant of MENDEL; also means "an almond" in German.

MANDELBAUM German, Jewish
Means "an almond tree" in German.

MARKOVIC Russian, Jewish, Serbian
Means "son of MARKO".

MATOS Portuguese, Jewish
Means "dweller by a plantation of trees" from the Old Spanish mata... [more]

MAYER (2) Jewish
From Hebrew meir which means "enlightened".

MEIER German, Jewish
Variant of MEYER (1).

MEIR Jewish
Variant of MAYER (2).

MENCHER Polish, Jewish
Occupational surname for a miller or flour dealer (derived from Polish maczarz).

MENDEL Jewish, German
Derived from the given name MENDEL.

MENDELSOHN Jewish, German
Means "son of MENDEL".

MENDELSSOHN Jewish, German
Means "son of MENDEL".

MEYER (2) Jewish
Variant of MAYER (2).

MOSES Jewish, English
Derived from the given name MOSES.

NEUMAN Jewish, German
Variant of NEUMANN

NOVAK Czech, Polish, Slovak, Slovene, Jewish
Derived from Slavic novy "new", originally a name for someone who was new to a village.

NUSSBAUM German, Jewish
Means "nut tree" from the Germanic words nuß meaning "nut" and baum meaning "tree".

NUSSENBAUM German, Jewish
Variant of NUSSBAUM

ORENSTEIN Yiddish
Means "horn stone".

ÖSTBERG Swedish, Jewish
Means "mountain (or hill) in the east" from Swedish öst "east" and berg "mountain", "hill".

PASCAL French, Jewish
Derived from the given name PASCAL.

PASTERNACK Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish
The name translates literally as "white turnip" or "parsnip".

PASTERNAK Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Jewish
Variant of PASTERNACK... [more]

PENSAK Yiddish
Variant of PENZIG

PENZAG Yiddish
Variant of PENZIG

PENZAK Yiddish
Variant of PENZIG

PENZIG German, Yiddish
Denotes a person who comes from Penzig, the German name for Pieńsk, a town in southwest Poland... [more]

PENZIK Yiddish
Variant of PENZIG

PONTECORVO Italian, Jewish
From the name of a village near Rome, where an Israeli community settled centuries ago.

PRINZ German, Jewish
Means "prince", used as an ornamental surname by Jews or as a nickname for someone who acted in a princely manner.

RAPP (2) German, Jewish
Means "dark haired" or "raven-like".

REGENBOGEN German, Jewish
From the German word meaning "rainbow".

REIS Jewish
Ornamental name from German Reis, meaning "twig" or "branch".

REUTER (1) German, Jewish
Means "dweller in a clearing" or "clearer of woodland" from the Middle High German riute.

REUTER (2) German, Jewish
Means "highwayman" from the Middle High German riutœre.

RIESE German, Jewish
Means "giant" from German Riese.

ROSE (1) English, French, German, Scottish, Jewish
Means "rose" from the Middle English, Old French and Middle High German rose... [more]

ROSENBERG German, Jewish
Means "mountain of roses" in German.

ROSENBERGER German, Jewish
Variant of ROSENBERG

ROSENFELD German, Jewish
Means "field of roses" in German.

ROT German, Jewish
Variant of ROTH

ROTH German, Jewish
From Middle High German rot meaning "red"... [more]

ROTHENBERG German, Jewish
Means "red mountain" from the German rot meaning "red" and berg meaning "mountain".

ROTHSCHILD German, Jewish
Means "red shield, sign" from the German rot "red" and the German or Yiddish s(c)hild "sign, shield"... [more]

SALOMON English, French, Italian, German, Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Jewish, Hungarian
Derived from the given name SALOMON.

SAMSON English, French, German, Jewish, Dutch
Derived from the name SAMSON.

SAMUEL English, French, German, Jewish
Derived from the given name SAMUEL.

SCHEINBERG German, Jewish
Means "lovely, beautiful mountain" from the German schön "fine, beautiful" and berg meaning "mountain".

SCHENCK German, Dutch, Jewish
From Middle High German, Middle Dutch schenke meaning "wine server" (from Old High German scenken "to pour out")... [more]

SCHINDLER German, Jewish
Means "shingler, roof tiler"... [more]

SCHNEIDER (2) German, Jewish
Means "tailor" from the German schneider or Yiddish shnayder... [more]

SCHNUR German, Jewish
Means "rope maker" from the German schnur or Yiddish shnur.

SCHREIER German, Jewish
German and Yiddish word that means "screamer" or "shrieker" or "crier", perhaps an occupational name for a town crier... [more]

SCHWARZ German, Jewish
From Middle High German swarz meaning "black"... [more]

SEELENFREUND German, Jewish
Middle High German vriunt, modern German freund, meaning "friend" and modern German seele, meaning "soul".

SEGAL (1) Jewish
Acronym of the Hebrew phrase SeGan Levia meaning "second rank Levite".

SEIDEL German, Jewish
From the German word seidel meaning "beer mug".

SHAFIR Jewish
Ornamental surname meaning "sapphire" from the Yiddish shafir.

SHAIN Jewish
Ornamental surname meaning "beautiful, handsome" from the German schön.

SHAPIRO Jewish
From Hebrew shapir which means "pretty, lovely".

SHEINFELD German, Jewish
Means "lovely, beautiful field" from the German schön "fine, beautiful" and feld meaning "field".

SHERMAN (2) Jewish
Means "tailor" in Yiddish, derived from sher "scissors".

SIEGEL (3) Jewish
Variant of SEGAL (1).

SILVERSTEIN German, Jewish
Means "silver stone" from German Silber and Stein... [more]

SIMON Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Jewish
Derived from the Hebrew given name SIMON.

SINASOHN German, Jewish
Variant of SINASON

SISKIN German, Jewish
Means "sweet child" from the words suess meaning "sweet" and kind meaning "child".

SISKIND German, Jewish
Variant of SISKIN

SITZ (1) German, Jewish
Derived from a given name beginning with the Germanic element sigi meaning "victory".

SITZ (2) German, Jewish
Means "house owner" from the Middle High German siz "seat, domicile".

SOBOL Polish, Jewish
Derived from either the Polish sobol meaning "marten" or the Old High German zobel meaning "sable".

SOKOL Czech, Jewish
Means "falcon" from the Slavic sokol... [more]

SOKOLL Jewish
Variant of SOKOL

SOKOLOF Polish, Jewish
Means "son of SOKOL".

SOKOLOFF Polish, Bulgarian, Russian, Jewish
Means "son of SOKOL".

SOKOLSKY Polish, Jewish
Means "of SOKOL".

SOLOMON French, Jewish
Variant of SALOMON

SPITZNOGLE German, Jewish
Means "sharp nail" in German.

STEIN German, Jewish
From the Old High German word stein meaning "stone"... [more]

STOLARZ Polish, Jewish
Occupational name meaning "joiner" from Polish stolarz.

STUECK German, Jewish
Means "piece, part" from the Middle High German stuck.

SUESS German, Jewish
From a Jewish ornamental name from the Middle High German süss "sweet".

TOBIAS English, French, German, Jewish
From the given name TOBIAS.

TOLEDANO Jewish
Derived from the name of the city of Toledo, during the banishing of the Jews of Spain into Morroco and Africa, they kept their last names which signify the city of origin in Spain.

VANG (2) Yiddish
Variant of WANG (4)

VENETIANER German, Italian, Jewish
Probably one of the few surnames with an unique known ancestor - Alexsandor Vinazie, a Jewish man who possibly emigrated from Venice to the town of Liptovsky Mikulas in a region which today is known as the Slovak Republic... [more]

WALDFOGEL German, Jewish
Means "forest bird"... [more]

WALDVOGEL German, Jewish
Variant spelling of WALDFOGEL.

WALLACH Yiddish
From Middle High German walhe, walch "foreigner from a Romance country", probably a nickname for someone from Italy.

WANG (4) Yiddish
Nickname for a Jew from Hungary, ultimately from Russian Vengria "Hungary".

WARD (3) Yiddish
Adopted by bearers of Yiddish surnames like WARSZAWSKI or WARSHAWSKY that start with a similar sound to the English name Ward.

WARSHAWSKY Yiddish
Yiddish or American spelling of WARSZAWSKI.

WECHSLER German, Jewish
Means "money changer, banker" from the German word Geldwechsler "money changer".

WEXLER German, Jewish
Variant of WECHSLER

WIRTH German, Jewish
Means "innkeeper" from the German Wirt "host".

WOLFF German, Norwegian, Jewish
Variant of WOLF

ZILBERSCHLAG German, Jewish
Occupational surname for a silversmith from Yiddish zilber "silver" and schlag "strike".

ZIMMAN Jewish
Assigned to families migrating via Ellis Island in the early part of the 20th century... [more]

ZIMMERMANN German, Jewish
From the German word for "carpenter", derived from Middle High German zimber "timber, wood" and mann "man".

ZINGEL Jewish
From Middle High German zingel "defensive wall"... [more]