The Language of Names: Jewish Onomastics in Late Medieval Germany, Identity, and Acculturation (original) (raw)

Discontinuity of Jewish Naming Traditions

Analysis of changes in Jewish naming traditions, with a particular focus on the "revival" of the use of biblical given names at the end of the First Millennium and the use of fashionable European female given names by Jews in Central and Eastern Europe during the 19th-20th centuries.

The Notion of ‘Jewish Surnames’

Journal of Jewish Languages, 2018

This article discusses the notion of ‘Jewish surnames,’ considering it to be synonymous to the expression ‘surnames borne by Jews.’ This can be particularly helpful if we want the definition to add real value for the search of etymologies. The article describes most important peculiarities of Jewish surnames, categories of names that are exclusively Jewish, and various cases when a surname is shared by both Jews and non-Jews. It shows that certain alternative definitions of the notion of ‘Jewish surnames’ (such as surnames found in all Jewish communities, surnames used by Jews only, surnames based on specifically Jewish linguistic elements) either have internal inconsistencies or are useless and sometimes misleading for the scientific analysis of the etymologies of these surnames.

Names of Jews in Medieval Navarre (13th–14th centuries)

in: Ahrens, Wolfgang / Embleton, Sheila / Lapierre, André (eds.), Names in a Multi-Lingual, Multi-Cultural and Multi-Ethnic World. Proceedings of the 23d International Congress of Onomastic Sciences (August 17-22, 2008, York University, Toronto), CD-ROM, Toronto: York University, 140-157, 2009

This paper analyses names of Jews in the rich diplomatic collection "Navarra Judaica. Documentos para la Historia de los judíos del reino de Navarra" (

Names of People: Surnames in Pre-Modern Europe

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HEBREW LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS, vol. 2, pp. 791-795, 2013

The paper discusses the Jewish surnames based on Hebrew that were created mainly in Ashkenazic communities of Eastern and Central Europe before mid-19th century. The large group was created in the Russian Empire. A few examples are also provided of Hebrew names used by Sephardic Jews.

History of Jewish Names in Eastern Europe and Surnames in the Russian Empire

Chapters 1, 4, 5 of Beider, Alexander. 2008. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire (revised edition). Bergenfield (2008), NJ: Avotaynu. , 2008

These three chapters cover the historical aspects of names: Chapter 1: History of Jewish Names in Eastern Europe, with sections (a) Names in Hebrew Sources before the End of the 18th Century (b) Names in Slavic Sources before the End of the 18th Century (c) General Aspects of the Surname Adoption by Jews of the Russian Empire (d) Surname Changes in Russia and USSR Chapter 4: Adoption of surnames in various regions (Courland, Lithuania, Belorussia, Ukraine, Bessarabia) Chapter 5: Jewish surnames and Gentile surnames in Eastern Europe, with sections about surnames specific to Jews, shared by Jews and Slavic or German Christians, surnames borrowed by Jews from Christians