Some preliminary notes on Israeli family names by Gershom Martin (comartin@wicc.weizmann.ac.il) Sources for Israeli family names are manifold: (A) Newly adopted family names in Israel Among the first returnees to the Land of Israel, a strong current of sh'lilat ha-gola (negation of the diaspora/Exile) existed, which often included the exchange of Diaspora family names (which some regarded as "slave names") for purely Hebrew ones. Later, David Ben-Gurion z"l issued a directive under which all Israeli diplomatic personnel as well as civil servants and career officers above certain ranks were obliged to Hebraize (l'avret) their last names. Even later, as tensions between ethnic groups arose, the desire to disidentify with a "stigmatized" ethnic group or to merge into a "collective Israeli identity" created further impetus for Hebraizations. Hebraizations take one of the following forms: (a) direct translations of the Diaspora name examples: OLD NEW Goldberg Har-Paz Schlossberg Har-Segor Steinberg Har-Even Rosenstein Even-Shushan Herbst Stavi Silver[man] Caspi Quecksilber Caspit [mercury] Gold Zahavi Stahl[mann] Peled [steel] Goldstein Even-Zahav Edelstein Even-Chen [precious stone] Finkelstein, Diamant Yahalom Kristal Gavish Bernstein Inbar, Inbari [amber] Shechter, Reznik/Resnick Shochat [(ritual) butcher] Fried[man] [Ish-]Shalom Ruehig, Stiller Shalev [tranquil] Weinstock Gefen [vine] Weintraub Einav [grape] Weingarten Kerem [vineyard] Wald[man] Ya'ari Loewenberg Har-Arieh, Har-Lavi, Lavi Bergmann Har-Ish, Harari [harar=mountain dweller] Fischer Dayag, Dayagi Schneider, Kravitz Chayat [tailor] Schuster Sandlar [shoemaker] Burg Ma'oz [fortress] Graff Rozen [count] Shulsinger, Cantor Chazan Sanger/Singer, Nachtigall Zamir [both "singer" and "nightingale"] Wassermann Maimon Elfenbein Shenhav [ivory] Morgen[stern] Shachar [Hebrew for "dawn"] Morgenthau Tal-Shachar Gottesdiener Ovadia [servant of G-d] [Hungarian: Hegedus] Ovadia Gottesfreund Yedidya [friend of G-d] Fried[man] [Ish-]Shalom Freud Simcha, Sasson [both meaning "joy"] Lerner Lamdan Klug[er] Chacham [wise], Navon [intelligent], Yavin [will understand] (newscaster Chaim Yavin, born Heinz Kluger) Lempel Ner [light], Lapid [torch] (journalist-politician Yosef "Tommy" Lapid, born Tomislav Lempel) Cederbaum Erez [cedar] Tannenbaum Oren [pine-tree] Nussbaum Luz [kind of nut-tree] Feigenbaum Tamari [fig-tree] Eich[e],Eichler Alon [oak-tree] Mandel[baum] Shaked [almond (tree)] [German] Birnbaum \ Agassi [agas = pear] [or Yiddish] Barenboim / Apfel[baum] Tapuchi [tapu'ach=apple] Pomerantz Tapuzi [Yiddish and Hebrew, resp. for "orange"], also: Hadar (meaning both citrus-tree and embellishment) One special category are Jewish patronyms: Meyerson Ben-Meir [son of Meir] Mendelssohn Ben-Menachem [son of Menachem (Yiddish diminutive: Mendel)] Davidson Ben-David Rubens Ben-Reuven Simon Shimon, Ben-Shimon Mozes Moshe, Ben-Moshe Wolfson Ben-Ze'ev [son of Ze'ev=wolf] Hirsch(ensohn) Ben-Tzvi Lazarus Ben-El`azar Leiserowitch Ben-Eliezer [Yiddish diminutive of Eliezer=Leiser] Another one are minor "Hebraizations" of toponyms, e.g. Wilner Vilna'i [both meaning "from Wilna"] Deutsch(er) Ashkenazi [Ashkenaz=medieval Hebrew for Germany] [contrary to popular belief, the common East European Jewish names "London" and "Berlin" are NOT toponyms: "London" is a corruption of "Lamdan" and "Berlin" the Slavic equivalent of "Baersohn" or "Ben-Dov"] rather less minor is Deutscher Ashkenazi [Ashkenaz=medieval Hebrew for Germany] (a') negation of so-called "Ekelnamen" (deliberately insulting or demeaning last names forced upon ancestors by malevolent officials) e.g. Luegner [liar] => Amiti [truthful] Ausubel [from garbage] => Ben-Tov [son of good] Greif ["claw", indicating greed and/or miserliness] => Nadiv [benefactor] (b) phonetic similarity (sometimes far-fetched) with a Biblical place name, Jewish historical figure, or Hebrew word with a nice meaning examples Meyerson Meir [brilliant; named for Rabbi Meir] Gruen Ben-Gurion [historical figure] Epstein Eilat [place name] Kalb Gilboa [place name] Berkovitz Barak [lightning] Berlin Bar-Ilan [son of a (family) tree] Uzan Oz [strength] Gorodish Gonen [protector] Rosen Rozen [Hebrew for a count] Shertok Sharett [servant] (Isser) Halperin Har-El [mountain of G-d (i.e. Zion)] (Gen. Ariel) Schneiderman Sharon [place name] (Shimon) Persky Peres [bearded vulture (don't ask!)] (Mieczeslaw) Salomonowicz Prof. Michael Sela [rock] Sometimes a name offers nice options for both (a) and (b) Rosen Shoshani, Vardi (by meaning) Rosen Rozen [Count] (by homophony) Shkolnik Eshkol [cluster of grapes] (by homophony) Shkolnik Lamdan [yeshiva student] (by meaning) Feld Sadeh [field] (by meaning) Feld Peled [steel] (by homophony) Shneur, Shneior Shinar (by homophony) Shneur, Shneior Bechor [1st-born son] (by meaning) [Shneior is a Yiddishization of "Senior"] Scheiner Shinar (by homophony) Scheiner Me'ir (by meaning) Diener Sharett (by meaning) Diener Di-Nur [Aramaic: "from the fire"] (by homophony) And once in a while (a) and (b) can be satisfied SIMULTANEOUSLY Loewe Lavi [lion] (slightly less elegantly:) [little lamp] Lempel Lapid [torch] (c) taking a patronym derived from the father's Hebrew first name: e.g. Yitzchak Ben-Tzvi (Isaac son of Zvi/Hirsch), whose original family name was not Hirsch or Herschensohn (the German/Yiddish equivalents of Ben-Tzvi) but Shimshelewitz (which would have translated as Ben-Shimshon). Another example: composer Paul Ben-Chaim (originally: Frankenburger, not Heimowitz or Heimann) (c) completely newly chosen names, usually symbolic in nature examples Di-Nur [Aramaic: "from the fire", adopted by some Shoah survivors such as author Ka-Tzetnik (Yechiel Dinur)] Ben-Artzi [Hebrew: "son of my land"] Nir [Hebrew: "ploughed field" as dug by a farmer] Talmi [from Telem="furrow" as dug by a farmer in a field] Regev [Hebrew: "clod of earth", cfr. Nir, Talmi] Avigur [Hebrew, taken by Shaul Meirov after his son Gur] [died tragically] Nimrod[i] [Hebrew name for the first hunter according to the Bible. Nimrod (from a root m-r-d meaning "to rebel") was everything the rabbis did NOT consider to be a "nice Jewish boy" and hence his name was considered off-limits. Militantly secular Jews used to (and sometimes still) take this name as a sign of their rebellion against religion and/or identification as "new Hebrew men:] (B) MORE GENERAL JEWISH NAMES Some people were sufficiently attached to their Diaspora last name (because of its illustrious origins, because of a desire to continue to identify as Ashkenazi, Moroccan, Yemenite,..., or for any number of reasons) that they kept it. [There is the famous story of the diplomat who told David Ben-Gurion "I will change my name if you can find me one non-Jew named Lifshitz".] Others had names that were Hebrew to begin with. (a) names with religious meanings, such as: * names indicating Kehina ("priesthood", i.e. descent from the first High Priest Aharon/Aaron, brother of Moshe/Moses) - Cohen and its variants or translations: Cahen (France), Kohn (Germany), Kogan or Kagan (Russia, Ukraine), Kaplan (Polish for "priest"), Sacerdoti (Italian for "priestly"),... - Hebrew acronyms with the same meaning: Katz (kohen tzedek, i.e. "authentic priest"), Maze (mi zerat Aharon, i.e. "from the seed of Aaron"), Azoulai (acronym meaning "a foreign or divorced woman he shall not take", prohibition binding on Kohanim) - some very old family names where the first bearer was a cohen: Rappoport, Shapiro * names indicating Levite descent: - Levi or Levy and its variants - anagrams (e.g. Weil) or Hebrew acronyms (e.g. Segal) with the same meaning * synagogue or Jewish community functions: - Gabbai (treasurer of synagogue) - Shammes (Hebrew: Shamash=sexton of synagogue) - Parnas (president of Jewish community) - Schatz (acronym for "shaliach tzibur", i.e. emissary of the congregation=the person who leads services in a synagogue --- usually NOT the rabbi but a (semi)professional singer) - Chazan - Sofer (ritual scribe) - Melamed (Hebrew school teacher) - Lamdan [common Russian-Jewish corruption: London] (yeshiva student) - Dayan (religious judge) - Rabin (from "Rabbiner", German for Rabbi) - Admor ("adoneinu moreinu rav"="our master [and] teacher, Rabbi") - Schub (acronym for "Shochet u-Bodek", i.e. [ritual] slaughterer and inspector) (b) typical Diaspora Jewish names which the bearer chose to maintain. (See the FAQ on Jewish family names.) Sometimes individual members of a family do choose to Hebraize their names: for instance Prof. Avinoam Brog and Lt.-Gen. (res.) Ehud Barak MK are actually brothers. If a certain family name has "yichus" (illustrious lineage), this often gives an additional incentive not to Hebraize it. Examples: * Horowitz (famous rabbinical dynasty) [Russian variant: Gurvitch] * Rothschild (famous Jewish banking dynasty. Name derives from ancestral home in Frankfurt known as "Zur Rotes Schild") * Einstein (fairly common Jewish surname immortalized by one bearer) * Soloveitchik (famous rabbinical dynasty) * Shaltiel (ancient Sephardic family tracing its origins to King David) Occasionally names undergo mutation because they contain sounds that do not exist in Hebrew. Examples: Lando [corruption of "Landau" (meadow)] Kofman [corruption of "Kaufmann" (merchant)] Kenig [corruption of "Koenig" (king)] Glober [corruption of "Glauber" (believer)] Grin [Yiddishized or Hebraized pronunciation of "Gruen" (green)] Finally, some "Diaspora" Jewish names are Hebrew to begin with, e.g. the abovementioned Shaltiel (She'alti-El=I asked G-d), Ashkenazi (from "Ashkenaz", medieval Hebrew for "Germany"), Yerushalmi (Jerusalemite), or corruptions of Hebrew words, e.g. Heifetz (Heb: Chafetz=he who desires), and some Hebrew acronyms (e.g. Shalit="Sheyihye le-orekh yamim tovim (May he live long and good times) "). Finally, names of Aramaic origin (e.g. Kahane [=Cohen], Raban [=rabbi], ...) are usually also left intact.