Is Demetrius a Jewish name?Also does Hayes, Dubose, and Lett have Jewish roots?

Question

Is Demetrius a Jewish name?Also does Hayes, Dubose, and Lett have Jewish roots?

Answer 1

Not to be hostile, but assuming that any name "belongs" only to one location (or ethnicity) is probably the number one urban legend in genealogy.  Not a fact.

Your heritage depends on where the persons actually came from.

Answer 2

Demetrius is a Greek word...

Hayes is English...

DuBois (Dubose, etc.) is French..

As to Jewish names, they often have "Schmitt" or "Stein" in them because so many of them settled in Germany before the rise of Hitler.

You can read the Bible (or Torah) or check such websites as:

www.behindthename.com/nmc/jew.php

In my family tree, there are 3 "types" of Jews: the Ashkenazi (which see) is the most common.  None of the names you proposed are in my tree; but neither are any of the names I suggested or the website.  So, basically, any one can have any name.

Answer 3

http://www.babynames.com

The meaning of the name Demetrius is "Devotee Of Demeter" (the Greek goddess of the earth)

The origin of the name Demetrius is Greek

www.surnamedb.com

Surname: Hayes

This distinguished and ancient surname is of ANGLO-SAXON origin, and is a locational name from any one of a number of places called "Hayes". Hayes in Kent, recorded as "Hese" in the 1168 Pipe Rolls, and in Middlesex, recorded as "Hesa" in the Domesday Book of 1086, derive from the Olde English pre 7th Century "haes", brushwood or underwood. Hayes in Devonshire and Dorset is the plural of the Olde English "(ge)horg" an enclosure, or "hege" a hedge. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. The surname is first recorded in the late 12th Century (see below), and can also be found as Heyes and Hease. Henry Heyse is noted in the Chartulary of Ramsey Abbey, Cambridgeshire (1240). Agnes Hayes married Willmus Smallrydge on October 18th 1543, in Devon. One Martin Hayes, together with his wife and child, is recorded as living in the Barbados in 1680; he was one of the earliest settlers in the New World. There are no less than nineteen Coats of Arms granted to this illustrious family. One granted to the Hayes family in Middlesex is blue, on a gold pale three black bulls heads couped. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugh de la Heise, which was dated 1197, in the "Eynsham Cartulary of Oxfordshire", during the reign of King Richard 1, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Surname: Dubose

Recorded in several forms including du Bois, Dubois and the dialectals from the Midi of du Bosc, du Bose, and Dubose, this is a surname of FRENCH origins. It is either topographical from residence by or in a wood, or near a stand of trees surrounding a country manor, or from any of the various places called 'Bois' in France. The surname is particularly widespread in Northern France. Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognizable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. As examples of early recordings on February 1st 1546, Francois, the son of Louis Dubois, was christened in Amboise, Indre-et- Loire, France. This name in its varied spellings was introduced into England from the 16th century by French Huguenot refugees, fleeing religious persecution in their own country. They are widely recorded in the registers of the French Huguenot Church, Threadneedle Street, London. These recordings include on October 7th 1604, the christening of Abraham Dubois, and later in 1670 Pierre Dubose is recorded in the same church on February 13th of that years. He is recorded at least six times thereafter, and is probably the 'father' of the surname in England. The first recorded spelling of the family name in surviving French church registers is shown to be that of Louis Dubois. This was dated March 1540, at Amboise, Indre-et-Loire, during the reign of King Francis 1st of France, 1515 - 1547. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Surname: Lett

Recorded in several spellings including Lett, Letts, Lettes, Lettsom, Lettson and Letson, this is an ENGLISH surname. It is also a metronymic, and originates not from the fathers name, but from the mothers. It is a short or nickname of the female given name Lettice or Letticia, deriving from the Roman "Laetitia" meaning happiness or gaiety. The female name was not found in England before the Norman Conquest of 1066, but thereafter assumed considerable popularity. Early examples of the surname recordings include Ralph Lette in the Subsidy Tax rolls of Sussex in 1296 and Alicia Letis in the Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire in 1379. Later examples include Jone, the daughter of William Lett, who was christened at St. Leonard's, Eastcheap, London on June 11th 1542, and Thomas Letts who married Rebecca Baker at St. Botolphs Bishopsgate, on the 27th February 1632. Thomas Lett, an early emigrant to the West Indian colonies, sailed aboard the ship "Faulcon" bound for Barbados in April 1635. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Warin Letice. This was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of Suffolk during the reign of King Edward 1st of England, 1272 - 1307. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

(I don't know why everybody on YA is afraid their last name might be Jewish. Anyway, as you can see, NONE of the last names above--which have a long history behind them-- nor the first name Demetrius is of that origin.)

Answer 4

Demetrius is Greek. It can also be Hungarian, German and Turkish.  Lett can be either German or English. Dubose is French. Hayes is French, English, Irish or Jewish.

Answer 5

Any name can be Jewish.  When surnames were taken or assigned, Jews took often time the same names as non Jews.  A lot of names in the U. S. are seen as Jewish as a large portion of the immigrants with those names were Jewish while back in their home countries both Jews and non Jews had those names.

Also Orthodox and Conservative Judaism defines a Jew by the mother not the father.

They state they get the nation from the mother and the tribe from the father.  If they don't have a Jewish mother they belong to the tribe of the nearest male relative on the mother's side of the family. Tribe does not necessarily mean one of the 12 tribes as listed in the Bible.

However, if a person doesn't have a Jewish mother, the only way they will consider them Jewish is that they convert to Judaism.

Reform Judaism sees it differently.