Meaning of Kupferschein/Kupferscheim and possibility of being Jewish?

Question

Simply taking it apart I would guess it means: "copper shine"

Could I get a confirmation on this?

Alternate spellings include: kupferschen, kupfersin, cofresin, cofresi, etc.

Also, what is the possibility of this surname being Jewish? It is traced to Austria around 1500s and earlier to German Bohemia near Sudetenland. Aren't "scheim" and "schein" generally found in Ashkenazi Jewish surnames or by themselves Ashkenazi Jewish surnames?

Thanks!

Answer 1

A search on ancestry.com for the first 2 spellings reaped only one hit and no derivation for this surname.  

G. KUPFERSCHEIM - 28 - German - Occupation: joiner. He left Antwerp, Belgium and arrived in Philadelphia, PA on May 31, 1877, on a ship named "Switzerland".

Regarding the surname possibly being Jewish, it appears that this is possible.

I found one researcher on the JewishGen Family Finder  ( http://www.jewishgen.org ) who is researching the two spellings KUPERSCHEIN/SUPFERSCHEIM in any country.  This researcher listed this information there in 2005 and has a Spanish given name and surname.

In order to try and contact him, you would need to send an email to him through that website. They have a 'contact' section and your message would be sent to him directly.

In order to do this, you need to subscribe to the site, but it is free.

If you are not familiar w/ accessing this information, just write me privately for additonal directions.

Answer 2

Any name can be Jewish,  The "scheim and "schein" can be Jewish or it can be Austrian or German.  

A lot of names are identified as Jewish in the U.S. as a large portion of immigrants to this country who had those names were Jewish while back in their home countries they were used by Jews and non Jews alike.

Also, Orthodox and Conservative Judaism defines a Jew by the mother not the father and traditionally a person gets their surname from their father.  They state they get the nation from the mother and the tribe from the father and if they don't have a Jewish father, they belong to the tribe of the nearest male relative on the mother's side of the family.  If they don't have a Jewish mother, they do not consider them Jewish.

Reform Judaism views it differently.