What are some tricks to finding jewish last names?

Question

Hey,

I know that names with Stein in them are jewish and that most earlier polish names (before wwII) that ended w/ ski are jewish.

Does anyone know any other tricks where you can determin if a name is jewish or not?

The only name other than stein that I know is jewish is shultz.

(Does anyone know where I can find a list of like top ten jewish Last names)

Answer 1

Any name can be "Jewish", for example Stein is not an exlusively Jewish name, and'ski' on the end of Polish names :  adjectival names very often end in the suffixes -ski, -cki and -dzki (feminine -ska, -cka and -dzka), and are considered to be either typically Polish or typical for the Polish nobility

Stein : origins & meanings:

German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Stein ‘rock’, Middle High German stein, hence a topographic name either for someone who lived on stony ground or for someone who lived by a notable outcrop of rock or by a stone boundary marker or monument. It could also be a metonymic occupational name for a mason or stonecutter, or, among Jews, an ornamental name.

Dutch: from a reduced form of the personal name Augustijn (see Austin).

Norwegian: habitational name from any of ten or more farmsteads, notably in southeastern Norway, so named from Old Norse steinn ‘stone’.

Scottish: from a reduced form of the personal name Steven (see Steen, Steven).

Northern English and Scottish: from the Old Norse personal name Steinn meaning ‘stone’.

Southern English: habitational name from a place named with Old English stǣne ‘stony place’, for example Stein in Sussex or Steane in Northamptonshire.

Schultz : origins & meanings:

German: status name for a village headman, from a contracted form of Middle High German schultheize. The term originally denoted a man responsible for collecting dues and paying them to the lord of the manor; it is a compound of sculd(a) ‘debt’, ‘due’ + a derivative of heiz(z)an ‘to command’. The surname is also established in Scandinavia.

Jewish (Ashkenazic): from German Schulze (see 1 above). The reason for adoption are uncertain, but may perhaps have referred to a rabbi, seen as the head of a Jewish community, or to a trustee of a synagogue.

Traditionally, Jewish people did not inherit surnames but used patronymics or matronymics preceded by 'ben' son of or 'bat' daughter of, for identification. As hereditary surnames became established in Europe during the middle ages, Jewish people began to use second names which were sometimes combinations of a personal name and a patronymic or words reflecting events in a family's life.

http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/Kat...

Edit :

Judaeism is a religion, there are Jews of almost every nationality you care to think of, including German Jews.

If a name has a "Jewish" origin then it has a Jewish origin, but If someone who is Jewish has a name that is not of "Jewish" origin, that name cannot possibly assume a Jewish origin.

Answer 2

What you know is wrong.

-stein is German. Some German Steins were Jewish, but most were Lutheran. -ski is Polish. Some Poles were Jewish, but most were Catholic.

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/f...

lets you specify "Jewish" as an ethnicity. If you want to see some Jewish last names from 1881 in Canada, set the census to 1881 Canadian, use common first names - Marie, John, Paul, Moses, Rachel - leave the last name blank, set Ethnic Origin to "Jewish" and search.

Here are some Jews named John, for instance:

1. John LYONS - 1881 Canadian Census / Manitoba

Gender: Male   Birth: <1855> M <Manitoba>



2. John LAVINSKY - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1869> Germany



3. John DORLAND - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1821> USA



4. John F. LEEVY - 1881 Canadian Census / Nova Scotia

Gender: Male   Birth: <1866> Nova Scotia



5. John LESSER - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1874> Angleterre



6. John MICHAELS - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1858> USA

Moses was more popular:

1. Moses LEVI - 1881 Canadian Census / British Columbia

Gender: Male   Birth: <1868> British Columbia



2. Moses HARRES - 1881 Canadian Census / New Brunswick

Gender: Male   Birth: <1850> New Brunswick



3. Moses GOLDMAN - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1873> USA



4. Moses CROWN - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1853> Allemagne



5. Moses FONSACA - 1881 Canadian Census / New Brunswick

Gender: Male   Birth: <1827> England



6. Moses SILVERSTONE - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1874> O <Ontario>



7. Moses LEVI - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1870> USA



8. Moses MORELL - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1822> Russia



9. Moses WOOD - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1846> R Poland



10. Moses GORDEN - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1850> R. Poland



11. Moses LEVIN - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1863> Germany



12. Moses ALEXANDER - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1864> O <Ontario>



13. Moses URWITZ - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1880> O <Ontario>



14. Moses COHEN - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1867> USA



15. Moises HART - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1818> Q <Quebec>



16. Mosses MENDLESON - 1881 Canadian Census / Ontario

Gender: Male   Birth: <1873> O <Ontario>



17. Moses HAAS - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1874> Q <Quebec>



18. Moise MILLER - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Female   Birth: <1816> Germany



19. Moise ROZAND - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1879> Quebec



20. Moise VINEBERG - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1853> Russia



21. Moses RUTTEMBERG - 1881 Canadian Census / Quebec

Gender: Male   Birth: <1870> Poland

Answer 3

Not every name ending with stein is necessarily Jewish.  A lot of names in the U.S. are identified as Jewish because a large portion of the immigrants to this country with those names were Jewish while back in their home countries they were used by Jews and Christians alike.

Also, surnames traditionally come from the father.  However, 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 and if they dont have a Jewish father they belong to the tribe of the nearest male relative on the mother's side of the family.  Whereas if they don't have a Jewish mother, Orthodox and Conservative Judaism does not view them as Jewish.

Reform Judaism views it differently.

Edit:  Yes, there were people who were German Jews and still are, just like there are people who are German Catholic, German Lutheran or German Evangelical.

Actually, the Jews of Germany were very proud of their service to their Kaiser during WWI.

I had a neighbor whose maiden name was Silverberg.  She wasn't Jewish.  Her father was Swedish.

My mother's family name had originally been Altman and sometimes Altmann. Her father was Jewish.  There are lots of Jewish Altmans, Catholic Altmans and Protestant Altmans.

Also, you have to realize that Germany wasn't even a nation until the end of the 19th century.  It was a mishmash of mostly  little insignificant kingdom and states until the Prussian Hohenzollerns united them all under their rule.  

Actually, an Italian named Napoleone Buonaparte, who became a French citizen when the Republic of Genoa gave Corsica to France in payment of a debt, was the first person to unite Germany and taught them a machine like militarism. They hated Napoleon but they learned a lot from him.

Answer 4

Sorry.. your approach is full of holes.  NO name is guaranteed to be of the Jewish faith.  Elizabeth Taylor is Jewish (by converting). My grandfather Imbiorski was very much Polish and Catholic. The same for the Scultz family that is intermarried with them.. Catholic.  Assumptions just don't work in genealogy.

We often get questions here of where a name originated and what ethnicity they are.  Does not work.  A  person named Lee COULD be African American, English, or Chinese.  

If you are actually tracing your ancestry.. find the persons (and names) by using regular sources and valid records. No tricks needed.  Once you identify the actual person/ ancestor, you then have the needed lead to investigate what faith they were. The obvious exception might be Jewish persons who abandoned their names, or converted, during WW2, in order to survive.

Answer 5

You're very confused.   Names like stein and shultz...while belonging to many jews are not specifically jewish names, but rather german in origin.

Your approach actually stinks of anti-semitism....but let's assume you're simply ignorant of the subject matter as you profess.

Here's an good reference regarding Jewish surnames and their origins -  perhaps you can find it in a well stocked library:

http://www.amazon.com/Dictionary-Jewish-...