What kind of a surname is ..?

Question

Schwirtz...Jewish or German?

Answer 1

The overwhelming majority of "Jewish" names in Europe or America are from the Germanic languages. If it is NOT Hebrew, it actually is NOT a "Jewish" name. I.e., a German name, such as Goldberg, is just that: a German name, assumed by many Jews.

See: Ashkenazi Jews.

Answer 2

I think it's Jewish

Answer 3

Schwirtz, Schwartz, and Swarz are all varied spellings in different dialects of Germanic-related languages. They can be either German or Jewish/Yiddish because the Jewish language spoken along the Rhine and in Eastern Europe is called Yiddish and is based on 13th century German, when Ashkenazic colonies lived along the Rhine in Spire and Cologne after moving there from Venice and France in the 10th century. People bought names from a names merchant. If you were rich, you bought a name like diamant Diamant, Diamond, Gold, Silver, Gruen (Green), Baum (tree),  or other flowery name. If you were poor, you were stuck with a name such as Schecter (butcher), Schneider (tailor) or other occupational names rather than names of cities such as Shapiro (from Spire) or Rappaporte (royal family of Venice), a notable and scholarly Jewish family migrating from Venice to Germany and on to Eastern Europe in Renaissance times.

So any German name could also be Jewish because when Napoleon marched through Europe, there arose a law saying a Jewish person must take the name of his/her host country. So you were no longer Ben Jamin or Ha-Levy, your Hebrew name. Now you became Benjamin Schwartz or Herr Levine. If you were of the Naphtali tribe, you became Mrs. Herkowitz, that is child of Herko and Gerko, which is a derivative of Hartz or deer, because Naphtali means deer. You changed your name to your host country's name for deer, Hartz, Hart, or Hartman...which becomes Hersch, Herschkowitz, and/or Herkowitz....and so on.

So Schvitz, Schwirtz, Schwartz as in a schvitz bath (hot steam bath or sauna) can be either Jewish or German. It's the host country, a Germanic-speaking land, that creates the name....as far as religion...you can be either. Most Jews and Germans have similar names unless the name is distinctly Christian. But even the Germanic/Swiss, Amish Christian surname Baumgarten also is a Jewish name, Baumgarten.  (treegarden).

So it could be either. Best way to check? See whether Baptismal records exist in church records in the old country for that name. There also may be synagogue records for the same name going back to the 18th century and sometimes before.