What origin is really the lastname OZ ? Turkish or Hebrew ? Or maybe both? Or simply a coincidence?

Question

I noticed that Amos Oz, the famous Israeli novelist , and Mehmet Oz, the great Turkish-American cardiology surgeon , have the same lastname...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Oz

http://asp.cumc.columbia.edu/facdb/profile_list.asp?uni=mco2&DepAffil=Surgery

http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/heartandsoul/

Just curious...

Answer 1

It takes hours upon hours to investigate geneology as one has to go back generations on exact family lines to see the connections to origin.

From limited views on geneology websites  this surname "could" show Jewish roots as there are also given names Avraham attached to it.  Also showing perhaps the names ending was shortened version of names such as "Anglewicz, Sutaniwioz, and respelling of name Asch." Also I see Oz in Puerto Rico and other "New World" countries so that would support a Sephardic diaspora of which did travel to Turkey in addition to New World.

Spelling is an obsession of current era.  Older era with immigration names changed from one country and language to the next.  People were not particular about spelling of their name, and transcription errors in writing of names did occur.

I need to make it clear that names do not denote Jewishness.  Jewishness is determined by maternal unbroken line with no conversion out and not by paternal surname.  People just associate names with Jewishness because of the low frequency of intermarriage in our population.  It would have to have zero intermarriage and no new converts for names to be sole factor in determining Jewishness.

It would take hours to give you an honest answer on this particular name.  Oz isn't in my family tree it is not in my curiousity scope to find the roots of this name.  Ask someone else who has Oz in their tree who's devoted hours of research to get definitive answer on its roots.  Good luck.

Answer 2

it is a coincidence, and actually not the same word.

about Turkish i can only guess it is ÖZ (pure).

the Hebrew name is עוז and is written English Oz because the consonant ע can not be transcripted as such does not exist in European languages (it means strength).

Answer 3

Oz is a Turkish name.

Amos Oz adopted this name because in Hebrew, the word oz means strength.

As an unhappy and lonely child whose mother committed suicide, he felt quite helpless, hence the change of name as he grew older.

His birth name, by the way, was Amos Klauzner.

Answer 4

Shalom. Amos Oz is not of Turkish origins. He changed his family name as a teen for personal reasons described below. "Oz" has significance in Hebrew (see quoted excerpt); the Turkish meaning is probably not related. The Israeli writer  

" . . . made the  . . . decisions at age 15 to change his last name from Klausner to Oz, join Kibbutz Hulda, and engage in field labor. 'Oz in Hebrew means courage, strength, daring, determination—more or less everything that I needed badly when I left home for the kibbutz,' explained Oz. http://www.lectures.org/oz.html

I also agree with Lupines.