A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames From the Russian Empire
Table of Contents
PART I
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
How to Use This Dictionary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
What to Do if You Cannot Find Your Surname Listed . . . . . . . . . xix
Alphabets and Their Spellings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xx
Hebrew and Yiddish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xx
Cyrillic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Phonetic Equivalents of Certain Polish Letters. . . . . . . . . . xxi
Phonetic Equivalents of Certain Romanian Letters. . . . . . . . . xxi
Map of the Pale of Settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxii
Chapter 1. History of Jewish Names in Eastern Europe. . . . . . . . . 1
Names in Hebrew Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Names in Russian Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Adoption of Surnames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Surname Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Chapter 2. Types of Jewish Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Geographical Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Surnames Indicating Kohen or Levite Origin. . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Rabbinical Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Surnames Derived from Toponyms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Principal Features of Surnames Derived from Toponyms. . . . . . . .26
Patronymic Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Metronymic Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Occupational Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Surnames Derived from Personal Characteristics. . . . . . . . . . .46
Artificial Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Acronymic Surnames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Chapter 3. Jewish Surnames and Surnames of Other European Peoples . .60
Jewish Surnames that Coincide with Slavic Surnames. . . . . . . . .60
Jewish Surnames Identical to Surnames of German Christians. . . . .65
Surnames Borne Only by Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Chapter 4. Linguistic Aspects of Jewish Surnames. . . . . . . . . . .71
Languages Used to Form Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Normalization of Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Appendix A. Hyphenated Surnames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Appendix B. The Most Common Jewish Surnames in the Russian Empire
at the Beginning of the 20th Century . . . . . . . . . . . .84
Appendix C. The Most Common Jewish Surnames in the Soviet Union . . .87
Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
PART II
Dictionary of Surnames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
PART III
How to Use the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex System . . . . . . . . . . . 659
List of Surnames by the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex System. . . . . . . 662
Tables
I.1 Variations of Russian Surnames by Gender and Case . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
1.1 Surnames on Tombstones in the Old Prague Jewish Cemetery. . . . . . . . . . .4
1.2 Number of Bearers of Different Forms of the Same Given Name
in Various Time Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
1.3 Percentage of Jewish Given Names in Certain Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
2.1 Percentage of Jewish Surnames Found in Russian Parliament Voter Lists by Type16
2.2 Distribution of Jewish Surnames Derived from Toponyms
in Eleven Guberniyas of the Pale of Settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.3 Distribution of Jewish Surnames Derived from Toponyms
in Various Regions of the Russian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.4 Jewish Patronymics in Various Regions of the Russian Empire . . . . . . . . 31
2.5 Distribution of Jewish Patronymics with Suffixes in the Russian Empire. . . 34
2.6 Distribution of Jewish Matronymics in Various Districts of the Russian Empire38
2.7 Distribution of Jewish Surnames Derived from Occupational Names . . . . . . 45
2.8 Distribution of Jewish Surnames Based on Personal Characteristics
in Various Regions of the Russian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.9 Distribution of Jewish Artificial Surnames by Language
in Various Regions of the Russian Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.1 Jewish Surnames Homonymic with Slavic Surnames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.2 Jewish Surnames Identical to Slavic Surnames
Where Jewish Etymology is a Place Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
B.1 Most Common Jewish Surnames for Eleven Guberniyas of the Russian Empire . . 84
B.2 Most Common Jewish Surnames in Other Parts of the Russian Empire. . . . . . 85
B.3 Most Common Jewish Surnames in Kiev and Its Surrounding Townlets. . . . . . 86
C.1 Most Common Jewish Surnames for Six Cities of the Soviet Union. . . . . . . 88