St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-12-08
THE NAMES OF JEWS.
why Some Have Chosen GENTLE saFnames'
English Forn,s-Changes-

Lord Coleridge touched upon an in
terestiug theme the other day when ne
inquired Of certain Jewish witnesses how
it was that they had adopted the names
of Moriaunt and Saville in lieu Of their
native patronymics of Moses and SAM
uel. 1t is not quite correct to say that
Jews ever change their original names.
In the synagogues they bear throughout
their lives the Hebrew nares-in the
traditional Oriental form Of So-and-so,
son of So-and.so-giren to them SHORTY
after their birth. The instability OF the
names by which they are known to the
world is due to the fact that orr inally,
like all Oriental peoples, they had no
family names, and that wherever they
have congregated very closely together
the secular use Of the traditional genea-
logical forms has been tenaciously pre-
served. In some countries, such as Ter
many and Austria, specia, legislation has
been found necessary to compel them to
adopt fixed surrames. AS. at di1erent
times, they have come into closer con"
tact with the Gentle world, they nave
themselves seen the necessity Of sur
names, and it is not surprising If, under
these circumstances, some Of them should
have chosen the most sonorous ana dls-
tinguished they could find.
An examination of the lists OF seat hold.
ers in the twelve principal synagogues OF
London shows that less than 3 per cent.
of the names-such as Beddington. Gilt
ford, Coburn, Curtis, Graham. Halfosd,
Hamilton, Hardinge, Hardy. Herbert,
Howard, Lunley, Manville, Marsden.
Merton, Montagu, Morley, Morton.
Neville, Norman, Russell, Sydney. Wal
ford. etc-are accounted for on this
hypothesis.
The foreign surnames and place names
preserved by the Jews Of England form
q small epitome Of the history Of the
Israelitisla dispersion. Side by side with
the Hebrew Abrahans, the Egyptian
Moses. and the English Mordaunt, we
have the Greek Alexander and Margolies,
the Latin Marcus. and the Arabic Mocatta.
Those derived from, medieval house
signs are Rothschild, Adler, CAM. Sch'I,
Strauss, S,lberkron, etc. Some of the
occupation names are interesting. Rophe
is Hebrew for physician. and Rappoport
is corruption OF Roplle d'Oporto; Jalfon
is Hebrew for moley changer, AID
Mocatta is Arabic for mason.
More strictly Anglo-Jewisl are the
natural assiniilations OF Hebrew and
Jewish names to English forms. Thus.
Coleman is o corruption OF kalnan,
which is an Authorization OF Ka!onymos,
the Greek translation of the Hebrew
shem lob (Goos! Nance. Bonny is de-
rived, through Bondi, from Latin
translation Of Yom Tob Good Day..
Phillips comes from the Hebrew Uri or
Meier, both meaning eight" through
the Greek equivalent Phebos aud its
German Polish diminutire Pheibui. Sa-
vile is more natural corruption of
Samuel than is generally imagined. see.
ing that In Germany the Scripturai name
has been shortened into Sanvel. and in
England we have the authority of MIR.
Weller, senior, to spell it with ''we.'
Freeman is from the German friedman,
a translation and Appropriation Of Shalom
ben Menachem. Haymen Is derived
through LYMAN and Hyan from, the He
brew Hahn Qife). Jessel is from Eches-
kei, the Hebrew pronunciation of Eze-
kiel. Yates is from Goetz, an abbrevia-
ton of Gottschalk. which in Low Ger
man means Gods servant and is o
literal translation Of Eljadm. Among
simpler changes are Cowan-Cohen.
Lewin-Levi, Victor-Avigdor, Archer
Asher, Jessop-Joseph. and sonaan
and Slowman--Solomon. Curious in
stances Of misdirected TRANSACTIONS are af-
forled by the names Marchant and Chap
man, both of which are Anglicizations
of the German Kaufman Or Handles
mann. Originally. however, neither Of
these names meant merchant" among
the Teutonic Jews. Kaufman is a cor
raption Of Koppelman, Of which the first
two syllables are q German dininutive
of Jacob and the third an abbreviation OF
Menachem, the whole being contrec-
ton Of Jacob ben Menachem. HANDLES
mann has q similar history, being
derived from Elchanon ben Menachem.
through Handl. recognized German
diminutive Of Elchauon. In the same
way Seligman Ia contraction OF Selig
ben Menachem, aud Felberman q COR
rupted contraction Of Phoebus {usi) ben
Merachem.
Ono Of the most curious instances of
an erroneous etymology is the name
JafIs, which figures among the landed
gentry Of county Down. 1t Is the He-
brew word for beautiful, ard is o
direct translation Of the German 'schon. ~
As Jewish surname. however, Schon or
Schen has no meaning. It is simply an
acrost;c Of the Hebrew Schliach Neemon
faithful messengerl These acrostic
names are peculiarly Jewish, and many
Of them are found among English Jews.
For example, Katz. which one Of these
days will perhaps be Anglicized INTO Cat,
Is derived FROM the initials Of Eohen
Tzedek lpriess of righteousuess); schatS,
which In Hungary has actually been
translated into Kincz, the Magyar for
s'treasure," is from Schiach Tzibur
messenger Of the congresation): Ballad
IL from Ben Alb Beth Din (Son of the
President Of the House Of Judgrnert);
Sack is from Sera kadosh (hoiy poster
aty), and when the name of town be-
ginning with ia addded-as, for exam
pie, Sera Kadosh Speyer (holy posterity
Of Speyer)-it becomes saks or Sachs,
which has been frequently mistaken fos
an abbreviation Of Sacl,sen (Saxony);
Bran Is from Ben Rabbi Moses; Bran
Corrupted into Braun, and translated
into Brown from Ben Rabbi Nachnlan
Bard, from Ben Rabbi David; Bersal
/ from Ben Rabbi Solomon the Levite, and
Bril- from Ben Rabbi Judah the Levite.
The exegetical names are also peculiar.
ly Jewish. They consist of equivalents
for Hebrew names, derived from colloca
tons i'll biblical tests. Thus the Gem
PARSONS in Jacobs blessing furnish
equivalents for Benjamin in WOLF. TO,
Judah III Lion and for Naphtai in Hart
Fisher Is an equivalent for Ephraina, be-
cause it was foresold {Gen. Xviii, 49,