, 1888-11-09
THE NAMES OF JEWS.
why Some Have Chosen Gentle s~urnarnes.
English Forms-Changes.

Lord Coleridge touched upon an in
teresting theme the other day when he
inquired of certain Jewish witnesses how
it was that they had adopted the names
of Mordaunt 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 ives the Hebrew names-in the
traditional Oriental form of SU=aud=sU,
son of So-and-so-given to them shortly
after their birth. The instability of the
names by which they are known to the
world is due to the act that originally,
like all Oriental peoples, they had no
family names, and that wherever they
nave congregated very closely together
the secular use of the traditional genoa
logical forms has been tenaciously pre-
served. In some countries, such as Ger
many and Austria, special legislation has
been found necessary to compel them tc
adopt fixed surnames. AS, at different
times, they AVE come into closer con-
tact with the Gentle world, they have
themselves seen the necessity of sur
names, and it is not surprising if, under
these circumstances, some of them should
u SIiOoCll NIS llOob BOlOlOuo LII ul5-
tinguished they could find.
An examination of the lists of seat hold
ers in the twelve principal synagogues of
London shows that less than 8 per cent.
of the names-such as Beddington, Cliff
ford, Coburn, Curtis, Graham, Halford,
Hamilton, Hardinge, Hardy, Herbert,
Howard, Lumley, ManviIle, Marsden,
Merton, Montagu, Morley, Morton,
Neville, Norman, Russell, Sydney, Wal
ford, etc-are accounted for on this
hypothesis.
The foreign and place names
preserved by the Jews of England form
a small epitome of the history of the
Israelitish dispersion. Side by side with
the Hebrew Abrahams, 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, Schiff,
Strauss, Silberkron, etc. Some of the
occupation names are interesting. Rophe
is Hebrew for physician, and Rappoport
is a corruption of Rophe d'Oporto; Jalfon
is Hebrew for money changer, and
Mocatta is Arabic mason.
More strictly ..sglo-Jewish are the
natural assimil .oas of Hebrew and
Jewish names to English forms. Thus,
Coleman is a corruption of Kalman,
which is an ~abbreviation of Kalonymos,
the Greek translation Of the Hebrew
Shem lob Good Nance. Bonny is de-
rived, through Bondi, from a Latin
translation of Yom lob Good Day..
Phillips comes from the Hebrew Uri or
Meier, both meaning eight" through
the Greek equivalent Phebos and its
Gernan-Pol diminutive Pheibul. Sa-
vile is a more natural corruption Of
Samuel than is generally imagined, see
ing that in Germany the Scriptural name
has been shortened into Sanvel, and in
England we have the authority of Mr..
Weller, senior, to spell it with a I've"
Freeman is from the German Friedman,
a translation and Appropriation of Shalom
ben Meuacbem. Haymen is derived
through Hyman and Hyan from the He
brew Hahn Qife). Jessel is from Eches-
kel, the Hebrew pronunciation of Eze-
kiel. Yates is from Goetz, an abbrevia-
ton Of Gottschalk, which in Low Ger
man means Goods servant and is a
literal translation of Eljakim. Among
simpler changes are Cowan-Cohen,
Lewin-Levi, Victor-Avigdor, Archer
Asher, Jessop-Joseph, and Soman
and Slowman-Solomon. Curious in
stances of misdirected TRANSACTIONS are af-
forded 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
ruption of Koppelman, of which the first
two syllables are q German diminutive
of Jacob and the third an a~bbreviation of
Menachem, the whole being q contrac-
ton of Jacob ben Menachem. HANDLES
mann has a similar history, being
derived from Elchanon ben Menachem,
through Handl, a recognized German
diminutive of Elchanon. In the same
way Seligman is n contraction of Selis
ben M~enachem, and Felberman q cor
rupted contraction of Phobus (Uri) ben
Menachem.
One of the most curious instances of
an etymology is the name
Jaffe, which figures among the landed
gentry of county Down. 1t is the He
brew word for '~'beautiful," and is q
direct translation of the German "Schon."
AS a Jewish surname, however, Sohon or
Schen has no meaning. 1t is simply an
a~crostic of the Hebrew Schliach Neemon
faithful messenger). These a~crostio
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 Kohen
Tzedek priest OF ri~ghteousness); Schatz,
which in Hungary has actually been
translated into Kincz, the Magyar for
Treasure" is from Schliach Tzibur
messenger of the congregation); Ballad
is from Ben Alb Beth Din (Son of the
President of the House of Judgment;
Sack is from Sera Kadosh (holy poster
ity), and when the name of a town be-
ginning with s is ~addded-as, for exam
pie, Sera Kadosh Speyer (holy posterity
Of Speyer)-it becomes Saks or Sachs,