The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-30
THE NAMES OF JEWS.
Why Some Have Chosen Gentle surndmes.
English Torms--Cha1rcs.

teresting theme the other day when he
inquired Of certain Jewish witnessessow
it was that they had adopted the nar,es
OF siorlaunt and Savillc,sn lieu of then
native ratronynics OF Moses and Sum.
uel Il is rot quite correct to say that
Jews ever change their original names.
In the syraSoSres they bear throughout
their lives the Hebrew rames-in tli,
traai.io"cl Oriental form Of So-and-so.
SOL OF SO-Sad.so-Sivcn 70 them tiortly
after their birth. The instability Of the
names by which they are known to the
world Is due to the fact that originally.
like all Oriental peoples. they had no
family names, and TIT wherever they
have congregated very closely together
the secular use Il the traditional genoa
logical forms has been tenaciously pre-
served. IL some countries. such as Ger
many and Austria. special legislation has
been found necessary to compel them to
adopt fixed surnames. As, nj different
times. they have come into closer con-
tact with the Gentle world, they have
themselves seen tire necessity Of sur
names, and it is not surprising if, under
these circumstances. some of them should
have chosen the most sonorous and dis
tinguished they could find.
An examination of the lists Of seat hold
ers in the taclvc principal synagogues of
London shows that less than . per cent.
of tho ramcs-such rs Beddington, Cliff
ford. Coburn. Curtis. Graham, Halford,
Hamilton. Hardingc. Hardy, Herbert,
Howard. Lumley. Manyille, Marsden,
Merton. Montagu. Morley, Morton.
Neville. Norman. Russell, Sydney, Wal
ford. ctr--are accounted for on this
hypothesis.
The foreign surnames and place names
preserved by the Jews Of England form
small cpitomc Of the history Of the
Israeltish 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 Rothschlld. Adler, CAM, Schiff.
Strauss. Siberkron. etc. Some of the
occunaiioa 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 for mason.
More strictly Anglo-Jewish are the
natural assimlations Of Hebrew aud
jewish names TO English forms. Thus,
Coleman is n corruption of KalmaD.
which is an Authorization Of kalonymos,
the Greek Translation of tic Hebrew
Snem Fob Good Nance. Bonny is dc-
rived. through Bondi. from LATIN
translation Of Yom Tob Good Day.
Phillips comes from the Hebrew Urn or
Meier. both meaning light, " through
the Greek equivalent Ph0bos and It's
German Polish diminutivc Pheibul. Sa-
vile is n 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 1--WE.
Freeman is from the German friedman,
q translation and apocopation Of Shalom
ben Mcpachem. Haymcn IS derived
through Human and Hyan from the He
brew Hahn Qifcl. Jessel is from Eches-
kel. the Hebrew pronunciation of Fee
-kiel. Yates is from 6oetz, an abbrevia-
ton Of G0ttschalk. which in Low Ger
man means Gods servant, and IS q
literal translation Of Eliakim. Among
simpler changes arc Cowan-Cohen,
Lewin-Ler. victor Ayigdor, Archer
Asher, Jessop Joseph, aud Soman
and Snowman Solomon. Curious NJ
stances Of instructed TRANSACTIONS ere af-
forded bv the names Merchant end Chap
man. 10th of which are Anglicizaticns
Of the German Kaufman or Hondels-
mann. Originally, however, neither Of
these names meant merchant among
the Teut0nic Jews. HUFFMAN is cor
ruption of Kc,pelman. q which the first
two svllables are German diminutiye
Of Jacob and the third an abbreyiation Of
Menachcm. the whole being contrac-
ton CT jacob ben Menachem. Handles
mann has a similar history, being
derived from Elchanon ben Mcnachcm,
through Handl. recognized German
diminutivc Of ElchanoI. In the same
wav Seligman is contraction Of Selig
ben Menachem, and Felbcrman q cor
rupted contraction OF PhUbus tCrD ben
Mcnachem.
One Of the most curious instances Of
IN erroneous etvmolOgy is the rame
Jaffc. which figures among the landed
gentry Of county Down. II IS the He
brew word for "beautiful,' and i q
direct translation Of the German 'Schon."
As 4 Jewish surname, however. Schon or
Schen las 10 meaning. II IS simply an
acrostic of the Hebrew Schliach Neemon
faithful mcsscnger). 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 mo Cat,
is derived from ihc initials Of Kohen
Tzedels dDries. Of righteousaeSs); Sehatz,
which in Hungary has actually been
translated INTO Knee, the Magyar for
treasure" is from Sclliach 1zibur
messenger of the congregation); Ballad
is from Ben All Beth Din (Son Of the
President Of the House Of JudgmenD;
Sack is from Sera KadOsh (holy poster
itxl and whom the name Of n town be-