The Denver Jewish news., 1925-09-24
THE JEWISH REALM OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

became Josephson, Jesscl, Jessclson;
Judah became Judelson; Levi became
Levy, Levie, Levin, Levine, Levinson,
Levison, Levinsky, Levitzky, Lewison,
Lowy; Samuel became Samuelson,
Sanvel, Zangwill, etc, etc.
Next to Patronymics, the largest
proportion of Jewish surnames are
derived from localities. Most of the
local surnames originated In German
states, From Prussia and North Ger
many come such names as Hambur-
ger, Bernberg, Hamburg, Schonthal,
Breslauer, Bcrlincr, Berger, Dan
ziger, Friedlandcr, Hollander, Lau-
tenberg, Neumark, Oifenbach, Stern
berg, Goldberg.
From other parts Of Germany we
get Auerbach, Bamberger, Bloom
berg, Friendberg, Gunzberg, He'll
broun, Leipziger, Landsberg, Mann
helm, Neuberger, Oppenheim, Sonen-
berg, Sonenfeld, Sachs, Strassberg,
Sternberg, Speyer, Wertheim, Vein
berg, Warburg, Worms.
Austro-Hungary we have to thank
for such popular Jewish surnames as
Strauss, Aestreicher, Adelsberg, Bro
dy, Krakauer, Freudenthal, Rubin
stein, Rosenberg, Sternberg, Weiner,
Schlessinger.
All surnames ending in "ski" de-
note place of origin in Poland, as:
Willenski (Wilna), Slonimsky (Slo-
mimi, Warschawsky (Warsaw), Lab
linsky (Lublin); other surnames de-
rived from Poland are Warschauer,
Kalisch, Polack.
Nor must we overlook the official
surnames, such as Schochet, Singer,
Cantor. Schulman, Rabinowitz (son
of rabbi). Cohen presumably de-
sccnded from the ancient Hebrew
tribe).
Then there are Jewish surnames
representing qualities and virtues
Friedman (man of peace), Liber-
man, Sussman tsweet. Kenner
(learned mani, Guttman, Fleisig (dil-
igent), Jaffe (beautifun.
Then there are names derived from
the various trades and occupations
adopted by Jews at different times
and in different climes.
For example, Kunstler (artist),
Wechester (money- -changer), Handels-
man tmerchanD, Buchbnder (book
binder), Drucker (printer), Stein
schneider (cngrnver). Bauer thuild-
er), Pulvermacher, Scholsser (lock-
SMITH, Weber (weaver), Schuster,
Schneider, Becker, Kremer (small
traderl, Waldman (woodman).
Most Galician Jews have borne
German names because they are un-
der the cultural influence of Vienna.
Now that Galicia is once more part
Of Poland, they make every effort to
exchange their German names for
Polish ones.
The late Joseph Jacobs, writing in
the Jewish Encyclopedia, describes
how the Austrian Empire issued a
decree in 1887 compelling the Jews
to adopt surnames; at the same time
their choice of surnames was restrict
ed. The government appointed COM
missions of officers to register all
Jewish inhabitants under surnames.
"If Jew refused to select surname
the commission was empowered to
force one upon him Jacobs says
that "this led to wholesale creations
of artificial surnames of which jew
! ish nomenclature bears the traces to
the present day
In 1908 Napoleon issued decree
insisting that Jews adopt surnames,
The Prussian government in 1886 at
tempted to restrict the Jews to Bib
lical names; this led Leopold Zunz to
write his classical monograph "Die
Namen der Juden," in which he
proved that throughout history Jews
were free to adopt the popular names
of their neighbors in all parts of the
world. The Russian government also
passed measures from time to time
with view toward limiting their
choice of surnames, though without
much success.