Page 27 - MHC Magazine 2018

Milnerton Hebrew Congregation - High Holy Days 5779 27
Kauffman: a form of the Yiddish nickname Yankel (meaning Jacob) plus the German for man
Koppelman: derived from Koppel, a Yiddish nickname for Jacob, plus the German suffi x “man”
Koval: this Slavic name refers to an ancestor who was a blacksmith
Kravitz: this name recalls an ancestor’s occupation, and is a Slavic version of the word tailor
Leib: meaning lion, this name refers to the Jewish name Yehuda, who was compared to a lion (Gen.
49:9)
Levi/Levy: of the Tribe of Levi, descendants of Moses’ brother Aaron; members worked in the Temple
Levin: derived from Levi - members of the Tribe of Levi who served in the Temple in Jerusalem

Lieberman: a nickname adopted by some Jewish families, meaning “dear man”
Maggid: from the Hebrew for teaching, refers to an ancestor who was a scholar and teacher
Margolis: meaning “pearl” in Hebrew, it often refl ects a mother’s fi rst name
Maze: an acronym - “M’zera Aharon Hakohen” - from the seed of Aaron the High Priest
Melamed: from the Hebrew for teacher, referring to an ancestor who was a teacher
Mizrahi: meaning “Easterner” in Hebrew, this name refers to families from the Middle East
Nudel: meaning needle, this name refl ects an ancestor’s occupation as tailor

Perlman: husband of Perl (a common Jewish woman’s name in Eastern Europe)
Portnoy: this name refers to an occupation - it means “tailor” in Russian
Rabin: from the Hebrew word Rabbi, this name could refer to a rabbinic ancestor
Rabinowitz: a Slavic name meaning “son of Rabbi”
Rivkin: a matronymic (deriving from one’s mother) name, from Rebecca
Rivlin: derived from the name Rebecca, the Jewish matriarch who married Isaac
Roth: meaning red, this name refl ects the popularity of colors as surnames among German-speaking
Jews
Rothschild: this prominent family’s name pre-dates the forced adoption of surnames, and refers to the

“red sign” (the meaning of the name) that graced the family’s home
Sas: an acronym of “sofer stam,” a writer of religious texts
Sasson: a matronymic name (derived from one’s mother) meaning Shoshana, “rose” in Hebrew
Sebag: this name refers to the profession of a long-ago ancestor, it means dyer
Schechter: from the Hebrew for butcher, one who slaughters animals according to Jewish law
Schneider: a Germanic name meaning tailor, refl ecting one’s ancestor’s profession as tailor
Schreiber - from the Hebrew “sofer”, a writer of religious texts

Schwartz: this means black - many German speaking Jews adopted colors as surnames
Segal: a common name for members of the tribe of Levi, Segal is an acronym - “Segan Lekehunah”, or
“second to the Cohen”, referring to working in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem
Shapiro: referring to the town of Speyer, in Germany, once home to a Jewish community
Singer: referring to an ancestor who sang in a synagogue as a cantor
Shamash: refl ecting an ancestor’s occupation, this means one who worked in a synagogue
Shulman: “shul” means synagogue in Yiddish - this name was adopted by some caretakers of synagogues
as a surname
Soros: from the Hebrew name Sarah, meaning “princess”

Stern: meaning “star”, many Austrian Jews thought this a beautiful name to choose
Weiss: meaning white, this name refl ects the practice of adopting colors as surnames among German-
speaking Jews
Weinberg: referring to any of various places in Europe which once were home to thriving Jewish com-
munities, including the region of Mt. Weinberg in Westphalia, Germany, or towns named Weinberg in
Germany, the Czech Republic or Poland
Wexler: Germanic form of moneychanger, one of the occupations to which Jews were restricted.