To put it simply, Jews originally had no surname but only a first name. When you read the Bible, you won't read the name Moses Mendelssohn. Jewish names in the Bible are always associated with Hebrew names and various things, which has a lot to do with the nomenclature in the Bible. For example, you can read directly:
25:25, the first-born one is red and muddy, and if it is the same as leather clothes, they named him Esau (Esau in Hebrew). Then Esau's brother was born, and he grasped Esau's heel, so he was named Jacob (Jacob in Hebrew means grasping).
Of course, there is nothing wrong with the names in the Bible being Jewish at first, but when we hear these names now, we can't say that they must belong to Jews, because these names have been accepted by non-Jews. For example, if you hear Isaac, although this name is used by many Jews (such as Isaac Singh), non-Jews will also use it (such as Isaac Newton).
Before the Great Diaspora, the Hellenistic Jews began to give their names a Greek color. For example, in 1: 3 of Talmud Abbott, it is said that "Antigonus, a Soho, was taught by the righteous Simeon. He often said,' Don't learn from the slaves who serve the master because they expect to be rewarded, but learn from the slaves who serve the master without expecting to be rewarded. May you fear God.' Here, Antigone, a Soho, was probably the first Jewish scholar to use a Greek name. After the Diaspora, Jewish names gradually began to vary. First of all, we can see many names in Talmud, but some of these names have the characteristics of Aramaic, for example, Lava (Laba), for example, Abaye.
In addition, it must be remembered that although you will see many names similar to a ben b (or a bar b in aramaic language's form) in this period, this meaning actually does not mean that B is the surname, but that A is the name of this person, and B is the name of his father, so we can say that B is the son of A. Note that ben here means the son of someone.
You must also pay attention to the fact that many names will be directly suffixed with place names. For example, we know that Rabban Gamaliel Yavne is actually the form of Rabban Gamaliel Of Yavne omitting of, which actually means Laban Gamaliel in Javne. Here, of course, Javne is a place name rather than an actual surname.
In addition, there are abbreviations of names related to this. For example, we know that RaSHI is a great man, but we write him as Rashi. In fact, this is not a pure name. Rashi's name is Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchaki. Sometimes, we simply say that he is Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki and omit Ben. Note that when this name is written in Hebrew, we can Therefore, we can call him Rashi. (Similarly, there is Rambam, which is the abbreviation of Rabbi Moses Ben Maymon (Ned)).
Jews used surnames after the 18th century. We can read similar books, such as "Cactus in the Desert-Jewish Sketch" written by Professor Xu Xiangqun. We read that Jews began to use surnames after the 18th century; Although the emergence of surnames is also the need of social, economic and cultural development, it was strongly anti-semitic at that time, so it was not out of the original meaning of Jews. In the 18th century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the Habsburg dynasty ordered Jews to adopt fixed surnames, and this practice quickly spread throughout Europe. This forced change of Jewish living habits for many years is aimed at limiting, attacking and forcibly assimilating Jews, so it is generally resisted by Jews. In order to force the Jews to accept this law, European rulers did not hesitate to use swords. However, it is not easy to make millions of Jews give themselves a surname in a short period of time, because it involves many social problems, so many absurd things have appeared.
European administrative officials took this opportunity to extort Jews and make a fortune. If a Jew who goes to the administrative department for registration is willing to pay a large sum of money, the official in charge of registration will give him a name of fragrant flowers or auspicious and festive words as his surname; If you can't afford to pay a big price or have no money to pay tribute, then find the most ugly word to give him a surname. Therefore, Jews have unpleasant surnames, such as AFFENKRAUT (Avankraut, meaning skinny monkey), ESELKOPF (Iser's original science, meaning donkey's head) and so on.
Many Jews flocked to the synagogue and asked the rabbis to choose surnames for them. Because there were too many people and the deadline was too tight, the rabbis turned to the Bible to determine which page to turn to, and the first word on which page was to ask for the surname of the person. Therefore, there were various surnames of Jews.
In Hungary, the administrative authorities stipulate that all Hungarian Jews can only choose one surname from WEISS (Weiss, meaning white), SCHWARTZ (meaning black), GROSS (meaning big) and KLEIN (meaning small). So many people with the same surname appeared. In fact, they are not related by blood.
In Germany, especially in Frankfurt, there are many Jews whose surnames are APFELBAUM (Appletree), BLUM (Bloom, which means flowers), EINHORN "(einhorn, which means unicorn), OCHS (Ohes, which means bull), ROTHSCHILD (rothschild, which means red shield spleen) and STERN (. These words were originally the names of the house emblem of the Jewish residence in Frankfurt. In the process of forcing the adoption of a fixed surname, more than 2 Jews in Frankfurt used their own house emblem names as surnames.
In 193s, the Nazi regime forced Jews to change their names and surnames again, which made the already chaotic Jewish names even more disorganized. But not long after the establishment of Israel, Jews erased the shame left by history on their names.
The names of modern Jews are very simple, with the surname coming last and the first name coming first, which is very close to the common names in western countries. Here, I can add a few words: If you know the relationship between Yiddish Preface and German, or if you know German, you will understand the meaning of these surnames better. Note, for example, berg means mountain, baum means tree, blum means flower, and stein means stone. When we understand that many surnames are suffixes of these words, we can know more meanings. For example, we can say that Greenberg means green mountain, that is, a mountain covered with forest, so we can know that the origin of this surname must come from a mountainous area with dense forests, and einstein, who is not written on it, is written as Einstein, which means a/an in German, and stein means stone, so we can know that Einstein means "a stone". For another example, we know that berg means mountain, and Steven Spielberg, the director we are most familiar with, we can know that Spielberg actually means game, and sometimes it can also mean crazy talk, while berg is a mountain, which we can literally understand as crazy mountain, but more appropriately, it should mean "excessive indulgence". For another example, we are familiar with Dustin hoffman. Hof means court or castle, while hoffman means people in the court, that is, courtiers. Sometimes, it can mean "flatterer". We can also know that kauffmann is actually a variant of kaufman, and the latter means the owner or businessman. Greenspan, which we are familiar with, actually means patina, so we can know that the origin of this surname probably comes from a metallurgist or a jeweler. We also know that rosenberg means Rose Mountain (because Rosen means Rose and berg means Mountain). We may also know the suffix "Witz" (Vitz) of many names, which means "wisdom" in German, while Zweig means branches. For example, we can know its meaning immediately when we see Rosenzweig. And the word "field" after many names means field. For example, we know that Rosenfield means a rose garden. Another example is Bob Dylan, whom we are familiar with. Of course, Bob Dylan is an out-and-out Jew. His original name is Robert Allen Zimmermann. We notice that Zimmermann means carpenter (Zimmer means wood in highland German, while mann means man). We can also know that when many Russian Jews have mov after their names, we know that they are not Jews. For example, we can immediately know that Maksimov is the surname of a Russian Jew. (When we see a person's name followed by -Sky, we know that it is also a surname from Russia or some eastern European countries.) Of course, we should also be clear that these names are not Jewish patents. < P > We can understand what the rabbi will name the child at the naming ceremony directly after the circumcision ceremony. Of course, we know that this name may be directly Hebrew. For a Hebrew name, it is very easy, because we can look it up in the Bible or directly consult the sages in Talmud. For each Hebrew name, they have special meanings. Of course, maybe children will have names in the form of Italian preface. For example, we know that Herschel is a name, and this name comes directly from the deer in Italian preface, and we know that deer can be called Hirsch in German. So you will understand more about the meaning of this name. Of course, maybe the rabbi will also give a name related to local customs. For example, if you are in new york, your name will be Fisher, and maybe your surname will be * * Berg or * * Baum, and if you are from Poland, you may be called * * Wirtz.
Of course, many times, the history of Jews determines that their names are usually changeable. For example, many Jews will change their names after emigrating. Maybe you will know how Andy Grove changed his name to be more American, because when he was in Hungary, his name should be Grof, which should have a long O sound here, but in the United States, this name will be called Gruff, and Andy. We also know that when he was in Hungary, he changed his name to Malesevics to avoid Nazi persecution. For example, there is Arthur Kornberg, a great biologist. His paternal name was Queller, and he was of Spanish descent. But when his grandfather avoided persecution, he changed his name and called himself Kornberg. As for why it was this name, the reason was absurd. It turned out that his grandfather once used a name on a roster to escape military service. He randomly threw a coin and it fell to KO. The Kornberg family is quite famous now. Arthur kornberg and his son Rogge kornberg are both winners of the Nobel Prize in Biology. The father was in 1959 and the son was in 26. The picture below shows a picture of their father and son. As readers can imagine, when Arthur's grandfather changed his name next to the list of military service in the synagogue, he would never have thought that this stolen surname had become a resounding name in the field of biology.
As for Jewish names, I will simply say so much. For many people, some names are familiar to them, but they don't know anything about them. For example, we all know Einstein, but of course you don't know that he is a "stone" and you admire Spielberg, but you never know the meaning of his name. Of course, you don't need to know that Einstein is a stone to study relativity, and you don't need to know that the director turned out to be a nonsense when you watch the movie jaws. What we need to know is that For example, many Shanghainese used to name their children Zhao Asan, Wang Ayi and so on. Or we also know that the original name of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was actually Zhu Chongba, while Liu Bang was actually called Liu Ji. These things all have a * * * similarity. Behind these seemingly ridiculous and rustic names, great people stand out. You can also learn that no one is a born aristocrat or a born scholar, but you can also know from these names that if you can keep the spirit of forging ahead in humiliation, then you can.