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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Jewish : nickname applied by Jews in Slavic countries for a Jew from Germany; it was also used to denote a Yiddish-speaking Jew who had settled in an area where non-Ashkenazic Jews were in the majority. Ashkenaz is a Biblical place name (Genesis 10:3, Jeremiah 51: 27), etymologically related to Greek Skythia ‘Scythia’. However, since the 9th century ad, if not earlier, it has been applied to Germany.

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