Re: origin of last name

[The Re'evd]

sandri...@hotmail.com wrote:
> Hi all
> I am aware that the last name Maurer is both Jewish and German, but am
> wondering to what extent is it Jewish? Are most Maurer's of Jewish
> ancestry or are most christian-German? Is it considered a 'Jewish
> name' or like some other German names is it more just coincidental if
> it happens to be a Jewish person? For instance Kuafmann can be both
> but most often it's Jewish, whereas Neumann can be Jewish but is
> basically German.
>
> I don't know how stupid this question sounds but my web searches are
> inconclusive. I am not jewish myself but am writing a paper on Jewish
> history in Australia, if you're interested. Thanks! -Rob

The following was posted about jew names recently.

Other than aristocrats and wealthy people Jews did not get surnames in
Eastern Europe until the apoleonic years of the early 19th century.
Most of
the Jews from countries captured by Napoleon - Russia, Poland, and
Germany -
were ordered to get surnames for tax purposes.

After Napoleon's defeat, many Jews dropped these names and returned
to "son
of" names such as:
Mendelsohn, Jacobson, Levinson.

During the so-called Emancipation, Jews were once more ordered to take
surnames. In Austria the Emperor Joseph made Jews take last names in
the
late 1700s, Poland in 1821 and Russia in 1844. It's probable that
some of
our families have had last names for 175 years or less.
In France and the Anglo Saxon countries surnames went back to the 16th
century. Sephardic Jews also had surnames stretching back centuries.
Spain,
prior to Ferdinand and Isabella, was a golden spot for Jews. They were
expelled by Isabella in the same year that Columbus left for America.
The earliest American Jews were Sephardic. In general there were five
types
of names (people had to pay for their choice of names; the poor had
assigned
names):
Names that were descriptive of head of household:
Hoch (tall); Klein (small), Cohen (rabbi ); Burger (village dweller);
Shein
(good looking); Levi (temple

singer); Gross (large); Schwartz (dark or black); Weiss (white); Kurtz
(short).

Names describing occupations:
Holtz (wood); Holtzkocker (wood chopper); Geltschmidt (goldsmith);
Schneider
(tailor); Kreigsman

(warrior); Malamed (teacher); Eisen (iron); Fischer (fish).

Names from city of residence:
Berlin; Frankfurter; Danziger; Oppenheimer; Deutsch (German); Pollack
(Polish); Breslau; Mannheim;

Cracow; Warshaw.

Bought names:

Gluck (luck); Rosen (roses); Rosenberg (rose mountain); Rosenblatt
(rose
paper or leaf);

Rosenfeld (rose field); Rothman (red man); Diamond; Koenig (king);
Koenigsberg (king's mountain)'

Spielman (to play); Lieber (lover); Berg (mountain); Wasserman (water
dweller); Kershenblatt (church

paper); Stein (glass).

Assigned names (usually undesirable):
Plotz (to die); Klutz (clumsy); Billig (cheap); Drek (shit).

Original birth names of Jewish performers:
Woody Allen - Alan Stewart Koenigsberg; June Allyson - Ella Geisman;
Lauren
Bacall - Betty Joan Perske; Jack Benny - Benjamin Kubelsky;

Irving Berlin - Israel Baline; Milton Berle - Milton Berlinger; Joey
Bishop -Joseph Gottlieb; Karen Black - Karen Blanche Ziegler; Victor
Borge -
Borge Rosenbaum;

Fanny Brice - Fanny Borach; Mel Brooks - Melvin Kaminsky; George
Burns -
Nathan Birnbaum; Eddie Cantor - Edward Israel Iskowitz; Jeff Chandler -
Ira
Grossel; Lee J.. Cobb - Amos

Jacob; Tony Curtis - Bernard Schwartz; Rodney Dangerfield - Jacob
Cohen;
Kirk Douglas - Issue Danielovich Demsky; Melvyn Douglas - Melvyn
Hesselberg;
Bob Dylan - Bobby Zimmerman; Paulette

Goddard - Marion Levy; Lee Grant - Lyova Geisman; Elliot Gould - Elliot
Goldstein; Judy Holliday - Judith Tuvim; Al Jolson - Asa Yoelson; Danny
Kaye -David Daniel Kaminsky; Michael Landon - Michael Orowitz; Steve
Lawrence - Sidney Leibowitz; Jerry Lewis - Joseph Levitch; Peter
Lorre -Lazlo Lowenstein; Elaine May - Elaine Berlin; Yves Montand - Ivo
Levy; Mike Nichols - Michael Peschkowsky; Joan Rivers - Joan Molinsky;
Edward G. Robinson - Emanuel Goldenberg; Jane Seymour - Joyce Penelope
Frankenburg; Simone Signoret - Simone-Henriette Kaminker; Beverly Sills
-
Belle Silverman; Sophie Tucker - Sophia Kalish; Gene Wilder - Gerald
Silberman.

[Boed...@isp.com]

June Allyson is not jewish, her name is Dutch.

> Lauren
> Bacall - Betty Joan Perske; Jack Benny - Benjamin Kubelsky;
>
>
> Irving Berlin - Israel Baline; Milton Berle - Milton Berlinger; Joey
> Bishop -Joseph Gottlieb; Karen Black - Karen Blanche Ziegler; Victor
> Borge -
> Borge Rosenbaum;
>
> Fanny Brice - Fanny Borach; Mel Brooks - Melvin Kaminsky; George
> Burns -
> Nathan Birnbaum; Eddie Cantor - Edward Israel Iskowitz; Jeff Chandler -
> Ira
> Grossel; Lee J.. Cobb - Amos
>
> Jacob; Tony Curtis - Bernard Schwartz; Rodney Dangerfield - Jacob
> Cohen;
> Kirk Douglas - Issue Danielovich Demsky; Melvyn Douglas - Melvyn
> Hesselberg;

> Bob Dylan - Bobby Zimmerman; Paulette
>
> Goddard - Marion Levy; Lee Grant - Lyova Geisman; Elliot Gould - Elliot
> Goldstein; Judy Holliday - Judith Tuvim; Al Jolson - Asa Yoelson; Danny
> Kaye -David Daniel Kaminsky; Michael Landon

Half jew - his father.. - Michael Orowitz;

Steve
> Lawrence - Sidney Leibowitz; Jerry Lewis - Joseph Levitch; Peter
> Lorre -Lazlo Lowenstein; Elaine May - Elaine Berlin; Yves Montand - Ivo
> Levy;

He was not a jew, he was Italian Catholic. He was once arrested by
the Gestapo in Rome because they thought he was a jew. He proved he
was not and they let him go.
It's "Levi".

Mike Nichols - Michael Peschkowsky; Joan Rivers - Joan Molinsky;
> Edward G. Robinson - Emanuel Goldenberg; Jane Seymour - Joyce Penelope
> Frankenburg;

Half jew - her father.

Simone Signoret - Simone-Henriette Kaminker;

Half jew - her father.