The Jewish community is one of the oldest ethnic groups that currently exist, and its identity is largely reflected in surnames with roots in the Hebrew language, and which today are very present, especially in countries such as the United States, Israel and Argentina.
In this article we show you the 70 most common Jewish surnames also mentioning its origin and meaning.
It is common for Jewish surnames to refer to the parent or father, in this case we will talk about patronymic surnames.
On the other hand, many of the most common Jewish surnames are frequent in two Jewish communities: the Sephardim, who come from the Iberian Peninsula, and the Ashkenazi, the Jews of Germany and Eastern Europe, this community being much more recent.
Below we will see the most used Jewish surnames, as well as their origin and meaning. You will be able to see how the majority come from Hebrew, although we also observe German and Arabic influence. In reference to the meaning, the mention of God is typical, and it is also common that many of them can be used as both feminine and masculine names.
1. Cohen
The surname Cohen, or Kohen, derives from the Hebrew word meaning “Priest.” In addition, it has its origins in one of the most powerful lineages in the field of Judaism, since it is traditionally understood that the kohen come from a line of direct male descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses according to the Bible.
2. Levy
The surname Levy comes from Hebrew and means “to unite.” This name is given to the members of the Levi tribe who were called Levites, these are assistants to the cohanim, plural of cohen which, as we have said before, means priests.
3. Mizrachi
The surname Mizrachi means “eastern,” which is the name given to Jews from the Middle East or North Africa.
4. Peretz
The surname Peretz derives from a Hebrew proper name that translates into English as “advance” or “break through.” It is believed that the surname Pérez may be the Spanish version that the Jews themselves made of this surname to hide themselves of the inquisition.
The surname Biton derives from the name Hayyim which means “life”. Being a fairly common surname, it has evolved in different ways depending on the area.
6.Dohan
The meaning of the surname Dohan is unclear and could refer to a “house painter” or an “oil salesman.” There are also similar derivations of this surname such as Dahan, Dihan or Dohan.
7. Abramov
The surname Abramov uses the Russian suffix -ov which indicates that he is “son of Abraham”. Thus, this surname was used by Jewish families living in Russia or nearby areas.
8.Friedman
The surname Friedman comes from German, from the words “fridu” which translates as “peace” and “mann” which we translate as “man”. We therefore deduce that means “man of peace”
9. Azoulay
The meaning of the surname Azoulai is not clear, “blue eyes” or “good” has been proposed as an option. This surname is frequently used in the community of Sephardic Jews, which refers to the descendants of the Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the year 1492.
10. Malka
It is a Judeo-Spanish surname that means “queen.”
11. Katz
The surname Katz indicates that he belongs to a priestly family. Katz is an acronym that means “cohen tzedek” which translates into Spanish as “priest of justice.”
12. David
David is a patronymic surname, which designates ancestry, very old and one of the most common in the world. In Hebrew it means “he who is loved by God.”
13. Ohayon
The surname Ohayon is made up of the Berber prefix “O-” which indicates “son of” and the proper name Hayon which translates as “life”.
14. Fairy
The Hebrew surname Hadad means “ornament.”
15. Love
The surname Amar too It is common in Sephardic Jewish communities and can be translated as “architect” or “builder.” It has Arabic origin and it is for this reason that it is popular among Moroccan Jews.
16. Gabbai
The surname Gabbai translates as “guardian of charity” and refers to the function that some men performed in the synagogues.
17. Joseph
The surname Yosef is a patronymic that refers to the proper name Yosef, which means “I hope God gives another child.”
18. Ben David
The prefix “Ben-” in Hebrew means “son of”; Therefore, Ben David will be a patronymic surname that will be translated as son of David, a proper name that means “beloved.”
19. Edri
The surname Edri refers to the Draa valley located in Morocco, for this reason this surname will be common in Jews living in this country.
20. Klein
The surname Klein meaning “small” or “humble” was used as a substitute for the Hebrew surname Alemalech during Jewish persecution in 1500.
The surname Chen is a Hebrew word that means “grace” or “charm.” Not only has it been used as a surname but it can also be the first name of both a woman and a man.
22. Such
The Hebrew surname Tal means “dew” and, in the same way as the previous surname, we can also find it as a proper name.
23. Levine
Levine is a surname derived from the already named “Levy”, in this case we could translate it as “he who unites his people”.
24. Shapira
The surname Shapira, which we also find with other forms such as Shapiro, is a toponym that refers to the Jews who lived in the German city of Speyer
25. Hazan
The surname Hazan means “singer” or “singer”, one who recites prayers in the synagogue.
26. Moshe
The surname Moshe is the Hebrew form of Moses. Which comes from the Egyptian root “mes” which means “son of” in this case “son of Jehovah” or “son of Yahweh”.
27. Ohana
In this case, the surname Ohana would be a matronymic that refers to the mother’s name along with the suffix “O-” which, as we have said, means “son of”, in this case “son of Hanna”.
28. Golan
Golan is a toponymic surname that refers to the city of Golan in Israel.
29. Ashkenazi
The surname Ashkenazi is a patronymic that indicates “son of Ashkenaz” which means “spreading fire”. This ending was also used to name European Jews who lived in Central or Eastern Europe after the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70.
30. Segal
Segal was the name given to the teachers of the Torah, which is the religious text that contains Israeli heritage and law. The surname Segal has its origins in the time of the first Temple in Jerusalem.
31. Yitzhak
We can also find the last name Yitzhak as Isaac, which translates as “he laughs.”
32. Bar
Bar is a Jewish surname from the German that means “bear.”
33. Jacob
The surname Yaakov can also be found as Jacob and means “taken by the heel.”
34. Shalom
The surname Shalom means “the peace of God.” It is also commonly used as a greeting.
35. Mor
The surname Mor derives from the word More which means “teacher” or Mora which translates as “teacher”.
36. Dayan
The surname Dyan comes from the Hebrew word Dayana, the name given to someone who served as judge in the synagogue.
37. Eliyahu
Eliyahu is used as a first and last name and means “Jehovah is my God ”.
38. Elbaz
The Jewish surname Elbaz is of Arabic origin and means “the falcon.”
39. Lavi
The Jewish surname Lavi comes from Hebrew and translates as “lion.”
40. Switzerland
Suissa is a toponymic surname that refers to a town called Suesa in Spain or the Souss region of Morocco.
The surname Atias derives from the Arabic name Attya which means “gift from God”.
43. Stern
The last name Stern is Ashkenazi and It is of German origin, translating as “star.”
44. Nachum
The Jewish patronymic surname Nachum means “he who comforts.”
45. Alon
Alon is a Jewish surname also frequently used by Ashkenazis and means “tree.”
46. Rosenberg
The surname Rosenberg can be considered matronymic (referring to the mother) or toponymic (referring to a place) and means “mountain of roses.”
47. Sharabi
The surname Sharabi is a place name that refers to a district of Shar’ab in Taiz, Yemen, a country located on the Arabian Peninsula.
48. Mom
The toponymic surname Maman indicates that it comes from the Meanám people in the province of Orense in Spain.
49. Sasson
The Jewish surname Sasson translates as “happiness” or “joy.”
50. Bachar
The surname Bachar refers to a specific job, a spice seller, since we know that it comes from the Turkish word “bahar” which means “species.”
51. Shahar
The surname Shahar is believed to come from the name Morgenstern and means “dawn”.
52. Maimon
The surname Maimon was used by Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, coming from Arabic and meaning “fortunate.”
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53. Schwartz
The surname Schawartz comes from Hebrew and means “salvation.” It is believed that it may be the origin of the Spanish surname Suárez.
54. Ovadia
Ovadia is a surname of Hebrew origin common among Sephardic Jews and means “servant of God.”
55. Ben Hemo
The surname Ben Hemo is composed of Ben, which indicates “son of,” and Hemo, which is believed to derive from the name Haim, which means “living.”
56. Vaknin
Vaknin is believed to be a nickname for the proper name Jacob in the Berber language.
57. Assouline
The toponymic surname Assouline is of Berber origin and means “rock” or “stone”.
58. Meir
The surname Meir of Hebrew origin means “the one who shines” and is also used as a given name.
59. Greenberg
Of German origin, the Jewish surname Greenberg means “mountain.”
60. Goldstein
The surname Goldstein comes from German and translates as “golden stone”
61. Weiss
Weiss is a surname of German origin that translates as “white.”
62. Baruch
The surname Baruch of Hebrew origin means “Chosen and guided by God.”
63. Amsalem
The surname Amsalem is popular in the Sephardic Jewish community and means “seeker of peace.”
64. Rubin
The surname Rubin with Israeli roots comes from the proper name Reuven, which in Spanish would be Rubén and translates as “here is a son.”
65. Feldman
Coming from the Yiddish dialect, where different languages such as French, Italian, Hebrew and German come together, it is formed by the German words “feld” which means “field” and “mann” which translates as “man”, that is, the Last name Feldman means “man of the country.”
66. Ezra
The Jewish surname Ezra means “help” and this word was also used as a proper name for both men and women.
67. Harel
The surname Harel has Hebrew origin and translates as “the mountain of God.”
68. Yifrah
The surname Yifrah of Hebrew origin means “will flourish.”
69. Sabag
The surname Sabag is of Arabic origin and refers to the craft of dyeing fabrics.
70. Kadosh
The Hebrew surname Kadosh means “holy” and is believed to be where the Spanish surname Santo comes from.
