How do you know if a last name is Jewish?

Some people seem to know if another person is Jewish by their last name. How do you find out the origins of someone's last name whether it is German or French or WHATEVER. I just don't get it. I had no idead that "Silverman" was a Jewish last name until I watched Sarah Silverman the comedian. So I was wondering if there is a website or something that can help you identify the origins of last names or whatever?

How do you know if a last name is Jewish?
also a lot of Jewish names have "Berg" in them like Goldberg, Steinberg, or end with "MAN" like you said or have "STEIN" in them such as "WEINSTEIN". German names usually end with an "ER" like Homer. Italian names end with vowels A,E,I, and O. French names usually end with the letter "U" or IER such as Thoreau and Messier. Irish names usually Begin with "Mc". Polish names usually end in "SKI" or "EK". Russian names usually end with "V" or "OVA" such as Titov and Romanova . Alot of Swedish names end is "STROM" or "SSON" such as Ringstrom and Nilsson. Spanish names usually end is "EZ" or "ES" or "O" such as Lopez, Cort茅s and Pizarro. Greek last names usually end with "S". Many Portuguese names are similar to Spanish but these can end in "EIRO" such as Tameiro. i could keep going but thats enough
Reply:Well, there are 2 main branches of Jews in the US and Europe.





There are Ashkenazi Jews whose ancestry comes from Eastern Europe - Germany, Poland, Bohemia, Latvia, Slovakia, etc.





Then there are Sephardic Jews whose ancestry comes from Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and other Spanish type countries.





Several centuries ago in Europe, Jews didn't have last names. Just "David ben Joseph" or the like, which means "David, son of Joseph".





Then it became law that everyone had to have a last name, so the Jews in the area (Germany, etc.) chose last names of the people around where they lived. Most Ashkenazi last names are also plain old German names, found on plain old Germans and other nearby countries.





Stein, Wolf, Leiberman, etc. all are this type of Jewish last name. Then there are names chosen that are colors like Green, or precious metals like Silver, Gold, etc. and look for "man" on the end of them at times too. Sometimes they just chose the name of the town where they lived as their last name. Sometimes they chose their name by their occupation, just like non-Jews came to be known by their last names according to their occupations.





Now this will usually only be true where there are populations of Ashkenazi Jews present. In larger cities and towns, for instance.





Otherwise, in many smaller towns where there really are no Jews at all, but there are a lot of German, Bohemian, Polish, etc. people immigrated from those countries, you'll also find those same names -- except these are actually Germans etc. and not Jewish people.





As for the Sephardic Jews, they do not have names like this at all for the most part, and it is difficult to tell by their names that they are Jews. Many of them are Spanish looking names like Benveniste. Some of these have Islamic sounding last names even. There are last names like Seixas, Abarbanel, Alba, Djebali, Dias, Escobar, Habib, Gabriol, Hayyat, etc. These you probably wouldn't know were Jewish unless you were familiar with the Sephardi Jewish culture specifically.





EDIT: why on earth am I getting thumbs down for my answer? This is how Jews got last names in Eastern Europe, this is the history of Jewish last names for Ashkenazi Jews from that area. It is also the history of Sephardic Jewish names as well, from Spain and other Spanish speaking areas. The information I gave was the real history, so what is there to thumbs down about it?





Source: Me, Jewish (I am a Sephardic Jew, by the way)
Reply:many names do lead you to think that at least some place in the back ground there is Jewish.............





Berg......within a name is usually a good sign IMO along with Meir etc.





I think that a lot of the last names got changed as people entered Ellis island for ease of spelling as well as with them trying to escape persecution in Europe.





regards
Reply:if its hebrew most likely.


www.babynames.com


type in a name there and it will give you the origin
Reply:if they have a german last name and they dont look aryan.
Reply:If it ends in "man", or contains the name of a color or metal, it's likely Jewish.

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