Friday, November 20, 2009

Is Guter a Jewish name?

My grt grandfather lived in Gorlice, Poland. His name was Josef Guter. He came to this country in 1899 and came to NH.

Is Guter a Jewish name?
A search of the New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 shows GUTERs coming from many countries: Prussia, Hungary, Russia, Austria, Romania, Galicia, and Sweden. The name is fairly common, and it's unwise to assume a specific religion by the name alone.





You don't indicate how you know he arrived in 1899. Hopefully, you have naturalization papers with this information. If not, you need more proof that the following information is about your ancestors. (Such as the same date reported consistently across multiple census records).





The Ellis Island site shows 2 GUTER arrived in 1899:


Guter, John, age 32, and Guter, Jos., age 17, from Sekowa, Austria.


The Ellis Island site also lists them as "Hebrew" which would mean they were Jewish.





From Ancestry.com, the Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 have:


Name: Johann Guter


Estimated Birth Year: abt 1867


Age Year: 32


Gender: m盲nnlich (Male)


Marital Status: ledig (Single)


RESIDENCE: Sekowa


Ethnicity/Nationality: 脰sterreich (Austrian)


Occupation: Landmann, Tagel枚hner


++++


Name: Josef Guter


Estimated Birth Year: abt 1882


Age Year: 17


Gender: m盲nnlich (Male)


Marital Status: ledig (Single)


RESIDENCE: Sekowa


Ethnicity/Nationality: 脰sterreich (Austrian)


Occupation: Landmann, Tagel枚hner





Ship Name: Italia


Departure Date: 11 Okt 1899 (11 Oct 1899)


Shipping Line: Rob. M. Sloman %26amp; Co.


Ship Type: Dampfschiff


Accommodation: Zwischendeck


Ship Flag: Deutschland (Germany)


Port of Departure: Hamburg


Port of Arrival: New York


Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 105 Page: 1734





IF THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT Josef, please post another message with more info and we'll try looking for him again.



Reply:Any name can be Jewish.





Reform Judaism defines a Jew soley by the religious faith.





Orthodox and Conservative Judaism defines a Jew by the mother alone, not the religious faith and not the father. They state they get the nation from their mother and the tribe from the father and if they don't have a Jewish father they belong to the tribe of the nearest male relative on the mother's side of the family.





Whereas if the don't have a Jewish mother, the Orthodox and Conservative will state they are not Jewish.





A lot of names in the U.S. are identified as Jewish as a large portion of immigrants to this country with certain names were Jewish while back in their country of origin, the same name was used by Jews and non Jews alike.





Most Jews who came from Eastern Europe were of Orthodox roots. That would mean if your grandfather had a Jewish mother, he would have been considered Jewish, irregardless of what his father was.




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