The widespread adoption of Western-style hereditary surnames by Ashkenazi Jewish communities didn’t happen until around 200 years ago. Why is that? And when it did happen, how did certain names–names like Schwartz, Segal, Katz, Goldberg, Rosenthal, and Weissman–become so recognizably Jewish? How did some American Jews end up with last names that aren’t clearly Jewish? And what happened to Jewish names when Hebrew was resurrected as a living language?

Listen to this episode of Recognizably Jewish to find out.

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If you’re interested in the subject of this episode, check out these other sources:

• A Rosenberg by Any Other Name: A History of Jewish Name Changing in America (Kirsten Fermaglich) (https://www.amazon.com/Rosenberg-Any-Other-Name-Goldstein-Goren-ebook/dp/B07C5WCR1H/)
• People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present (Dara Horn) (https://www.amazon.com/People-Love-Dead-Jews-Reports/dp/1324035943/)

• https://www.commentary.org/articles/benzion-kaganoff/jewish-surnames-through-the-agesan-etymological-history/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_surname
• https://www.jewishgen.org/education/mythbusters.htm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjWfieO49y0
• http://www.billgladstone.ca/on-jewish-surnames/
• https://forward.com/opinion/391341/did-jews-buy-their-last-names/
• https://forward.com/opinion/415910/how-did-ashkenazi-jews-end-up-with-famous-non-jewish-last-names/