Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania

Linguistic and semantic features in names—and surnames in particular—reveal evidence of historical phenomena, such as migrations, occupational structure, and acculturation. In this book, Alexander Avram assembles and analyzes a corpus of more than 28,000 surnames, including phonetic and graphic variants, used by Jews in Romanian-speaking lands from the sixteenth century until 1944, the end of World War II in Romania.

Mining published and unpublished sources, including Holocaust-period material in the Yad Vashem Archives and the Pages of Testimony collection, Avram makes the case that through a careful analysis of the surnames used by Jews in the Old Kingdom of Romania, we can better understand and corroborate different sociohistorical trends and even help resolve disputed historical and historiographical issues. Using onomastic methodology to substantiate and complement historical research, Avram examines the historical development of these surnames, their geographic patterns, and the ways in which they reflect Romanian Jews’ interactions with their surroundings. The resulting surnames dictionary brings to light a lesser-known chapter of Jewish onomastics. It documents and preserves local naming patterns and specific surnames, many of which disappeared in the Holocaust along with their bearers.

Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania is the third volume in a series that includes Pleasant Are Their Names: Jewish Names in the Sephardi Diaspora and The Names of Yemenite Jewry: A Social and Cultural History, both of which are available from Penn State University Press. This installment will be especially welcomed by scholars working in Holocaust studies.

“" Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania represents an important contribution to the domains of onomastics and history. On the one hand, with a high scholarly rigor, the author analyzes Jewish Romanian-based and Romanianized surnames. On the other hand, the book represents an exemplary study illustrating how onomastics can be used as a major tool to study the social history of a population group." --Alexander Beider, author of A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Maghreb, Gibraltar, and Malta”

“This book is recommended mostly for scholars who want to learn about names and the connections for Jews in Romania. Those who want to understand the linguistic and semantic features in Romanian family names will find it an interesting read.”

—Daniel D. Stuhlman Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews

“As a work in the field of onomastics, Avram’s volume advances the methodological utility of surnames and, therefore, this valuable work should be lauded.”

—Brandon Simonson NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics

“This is a book to make onomastics as a discipline proud.”

—Ephraim Nissan Onoma: Journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences

“Alexander Avram’s book is highly important to Romanian culture.”

—Oliviu Felecan Romanian Review of Linguistics

“Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania represents an important contribution to the domains of onomastics and history. On the one hand, with scholarly rigor, the author analyzes Jewish Romanian–based and Romanianized surnames. On the other hand, the book is an exemplary study illustrating how onomastics can be used as a major tool to study the social history of a population group.”

—Alexander Beider, author of A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations

“Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania is an innovative and original contribution to the study of Romanian Jewry based on the study of surnames. In his research, Avram has achieved a very successful combination of different disciplines, showing full mastery of very diverse sources.”

—Raphael Vago, author of Anti-Semitism in Romania, 1989–1992

“This book introduces the methodology of onomastics not only in order to comprehend the characteristics of the collected names but also to learn about historical processes in a certain territory. By doing so, certain theses about the history of the Jews are refuted, and professional and social characteristics and migration routes are uncovered. This is an innovative approach, and the findings are illuminating. Avram presents a complex and multi-faceted historical picture of the history of Romanian Jewry.”

—Dan Michman, author of Holocaust Historiography: A Jewish Perspective

Alexander Avram is the Director of the Hall of Names and Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

Linguistic and semantic features in names-and surnames in particular-reveal evidence of historical phenomena, such as migrations, occupational structure, and acculturation. In this book, Alexander Avram assembles and analyzes a corpus of more than 28,000 surnames, including phonetic and graphic variants, used by Jews in Romanian-speaking lands from the sixteenth century until the end of World War II in Romania in 1944. Mining published and unpublished sources, including Holocaust-period material in the Yad Vashem Archives and the Pages of Testimony collection, Avram makes the case that through a careful analysis of the surnames used by Jews in the Old Kingdom of Romania, we can better understand and corroborate different sociohistorical trends and even help resolve disputed historical and historiographical issues. Using onomastic methodology to substantiate and complement historical research, Avram examines the historical development of these surnames, their geographic patterns, and the ways in which they reflect Romanian Jews' interactions with their surroundings. The resulting surnames dictionary brings to light a lesser-known chapter of Jewish onomastics. It documents and preserves local naming patterns and specific surnames, many of which disappeared in the Holocaust, along with their bearers. Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania is the third volume in a series that includes Pleasant Are Their Names: Jewish Names in the Sephardi Diaspora and The Names of Yemenite Jewry: A Social and Cultural History, both of which are available from Penn State University Press. This installment will be especially welcomed by scholars working in Holocaust studies.

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