Jewish/Hebrew surname derivations
Could someone familiar with Jewish Research help me understand the changes in a surname for a family group from Lithuania. On the ship lists, naturalization records , and census, the surname varied between Woolf, Blatt, Bloch, Blach, Saulwolf, and Platzwolf. In the obituaries i have found, the name was most often Wolf. This is an unfamiliar territory for me, so I could use some insight.
Answers
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Hello,
I'm afraid I am far from expert in this field, but I have been recently researching this for myself and learning a bit. You have an especially tricky problem as the Lithuanian language and surnames can change even within families over time, and then Jewish surnames can be difficult to understand if not a part of that heritage.
Those surnames do sound more "Germanized" to me; generally a Lithuanian surname ends in - as or -ias (but not always). Of course, this area of the world was always changing in "ownership" and was part of Poland, Russia, and Germany at different times.
Another thought is that Jewish names often included the names of their parents, so the Bloch or Saul variations could be parts of their parents names? The "Woolf" could be the shortened, informal version of the surname and the longer versions the more formal, complete?
Another common practice was including the place of birth in the name, so "Platz" could also be a location.
Like I said, I am not an expert in Jewish naming practices but hopefully someone else can elaborate and help clarify! These are just thoughts or suggestions :)
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