[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Jewish vs. Germanic surnames

[Jerry Frank]

This issue comes up from time to time and I think it is important to put it 
into perspective.

Surnames came to be commonly used in Germany through the 15th and 16th 
centuries.  Even in the late 1500s, some families I have found were still 
conflicted about using a previous surname or changing it to one that 
reflected their occupation.

On the other hand, Jews in general did not start using surnames until 
forced to do so in the Napoleonic era of the late 1700s.

With that background, one can see where Jews probably adopted or adapted 
many existing Germanic surnames.  My own FRANK surname is common in Jewish 
circles (Anne Frank being a famous one) but the surname itself dates back 
to the medieval Frank tribe of German origin.  There are infamous 
non-Jewish Franks as well such as the top general of the German army that 
invaded Poland in 1939.

My point is - do not make assumptions about the possibility of Jewish 
origins based on the sound of a name or some facial feature or 
whatever.  Such stories may exist in your family but they remain stories 
until you can prove them by way of records.



At 05:24 PM 17/02/2005, rbbtfarm wrote:

>Jerry wrote:
>The Jewish origin MIGHT be true in their particular case (due to location).
>
>First of all, it has been suggested to me that the name of SELINGER or 
>SELLINGER are commonly Jewish.



Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca