Patronymic Names

 

Patronymics refers to the incorporation of the father's name as part of the child's name. In most families, the father's last name was consistently used as the middle name (for both male & female offspring) from the 1600s (and even earlier)  up until the mid-1900s in Germany, Holland, much of the rest of Europe. It is found in names from Spain and Portugal from the 12^th century.   [No "Ben" (son of) or “Bat” (daughter of) was used.]

 

Researchers and genealogists should NOT confuse patronymics with surnames, or the name that they were known as in their civic, commercial or business affairs. 

 

It is NOT correct to claim Jews did not have permanent last names until the surname laws of the late 18th and early 19th century.  Just because heads of households were required to register with civil authorities, it did not mean that their surnames were invented then.  True, that did happen sometimes.

However, many of my  ancestors consistently used the same surnames dating back to the 1600s !  Although some were court Jews (Oppenheimer, Wertheimer, etc) and some were merchants and  bankers many others were just common folk. 

 

Many Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews had family surnames long before the civil registration laws, some were permanent and some morphed and changed to represent the current custom of the time, or to respond to the political and social climate at the time (eg the Sephardim and Marranos. Marronos for example took on “Christian names” or Baptised names and used them publicly but secretly maintained their Jewish names, which reappeared some times generations later when they were able to freely practice as Jews again.