Category: Jewish Names
Jewish Men’s Names in 16th-Century Turkey
Almost all of the names on this list are the names of the deceased, and the date is the Georgian year in which they died. However, in the case of rare names, or names that had no deceased before the year 1600, I drew names and dates from the list…
Jewish Women’s Names in 16th-/17th-Century Istanbul
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the Istanbul area was home to a variety of Jewish communities: Greek-speaking Romaniote Jews, who had lived in the city since the days of Byzantium; Karaites; Ashkenazim; and Sephardim. The names of the Jewish women of Istanbul reflect this mixture: Castilian, Portuguese,…
Romaniote Jewish Names
[in progress] Family Names Although not all Romaniote Jews had family names, the practice was well established by the 15th century. There were several types of family names: Patronymics. These were originally the bearer’s father’s real name, but by the time the names entered the records in the 15th and…
Romaniote Last Names
Avna’im: Hebrew Afnaim, “truly agreeable.” [link] Possibly Sephardic. Başçı: Transliterated in Hebrew as Bashaytzi or Bashaychi. Turkish, “teacher, scribe.” Beni: Possibly a nickname for Benjamin. Benveneste: Spanish “Benveniste,” indicating marriage into a Sephardic family. Finzi: An Italian Jewish family name dating to at least the 12th century. From the Italian pinchas via the Latin finca.…
Romaniote Jewish Male Names
Where names have both a Hebrew and a Turkish form, the name is listed as Hebrew form [Turkish form]. Many Biblical names had Arabic forms in general use, but I did not list the Arabic form unless it was given in the sources as an alternative to a Romaniot name.…
Romaniote Jewish Female Names
Romaniote Jews were notable for giving Greek names to their children. Due to the shortcomings of my sources, this list overstates the number of Greek names in the Romaniote name pool. In practice, roughly 14% of all Romaniote women bore Greek names. Afedra: Greek female form of the Turkish word…