[Ancesthntr]

“Could be Jewish, but who knows. I know Irish “Cohens”.”

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That’s funny, because I know a family who’s grandfather was a rabbi named “Cohen” when he got off of the boat...and when he pronounced his name it came out as “Coven” - so the guy wrote down “Quinn.” So you know Irish “Jews” and I know Jewish “Irishmen.” :>)

[Verginius Rufus]

John Kerry's paternal grandfather was a Cohen from what is now the Czech Republic, who changed his name to that of an Irish county. Kerry probably got a lot of votes in Massachusetts from Irish-Americans who thought he was Irish.

A lot of immigrants changed their names when they came to America. I know someone named Norwood who is Jewish--doesn't sound like a Jewish name.

The Slovenian-American writer Louis Adamic tells of a man with a very Polish-sounding name who was trying to get hired as a high school teacher (I think this must have been in the 1930s) but no one would hire him. He changed his name to Sullivan and found a job right away.

[Jewbacca]

Apparently “Cohen” (or, more commonly, “Cohan” is a not uncommon Irish name; nothing to do with Judaism— just some Gaelic word.

FWIW, the most common Jewish surname in the USA was for a long time — wait for it — “Smith” — just like everyone else. In fact, more common, since Jews typically could not own land in Europe and thus had trade surnames — e.g., Sandler, Miller, Cooper, Taylor, etc.