I am always interested in the etymology of surnames. Could you please explain some of the name changes by Jews in Europe. I always assumed that the European surnames were adopted by the Jewish population in Europe, the same way that the rest of the Europeans adopted surnames as a means of identification, either to family lineage, such as Robert’s son, or through career, such as kitchener, miller, butcher or other identifying trait. Is that not so?
European Jewish surnames did not come into popular use until Napoleon required all families to choose surnames. Before that, Jewish names were in the form [Name] son/daughter of [Father’s name] of [City]