Hebraization of surnames
This notion, which was part of what drove the Zionist revival of the Hebrew language, was further consolidated after the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.
[3] Sephardic Jews often had hereditary family names (e.g., Cordovero, Abrabanel, Shaltiel, de Leon, Alcalai, Toledano, Lopez) since well before the Spanish expulsion of Jews near the end of the Reconquista, which had begun after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century.
'son of Rabbi Zalman') are, in fact, Hebrew acronyms, despite being commonly perceived as being of non-Jewish origin (in these cases, from German and Russian, respectively).
[4] The process of Hebraization among the Jewish diaspora has continued since Israel's founding in 1948; among the thousands of olim and olot who currently apply for legal name changes in Israel each year, many do so to adopt Hebrew names and thereby assimilate into a shared Jewish national identity, chiefly with Mizrahi Jews.
In 1944, before the founding of the State of Israel, the Zionist leadership and the Jewish National Council proclaimed it the "Year of naturalization and the Hebrew name".
[4] A special committee under the chairmanship of Mordechai Nemzabi, the Jewish Agency advisor on matters of civilian defense, published a booklet which contained guidelines on the creation on new Hebrew surnames.
Ben-Gurion, in an order to the Israel Defense Forces soldiers, wrote, "It is desirable that every commanding officer (from Squadron Commander to Chief of Staff) should change his surname, whether German, English, Slavic, French or foreign in general, to a Hebrew surname, in order to be a role model for his soldiers.
"[4] For a while it was widespread for new conscripts into the Israel Defense Forces with Ashkenazi surnames to Hebraize their names upon entering service.
[8] Among the most significant supporters was Yitzhak Ben Zvi (Shimshelevich), leader of the Labor movement, historian and second president of the State of Israel.
[4] He belonged to the founders of the Ahdut ha-Avodah Party, was active in the Haganah, a member of the Jewish National Council, and signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence.
Ben Zvi wrote: Our surnames are mostly of foreign origin, which cling to exile [...] even names based on Hebrew first names were damaged and distorted from the original [...] by German and English suffixes, like "son" or "sohn" and the Slavic "in", "ovich", "ovsky" and "shvili".
These surnames fill the air and the pages of our newspaper, the posters and announcements in our streets and public squares [...] it is indeed not really clear if the hardship of this inheritance which remained with us as a result of the Middle Ages and subsequent ghettoization should be tolerated...All rabbinic authorities encourage hebraizing first names (VaYikra Rabba 32, and Kor'ei Sh'mo, pp.
Let the memory of the Diaspora therefore be erased so that the crown be returned to ancient times, by wrapping our names in the envelope of our language.
Do not betray our memories by radical action; and the text does not only relate to the famous: the variety in our names is a sign of our colorful history, a two-thousand year-old history, whose traces cannot be wiped out light-handedly.Some people were emotionally attached to their diaspora last name, for reasons such as it having noble yichus (origins), or for a desire to continue to identify with their ethnic group.
[4] The number of those who do is small but significant; about 15% of American and British immigrants to Israel who come on Nefesh B'Nefesh flights Hebraize their names on arrival.
[7] There is also a trend of reverting to ancestral, non-Hebrew names to return to one's roots and preserve traditions unique to each ethnic group.
For examples, names connected with the kohen (priesthood) such as Cohen, Kohn, Kaplan, Sacerdoti, Katz, Azoulai, etc.
Others kept their name for its yichus (meaning that the person descends from something akin to "good stock"), which gave the bearer more reason not to Hebraize it.
