Back Aschkenasi German Ashkenazi French אשכנזי HE Ashkenazi ID Ashkenazi Dutch Ашкенази Russian Ashkenazi (efternamn) Swedish Ашкеназі (значення) Ukrainian
Ashkenazi (Hebrew: אַשְׁכְּנַזִּי) is a surname of Jewish origin. The term Ashkenaz (Hebrew: אַשְׁכְּנַז) refers to the area along the Rhine in Western Europe where diaspora Jews settled and formed communities during the Middle Ages.
The usage of Ashkenazi (lit. of Ashkenaz) as a surname originated as a nickname for Ashkenazi Jews that arrived the Ottoman Empire and North Africa, settling in culturally Sephardic Jewish communities. Due to assimilation of those Jews in the dominant Sephardic culture, today the name is mainly held by Sephardic Jews despite the name suggesting the direct paternal line is ultimately Ashkenazic.[1] It was the fourth most common surname among the Jews of Istanbul, and is common in Israel, where many Sephardic Jews live.[2]
Variant spellings include Ashkenazy, Aschkenasi, Ashkenasi,[3] and Eskenazi.[4][5]
- ^ "Sephardic Names in the Ottoman Empire as Traces of the History of Judeo-Spanish/Ladino".
- ^ "Istanbul: Jewish community records". Tracing the Tribe - The Jewish Genealogy Blog. 2009-12-02. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
- ^ "Ashkenazi". Museum of The Jewish People. Archived from the original on 2020-08-07.
- ^ "Eskenazi Name Meaning & Eskenazi Family History at Ancestry.com®". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
- ^ Hanks, Patrick (2006-01-01), Hanks, Patrick (ed.), "Eskenazi", Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195081374.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-508137-4, retrieved 2023-11-13