Surnames of Jewish People in the Land of Israel from the Sixteenth Century to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century

: This paper outlines a study of surnames used by various Jewish groups in the Land of Israel for Ashkenazic Jews, prior to the First Aliyah (1881), and for Sephardic and Oriental Jews up to the end of the 1930s. For the 16th–18th centuries, the surnames of Jews who lived in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron can be mainly extracted from the rabbinic literature. For the 19th cen‑ tury, by far the richest collection is provided by the materials of the censuses organized by Moses Montefiore (1839–1875). For the turn of the 20th century, data for several additional censuses are available, while for the 1930s, we have access to the voter registration lists of Sephardic and Oriental Jews of Jerusalem, Safed, and Haifa. All these major sources were used in this paper to address the following questions: the use or non‑use of hereditary family names in various Jewish groups, the geographic roots of Jews that composed the Yishuv, as well as the existence of families continuously present in the Land of Israel for many generations.


Introduction
No study of surnames used by Jews who lived in the territory of the Land of Israel before the creation of the State of Israel has been published until now.However, this information allows us to analyze the presence in that territory of Jews deriving from various diaspora centers.It also permits us to see whether the presence of families was continuous or discontinuous and the geographic distribution of communities inside of the Land of Israel at various periods.This information also allows us to follow the naming practices of various Jewish groups.This article addresses all these topics.Section 2 presents a synthesis about the demographic figures collected by other researchers, with a focus on the regions of origin of these Jews and the geography of the Yishuv.Other sections directly address the onomastic questions formulated above in this paragraph using the demographic data of Section 2 to corroborate certain ideas.For Ashkenazic Jews, this article considers only the period before the First Aliyah (1881).For Jews of other origins, the period of consideration is extended up to the creation of the State of Israel (1948).

Demographic Figures
During the second half of the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela provided the following estimates for the number of Jews in various places of the Land of Israel visited by him (from north to south): 50 in Alma,200 in Acre,50 in Tiberias,200 in Caesaria,300 in Ramla,200 in Jerusalem,and 240 in Ashkelon (in which 40 are Karaites) (Adler 1907, pp. 19-29).In 1481, Rabbi Meshullam of Volterra noted the presence of about 250 Jewish families in Jerusalem and 50 in Gaza (Mešullam da Volterra 1989, pp. 75, 70).For Jerusalem, he indicated that the community members originated in Iraq, Aleppo, Gaza, Damascus, Cairo, and some other places.In 1488, Rabbi Obadiah of Bertinoro (Italy) referred to 67 Jewish families in Jerusalem (out of a total of about 4000 families living there), some of which were temporarily converted to Catholicism in the past, 22 Jewish families in Hebron (of which about one half also went through a temporarily conversion), and the presence of Jews in Gaza. 1 During the next decades, some Jewish exiles expelled from Spain and southern Italy eventually settled in the Land of Israel.They were mainly coming from Salonica and settling in cities, while the rural Jewish population of the Land of Israel was composed of local Arabic-speaking (musta'riba) Jews (David 1999a, pp. 4, 16).Rabbi Moses Basola noted in 1521-1522, that is, already after the Ottoman conquest of the area (1517), the presence of only two large Jewish communities, both comprising about 300 households: Jerusalem (of which fifteen were Ashkenazic, all others being Sephardic, Maghrebi, or musta'riba) and Safed (with three synagogues: Sephardic, Maghrebi, and musta'riba) (David 1999b, pp. 61-62, 82).
Turkish tax documents of the 16th century provide the number of Jewish households for various places.Among them, only a few exceed fifty at some moment: Jerusalem (199 households in 1525/26, 224 circa 1538, 324 in 1553/54, 237 in 1562/63), 2 Pekiin (33 in 1525/26, 54 in 1533/34, 45 in 1572/73), Kafr Kanna (west to Tiberias, 50 in 1525/26, 52 in 1533/34, 77 in 1572/73), Gaza (95 in 1525/26 [among which 31 are from the Maghrebi, 7 "Frankish", 3 and 2 Syrian families], 98 in 1538/39, 115 in 1548/1549, 81 in 1556/57, and 73 in 1596/1597), and Nablus (71 in 1538/39 [among which three are from the Maghrebi, five "Frankish," and one from Kurdistan], 36 in 1548/49, and 15 in 1596/97). 4Safed was the largest Jewish center, with 233 households in 1525/26 (among which 131 were musta'riba, 21 Portuguese, 48 "Frankish", and 33 Maghrebi Jews), 719 in 1555/56, 945 in 1567/68, and 976 in 1596/97. 5The following table shows the list of congregations present in Safed all linked to the geographic origins of their members (Cohen and Lewis 1978, p. 161;Lewis 1952, p. 6).Table 1 presents the number of households and, in the parentheses, the number of bachelors.The numerical superiority of Sephardic Jews in Safed is explicitly stated in Responsa by Rabbi Moses Trani (1574) (David 2013, p. 45*).Because of the importance, both demographic and intellectual, of the Sephardic migrants in the cities of the Land of Israel during the 16th century and their continuous contacts with other Ottoman communities, local Arabic-speaking Jews (musta'riba) gradually adopted Judeo-Spanish and other elements of the Sephardic culture (Levy 1994, p. 64;Morag Talmon 1992, p. 471).In the early 1570s, a Provençal Yeshiva sponsored by Joseph Caro was created in Safed.Many members of the Provençal congregation likely migrated to Safed from the Avignon area after the decree expelling local Jews promulgated in April 1569. 6The congregation was still extant in 1637. 7 During the last quarter of the 17th century, when most famous local sages passed away, while others left Safed following a significant deterioration of its economic situation (closely related to the decline of the local textile industry), the size of its Jewish congregation diminished (Emmanuel 1935, pp. 55-57;David 1999a, p. 99;2013, pp. 51*-54*).The Jewish presence in the Land of Israel declined significantly during the 17th century in comparison to the previous century, with Jerusalem being already the main Jewish center of the area during the second half of the century. 8Since at least the second half of the 16th century and the whole 17th century, Jews present in that city were divided in two communities only: Ashkenazim and "Sephardim" (the last one covering all non-Ashkenazic groups). 9 The arrival in 1700 in Jerusalem of hundreds of poor Jews from Eastern and Central Europe led by the Polish Jewish preacher Judah Hasid provoked a large economic and social crisis that ended in 1720 by the burning by creditors of the Ashkenazic court and its synagogue and the dispersion of the entire Ashkenazic community of the city. 10During the 18th century, the Jewish population was mainly concentrated in five cities: (1) Jerusalem: about 1000 persons in 1709 and 5000 in 1770; (2) Safed: some 200 households in 1730, but only 40-50 families in 1765; (3) Hebron: circa 40 households in 1700, 200 persons in 1743, and 300 persons in 1782; (4) Acre: 100 households in 1742; and (5) Tiberias: 12 families in 1726, but over 150 households in 1769 (Barnai 1992, pp. 173-77).
During the 17th-18th centuries, the Portuguese community of Amsterdam collected money to support poor "Portuguese" (that is, ex-Converso) Jewish families prompted to emigrate from the Netherlands.Some of them were presumed to go to the Ottoman Empire.Table 2 presents the number of families concerned: The Land of Israel (and, more precisely, Jerusalem) was their main destination during the first two thirds of the 17th century. 11 During the 19th century, the first censuses of the Jewish population of the Land of Israel organized by Sir Moses Montefiore recorded the number of persons appearing in Table 3.  Table 4 presents the distribution by congregation, with details provided in parentheses for the four Jewish holy cities: Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron (abbreviated as J, S, T, and H, respectively).
One can observe that the number of Ashkenazic Jews exceeded that of Sephardic Jews already in 1866.Between 1881 and 1939, with the influx of Jews (First-Fifth Aliyahs) coming mainly from Eastern Europe, but since 1933 also from Central Europe, the proportion of Ashkenazic Jews increased significantly.At the turn of the 20th century, Yemenite Jews were also migrating to the Land of Israel. Morag Talmon (1992, p. 472) provided the following figures for the size of the Sephardic congregations in Jerusalem: 11,750 in 1890, 16,000 in 1900, 20,000 in 1910, and 13,446 in 1916. According to her (p. 476), in 1918, in the Land of Israel there lived about 11,000 Sephardic, 4400 Yemenite, 33,000 Ashkenazic, and 7600 other Jews (most likely Middle Eastern and Maghrebi ones).

Surnames before the 19th Century
For Jews who lived in the Land of Israel before the 16th century, hereditary surnames were rather exceptional.In the Middle Ages, surnames were not used yet in the area.No source listing the names of local Arabic-speaking (musta'riba) Jews is available.However, there is little chance that these Jews used hereditary family names as no such tradition was established for non-Jews of the same area, while for Middle Eastern Jews from neighboring Syria, surnames started to be used during the last third of the 18th century only.A few Ashkenazic scholars present in the Land of Israel at the turn of the 16th century tended not to have surnames either.For these reasons, the earliest sources showing surnames used in the Land of Israel date from the 16th century and correspond to recent non-Ashkenazic migrants to that area. 13 Rabbinical writings refer to more than sixty surnames of Jews, mainly rabbis, who lived in Safed during the 16th century. 14The largest group encompasses scholars bearing typical Sephardic surnames such as Abulafia, Albotene, Alcabes ., *Alshekh ‫,)אלשיך(‬ Ben Ezra, Benveniste, Besudo, *Calay ‫,)קלעי(‬ Caro, Cordovero, Curiel, Dato, Falcon, Galante, Guedelha, de Leiria, Najara, Oliveira, de la Reina, Sagues, S .ahalon, Sarug, Surujon, and de Vidas.Many of them were Jewish exiles from the Iberian Peninsula (who originally settled in southeastern Europe) or their descendants.Some others were "Portuguese" Jews who went through a period of conversion to Christianity.This origin is explicitly stated in the available documents for bearers of the surnames Oliveira, Guedelha, H . azan, and *Pudniro(?)‫,)פודנירו(‬ and is particularly plausible for Cordovero, de Leiria, de la Reina, and Sagues. 15The group of Jews from various regions of Italy (including Sicily) was rather large, for example, Colon, Gallico, Luzzato, Miscian, Tivoli, Trabut, and Vital.The names of Maghrebi scholars-such as Azulay, Bensusan, Ben Tebul, Halewa, and Ohana-represent the third group.Jews from other areas-such as Maurogonato from Crete and Luria (of Ashkenazic paternal ancestry)-were marginal.Iscandari derived from the Arabic name of Alexandria could be a rare representative of musta'riba Jews.Moses Galante, the appointed head of the newly created Provençal Yeshiva in Safed (the early 1570s), originated from Rome.Yet, as indicated in the previous section, several other members of the Provençal congregation are likely to have migrated to Safed from the Avignon area after the expulsion of local Jews (1569).One of them appears in a letter compiled in Safed in 1575 as Israel *Yarh .i ‫.)ירחי(‬The odds are high that he was the same individual as Ysrael de Lunel listed among the Jews embarking a ship in Marseille to go to the Levant in 1569. 16The list of signatories of a letter sent in 1637 by the same congregation includes the following names: Galante, Cohen, S .arfati, *Carmi ‫,)כרמי(‬ *Caspi ‫,)כספי(‬ *Baze ‫,)באזלה(‬ and *de Lattes ‫לאטאש(‬ ‫)די‬ (Schwarzfuchs 1991, p. 159).For the last three surnames, we find their equivalents in the same ship embarking list from Marseille. 17Carmi represents a Hebraicized form of Cremieu, a name commonly present in the Avignon area since at least the first third of the 16th century. 18S .arfati was originally a Hebrew nickname for migrants from northern France.
In 16th-century Jerusalem, we find representatives of the same groups but in smaller numbers in comparison to Safed.Sephardic names-Abzaradiel, Alascar, Albotene, Almosnino, Attia, Ben Habib, Calay, Castro, Marhaim, Masud, Nahmias, Pizanti, de Vidas, and Zacutodominate. 19Only the Ashkenazic surname Bak represents Italy.Bensusan and Cohen Solal came from the Maghreb.Ankari ‫)ענקרי(‬ is also likely to be of Maghrebi origin.Ben Sayah ‫צייאח(‬ ‫,)בן‬ Cohen *Shabi ‫,)שבי(‬ and Shekhemi ‫)שכמי(‬ could be musta'riba Jews. During the 17th century, certain "Portuguese" Jews settled in Jerusalem.Jacob Tirado (died in 1612), the founder of the Sephardic community of Amsterdam, was one of them.As discussed in the previous section, "Portuguese" communities of Amsterdam and, to a lesser extent, Livorno played an important role in the Jewish life, both economic and (since the end of the 17th century) spiritual life of the Land of Israel.In the lists of families of Jerusalem, Safed, and Hebron that received financial support from Amsterdam during the first third of the 18th century, we find numerous migrants bearing surnames which were typical of "Portuguese" congregations, such as Abarbanel Soza, Aboab Osorio, Almeyda, Bueno Mesquita, Corea, Crespo, da Cuña, Fernandes Medina, Gabay Henriques, Gomez Patto, Lopes Nunes, Lopes Pereira, de Morales, de Oliveyra, and da Silva.Only in a few exceptional cases do the names of the receivers of support betray non-"Portuguese" Jews: Abadi (typical for Syrian Jews), Satrit, and Sermati (both commonly found in the Maghreb in the forms of Chetrit and Zermati, respectively). 20 For the 18th century, we know the surnames of about 150 other Jews who lived in Jerusalem. 21Their origins are rather heterogenous: bearers of Ashkenazic surnames Rokeach, Luzzatto (both from Amsterdam, but originally, from Poland and Italy, respectively), Jaffe, Horowitz (from Belorussia), Katzenellenbogen, Mintz (from Hungary), and Rappaport (from Izmir); Treves (also from Izmir though the surname originated in France and was common in Italy); Jews from Italy bearing the surnames Gallico, Rovigo, Segre, and Sanguinetti; bearers of surnames that originated in Italy but became gradually widespread in the Ottoman Empire, such as de Botton (from Istanbul), Salmona, Trinki, and Finci; Moroccan migrants Ayash, Ben Attar, Maymaran, and Toledano; Abadi and Diwan (from Aleppo); Mizrahi (a name typical for Middle Eastern Jews); Sharabi from Yemen; descendants of "Portuguese" Jews Carregal, de Curiel, Rosanes (from Istanbul), Munion, Musafia, Serano, Valero, and de Velasco; and bearers of names typical for Sephardic exiles such as Abulafia (from Izmir), Alcalay, Alhadef (from Rhodes), Altaras, Amarillo (from Trikala), Asael, Aseo, Ben Forado, Ben Sanchi, Benveniste, Berab, Caldero, Camondo, Covo, Danon, de Mayo (from Salonica), Pardo (from Venice), Pizanti (from Istanbul), and Samanon (from Salonica).For both Algazi and H . azan, we know from historical sources that their bearers came to Jerusalem from Izmir.In tombstone inscriptions from the 1790s we can see references to Jews from Georgia: Anukashvili and Moshiashvili, both based on Hebrew male given names (Hanuka and Moshe, respectively) and ending in the Georgian patronymic suffix -shvili originated from Rome.Yet, as indicated in the previous section, several the Provençal congregation are likely to have migrated to Safed from after the expulsion of local Jews (1569).One of them appears in a letter c in 1575 as Israel *Yarḥi ‫.)ירחי(‬The odds are high that he was the same ind de Lunel listed among the Jews embarking a ship in Marseille to go to the The list of signatories of a letter sent in 1637 by the same congregation lowing names: Galante, Cohen, Ṣarfati, *Carmi ‫,)כרמי(‬ *Caspi ‫,)כספי(‬ *Baz Lattes ( ‫די‬ ‫לאטאש‬ ) (Schwarzfuchs 1991, p. 159).For the last three surnam equivalents in the same ship embarking list from Marseille. 17Carmi rep cized form of Cremieu, a name commonly present in the Avignon area first third of the 16th century. 18Ṣarfati was originally a Hebrew nickn from northern France.
In 16th-century Jerusalem, we find representatives of the same grou numbers in comparison to Safed.Sephardic names-Abzaradiel, Alasc mosnino, Attia, Ben Habib, Calay, Castro, Marhaim, Masud, Nahmias, and Zacuto-dominate. 19Only the Ashkenazic surname Bak represent and Cohen Solal came from the Maghreb.Ankari ‫)ענקרי(‬ is also likely t origin.Ben Sayah ( ‫צייאח‬ ‫,)בן‬ Cohen *Shabi ( ‫,)שבי‬ and Shekhemi ‫)שכמי(‬ co Jews. During the 17th century, certain "Portuguese" Jews settled in Jerusa (died in 1612), the founder of the Sephardic community of Amsterdam, As discussed in the previous section, "Portuguese" communities of Am lesser extent, Livorno played an important role in the Jewish life, both eco the end of the 17th century) spiritual life of the Land of Israel.In the l Jerusalem, Safed, and Hebron that received financial support from Amst first third of the 18th century, we find numerous migrants bearing surn typical of "Portuguese" congregations, such as Abarbanel Soza, Aboab O Bueno Mesquita, Corea, Crespo, da Cuña, Fernandes Medina, Gabay H Patto, Lopes Nunes, Lopes Pereira, de Morales, de Oliveyra, and da Sil exceptional cases do the names of the receivers of support betray non-"P Abadi (typical for Syrian Jews), Satrit, and Sermati (both commonly foun in the forms of Chetrit and Zermati, respectively). 20 For the 18th century, we know the surnames of about 150 other J Jerusalem. 21Their origins are rather heterogenous: bearers of Ashk Rokeach, Luzzatto (both from Amsterdam, but originally, from Poland tively), Jaffe, Horowitz (from Belorussia), Katzenellenbogen, Mintz (fro Rappaport (from Izmir); Treves (also from Izmir though the surname ori and was common in Italy); Jews from Italy bearing the surnames Gallic and Sanguinetti; bearers of surnames that originated in Italy but became spread in the Ottoman Empire, such as de Botton (from Istanbul), Salm Finci; Moroccan migrants Ayash, Ben Attar, Maymaran, and Toledano; A (from Aleppo); Mizrahi (a name typical for Middle Eastern Jews); Shar descendants of "Portuguese" Jews Carregal, de Curiel, Rosanes (from Is Musafia, Serano, Valero, and de Velasco; and bearers of names typical fo such as Abulafia (from Izmir), Alcalay, Alhadef (from Rhodes), Altara Trikala), Asael, Aseo, Ben Forado, Ben Sanchi, Benveniste, Berab, Ca Covo, Danon, de Mayo (from Salonica), Pardo (from Venice), Pizanti (fr Samanon (from Salonica).For both Algazi and Ḥazan, we know from that their bearers came to Jerusalem from Izmir.In tombstone inscriptio we can see references to Jews from Georgia: Anukashvili and Moshiashv Hebrew male given names (Hanuka and Moshe, respectively) and endin patronymic suffix -shvili (შვილი), meaning 'child of.' meaning 'child of'.

Montefiore Censuses
The earliest representative lists of Jews living in the Land of Israel date from the 19th century only.They correspond to the Montefiore censuses (1839-1875).From this table, one can observe that during the period in question, Ashkenazic Jews were mainly ignoring the official surnames they received at the turn of the 19th century after the promulgation of laws forcing them to adopt hereditary family names.They followed the traditional Jewish naming pattern appearing in the census names with their given names and patronymics only.Among those who used other types of names, one can distinguish several groups.The first group encompasses western Ashkenazim.In 1849, all 48 members of the German congregation had surnames.In 1866, only 6 out of 65 members of the Dutch-German congregation are listed without surnames, while in 1875, all 87 members of the same congregation appear with surnames.Among the examples are Fribourg from Lorraine, Goldschmid and Hess from Amsterdam, Halberstadt, Lilienthal, Rosenthal, Rumpf, and Schnattich from various German cities, Hahn from Moravia, *Oplatke ‫,)אפלאטקי(‬ and Steinberg from Bohemia.The second group includes names drawn from toponyms from Eastern Europe.Some of them end in the Yiddish suffix -er designating inhabitants of various places: Baltineshter, Benderer, Sener, Shidlover, Mez(e)richer, and Zagrer.Others were formed without adding any suffix: Amdur, Aniksht, Delatyn, Kosev, Mez(e)rich, Salant, Sniatyn, Telenesht, Tysmenitz, and Zablotow.In principle, any of these names could be either a hereditary surname or a personal nickname based on the name of the place from which the bearer came to the Land of Israel.The last possibility is surely valid in cases when the last name of the person is based on his place of origin that is also explicitly indicated in the census data, for example: Barlad from the city of Bîrlad (Romania), Tomaszower from Tomaszów (Poland), Dokshits from Dokshitsy (Belorussia), Molyev from the city of Mogilev (whose Yiddish name is Molev), Chernobyler from Chernobyl (Ukraine), *Kolmier ‫)קאלמיער(‬ and *Ibertyn ‫)איברטין(‬ from the Galician towns of Kołomyja and Obertyn, respectively, and *Veblov ‫)וועבלוו(‬ from the Lithuanian city of Virbalis, called Verbelove in Yiddish.Two examples are also known for western Ashkenazim: Bamberger from Bamberg and Prag from Prague.The third, the largest, group covers about 450 surnames of Jews from Eastern Europe.Some of these names correspond to famous rabbinical dynasties: Auerbach, Epstein, Frenkel, Ginzburg, Heilprin, Heller, Horowitz, Landau, Lurie, Margulis, Mintz, and Yoffe.However, the large majority of names are those adopted at the turn of the 19th century only, for example: Bergman, Berlin(er), Binder, Blattner, Blumenfeld, Drapkin, Engel, Eisenberg, Eisenstein, Eisler, Falk, Feinstein, Finkelstein, Fradkin, Frumkin, and Glikin.
Surnames were rather unusual for the congregations formed in Jerusalem by Jewish migrants from Georgia.In the census data of 1875, 111 of 189 members of the Georgian congregation of Jerusalem have only a given name and patronymics.For others, we can discern only a few different names, including *Batia, *Binia, *Eligula, *Kundia, *Mardakhia, *Mizrahi *Papia, *Zutia, *Krikhel, 23 *Levi, *Pichkhadze, *Ajami ‫,)אמי'עג(‬ *Mizrahi, and *Gurji.The last three names are not real surnames; they represent nicknames meaning 'Persian', 'Oriental', and 'Georgian', respectively, that are unlikely to be inherited.None of them are known in Georgia.*Mizrahi and *Gurji are by far the most common last names in the Georgian congregation of Jerusalem, with twenty-six and twelve bearers, respectively. The situation is totally different for Maghrebi Jews.For them, the numbers of persons listed without surnames are: 15 (thirteen widows and two orphans) of 291 persons in 1849, just 1 man of 233 persons in 1855, and none in 1866.In other words, during the 19th century for all Jews of Maghrebi origin, the use of hereditary family names was already a strongly established tradition.By far, the largest group came from the western Maghreb, that is, Morocco and the Oran area of Algeria. 24Among them we find, for example, bearers of such surnames as Abecassis, Abergel, Abbu, Abutbul, Abujdid, Aflalo, Amsallem, Asayagh, Asulin, Azulay, Ben Harosh, Benhamu, Benkiki, Bohbot, Buzaglo, Darmon, Elankri, Elkaim, Elmaleh, Hadida, Ibghi, Malka, Moyal, Ohana, Ohayon, Sananes, Shetrit, Waknin, and Yayon.The number of migrants from the eastern Maghreb (the Constantine area of Algeria, Tunisia, and Tripoli) is significantly smaller.Among the examples are Alush, Betito, Bismut, Hajaj, Jarmon, Serusi, Shemama, and Tayeb.The proportion of Jews born in the Maghreb was particularly high in Safed and Tiberias.In Safed, we find about 450 families with surnames with the birthplaces of the family heads known that are distributed in the following way: about 230 Maghrebi, about 160 Ashkenazic, about 30 Syrian, and a similar number of Sephardic from various parts of the Ottoman Empire.For almost 300 migrant families with surnames in Tiberias, the distribution is as follows: more than 180 Maghrebi Jews, about 50 Syrians, about 25 of Ashkenazim, and a similar number of various Ottoman Sephardim.In Jerusalem, their presence was important as well.For almost 1500 migrant families with surnames, the distribution is as follows: about 300 Maghrebi Jews, a similar number of Ashkenazim, about 60 Syrians, but almost 800 various Ottoman Sephardim.Multiple surnames brought to the Land of Israel from the Maghreb are of ultimate Iberian origin, for examples: Akrish, Bar Sheshet, Biton, Carsenti, Corcos, Elnekave, Shulal, and Toledano.
Only for a very few surnames can we conjecture their inception in the Land of Israel since we do not find any reference to them in other countries: *Bendoli ‫,בינדולי(‬ ‫דולי‬ ‫,)בן‬ *Eshh .adi ‫,אשחאדי(‬ ‫,)אישחאדי‬ and *Shah .rur ‫.)שחרור(‬ Several reasons can be proposed to explain why their number is so small.As discussed above, during centuries that preceded the Montefiore censuses, the Jewish population of the Land of Israel was dramatically unstable, with major communities that were temporarily ceasing to exist (as it was the case for those of Safed and Tiberias in the 17th century) and a regular influx of new migrants and outflow of Jewish inhabitants to other areas.Non-Ashkenazic migrants were usually coming already with fixed surnames.Ashkenazic migrants from Eastern Europe either had no surnames, or, at least, they were ignoring surnames assigned to them following laws promulgated by Christian authorities at the turn of the 19th century.Before the 20th century, in the Land of Israel nothing was prompting Ashkenazic settlers to acquire new surnames.Surnames were not a part of their traditional naming patterns, while Middle Eastern non-Jews, including Arabs and Turks, were not using surnames either.No official regulation forced any inhabitant of the area in question to acquire a fixed family name.Similar factors were valid for local musta'riba Jews.On the one hand, we can conjecture that they represented the majority among the members of Sephardic congregations listed without surnames.On the other hand, we have no evidence that the same musta'riba families were living in the Land of Israel without interruption.At some periods, they were able to migrate to the territories of modern Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, or Iraq merging with local Arabic-speaking Jews.
Certain Jews born in neighboring provinces of the Middle East are listed in the censuses with their last name drawn from the Arabic name of their native city or area by the addition of the Arabic demonymic suffix -(âw)i or -li (of Turkish origin): Antebi from Anteb (today, Gaziantep, Turkey), (al-)Basrawi from Basra (Iraq), (al-)H .alabi from Aleppo, *Dimashki ‫)דמשקי(‬ from Damascus, Kurdi from Iraqi Kurdistan, and Urfali from Urfa (today, Şanlıurfa, Turkey).In such cases, the last name more likely represents a personal nickname rather than a family name.
No continuity can be observed for Ashkenazic families.As discussed in the first section of this article, the presence of Ashkenazim was irregular before the 19th century.Moreover, even during the 19th century, surnames were marginal for this group.As a result, examples of the same surname found in sources dating from different centuries are exceptional and limited to a very few surnames used by rabbinical dynasties.Spiro (or Spira, Shapiro, and Shapira, ‫שפירא‬ in Hebrew sources) is one of them.One bearer of this name was an emissary from Jerusalem in 1655.Bearers appearing in the Montefiore censuses were born in various provinces of the Russian Empire or Austrian Galicia.
For dozens of non-Ashkenazic surnames appearing in the Montefiore census data, we find references, usually in Jerusalem or Safed, dating from the 16th to 18th centuries.However, almost without exception, these surnames have bearers referred to in the 19th century as born outside of the Land of Israel, often in the same countries from which migrants with the same names came during the previous centuries.If we just take names starting with A-, then such a situation is valid for Aboab, Alazraki, Alfandari, Algranati, Alkalay, Almosnino, Altaras, Amar, Amarillo, Angel, Arditi, Arie, Ariel, Asael, Aseo, and Atias (all with bearers born in the territories of modern Turkey, Greece, and/or Bulgaria), Abadi from Syria, Abdala from Iraq, Abutbul, Ayash, and Azulay (born in Morocco).For these names, we have direct evidence about different branches of their bearers coming to the Land of Israel at different periods. 27 The name Azulay can be taken to illustrate this phenomenon in more detail.During the 1580s, Mesod Azulay, a migrant from the Maghreb, was one of the rabbis living in Safed.At the end of the same century, Abraham ben Mordecai Azulay, a Moroccan rabbi, born in Fez, migrated to Hebron, where he died in 1643.Yehuda Zerah .ia ben Moses Azulay, another Moroccan rabbi, born in Marrakesh, moved to Jerusalem in 1812.The Montefiore census data show the presence of multiple other families whose heads migrated from the western Maghreb between 1830 and 1863; the data show at least two different from Marrakesh, and at least four different from each of the following cities: Meknes, Oran, and Tetouan.
Data that would show a continuous presence in the Land of Israel of generations of the same family are rarely available.The branch descending from Abraham ben Mordecai Azulay represents one of the exceptions.From texts written by his scions, we know that his famous great-great-grandson, Haim Joseph David ben Isaac Azulay (1724-1806), was born in Jerusalem, the city where both his father and grandfather lived too.During the last decades of his life, he dwelled in the Maghreb and Italy, died in Livorno, but at least some of his descendants continued living in the Land of Israel.For example, his grandson Nissim Zerah .ia ben Abraham Azulay was killed in Safed during the earthquake of 1837 (Gaon 1937, pp. 27-36).Consequently, for this branch, seven generations lived in the Land of Israel between the turn of the 17th century and the 1830s.
The case of Abulafia is quite similar.On the one hand, we have direct evidence about the arrival in the Land of Israel at various periods of members of different branches of this Sephardic family.Jacob ben Haim Abulafia was a rabbi in Safed during the second half of the 16th century before moving to Tiberias at the end of the century.In the Montefiore census data, we find references to several families whose heads moved to Jerusalem from the territories of modern western Turkey and northern Greece.During the first third of the 20th century, David ben Eliahu Abulafia, born in Gelibolu (Turkey), migrated to Jerusalem.On the other hand, rabbinic sources kept traces of several generations of descendants of Jacob ben Haim Abulafia who lived in Tiberias, Hebron, and Jerusalem.The rabbinical authority Haim ben Jacob (circa 1660-1744) was apparently his great-grandson.After being a rabbi of Smyrna, he returned to the Land of Israel and played an active part in the restoration of the Jewish community of Tiberias.Haim Nissim Abulafia (circa 1800-1861), the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, was a direct descendant of Haim ben Jacob.Isaac, the son of Haim Nissim, died in 1910 in Tiberias (Gaon 1937, pp. 4-15;Barnai 1992, p. 149).

End of the 19th Century and the First Half of the 20th Century
With the mass Aliyah of Jews from Eastern Europe that started during the 1880s, the corpus of surnames used by Jews in the Land of Israel changed dramatically.These newcomers brought surnames mainly based on German, Yiddish, Slavic languages, and Hebrew that were acquired at the turn of the 19th century in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Poland, or the Habsburg Empire (primarily in Galicia).During the 1930s, the mass arrival of German Jews in the Mandate Palestine provided another layer.Consideration of all these Ashkenazic names is beyond the scope of this study.
For non-Ashkenazic Jews, the general characteristics of their corpus of surnames can be analyzed using information contained in the censuses of Jerusalem conducted for the Turkish government.The census of 1890 recorded the names of several thousand Jewish males belonging to various Jewish congregations of the city, including the Ashkenazic ones. 28About 2400 of the persons listed appear with surnames.Among 190 non-Ashkenazic Jews whose native place is known, 122 were born in Yemen, 17 in Bulgaria, 15 in the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Damascus, 13 in the territory of modern Greece (among them, 10 in the Thessalian cities of Larissa and Trikala), and 10 in Monastir (now Bitola, North Macedonia). 29The presence of numerous Yemenite Jews is one of the main idiosyncrasies of this census: migrants from Yemen are exceptional in earlier sources for the Land of Israel.Names revealing the Yemeni provenance appear also for dozens of persons whose place of birth is not indicated.In total, the census refers to about 70 different Yemenite surnames.Many of them are based on Yemenite toponyms: Arusi, Baydani, Busani, Dahari, Dahbani, Damari, Damti, H . ajbi, H . amdi, H . azi, Rah .abi, Rosabi, Sayani, Sharabi, Sharafi, and Ukashi.Since for almost all of them we also find references in Yemen, 30 these surnames in Jerusalem could be migrated ready-made forms.However, we cannot formally exclude a possibility that some of the above names were not hereditary in Yemen yet, being just personal nicknames revealing the places of origin of their bearers.For another large group, we can be almost sure that they were already hereditary in Yemen: Asbat ., Dah .bash, Gartah, H . ibshush, Jizfan, Magilah, Qalazan, S .arum, and S .efirah.Several names are based on occupations: H . addad 'ironsmith', Naddaf 'cotton carder', and Tabib 'physician'.At least, Naddaf, known as a Yemenite surname in multiple other documents, was not formed in Jerusalem based on the profession of the migrant; the name was brought to the Land of Israel as a ready-made surname.For last names coinciding with male given names used in Yemen, the situation is the most ambiguous, for example: Efraim, Giyat, H . asan, Jemal, Mah .bub, and Salih . .In theory, any of them could be a surname, or the second given name of the person listed in the census, or the given name of his father.A similar difficulty exists for the name Yamani, meaning '(one) from Yemen', in Arabic.On the one hand, it was already used in Yemen as both a family name and a male given name.It could come to Jerusalem as a ready-made surname, or be a given name of the father, or a nickname applied already in the Land of Israel for a person coming from Yemen.
The population registration made in 1910 was led by the Council of the Sephardi and Oriental Communities of Jerusalem.It covered 2204 non-Ashkenazic families listing, in Hebrew, their surnames, given names of family heads along with their places and years of birth, as well as occupations.In total, 119 persons are listed without family names.For 163 of the remaining 2085 persons, their birthplace is not indicated.About two thirds were born in the Land of Israel (almost all in Jerusalem).Among 120 persons coming from the territory of modern Greece, more than one half (63) were born in the city of Larissa.In total, 29 originated from Salonica, 11 from Trikala, and 10 from Ioannina (of which 4 are listed without surnames).Groups of persons born in other areas encompassed 77 in Monastir (of which 13 are without surnames), 52 in Bulgaria (including 30 from Sofia, of which 6 are without surnames, and 7 from Plovdiv, of which 3 are without surnames), 46 in Iraq (among them 30 are from Baghdad, of which 6 have no surnames, 9 from Mosul, of which 5 are without surnames), 43 in Yemen (more than one half of them are from Sanaa), 32 in the territory of modern Turkey (among them, 10 are from Istanbul, 6 from Aydin, 5 from Izmir, and 4 from Urfa; all four of them bearers of the last name Urfali that, for them, likely represents a toponymic nickname rather than a hereditary surname), 31 in Syria (26 from Aleppo and 5 from Damascus), and 9 in Egypt. 31 In the two censuses in question, we find references to Jews from the Caucasus and Central Asia.The largest group was from Georgia.In 1890, we find not only several names known from the Montefiore census of 1875 (Batia, Eligula, Gurji), but also Ajiashvili, Benia and Beniashvili, Davarashvili, Janashvili, Jinjikhashvili, Nanikashvili, and Shabtoshvili.At the turn of the 20th century, we also find in various documents from Jerusalem references to Khakhiashvili, Khikhinashili, and Topchiashvili.Sherbet ben Nisim Anisimov, a rabbi from Dagestan, came to Jerusalem already in 1865.His last name represents a Russified form based on the given name of his father, Nisim.Jews from Bukhara regularly appear in the Land of Israel (almost exclusively in Jerusalem), starting with the end of the 19th century.To this group most likely belong Isakharoff and Kashayoff, appearing in the census of 1890.For Aminoff, Musayoff, Pinhasoff, Shalomayoff, and Sufiyoff, their Bukharan origin is indicated explicitly in sources of the last decade of the 19th century.The ending -off in these surnames represents a Germanized spelling of the Russian possessive suffix -ev (Cyrillic eв, for forms ending in -yoff ) or -ov (Cyrillic oв, for others).For both Mountain Jews from Dagestan and Bukharan Jews, their surnames were assigned only after the corresponding areas were annexed by the Russian Empire.Most often, as for Georgian Jews, their surnames are based on male given names.
Sources from the last twenty years that preceded the creation of the state of Israel allow us to observe the composition of non-Ashkenazic communities of the Land of Israel and the surnames of new non-Ashkenazic migrants.
The list of voters for the Sephardic congregation of Jerusalem (1939) covers more than 1.100 persons (Tagger and Kerem 2006, pp. 218-27).For 615 of them, their surnames allow us to identify the geographic origin of ancestors: Middle Eastern names cover more than 40 percent, Sephardic names about 40 percent, Maghrebi names about 7 percent, and surnames from Italy (including Sicily) about 4 percent.The list of voters for the Sephardic congregation of Safed (1934) covers 139 persons (Tagger and Kerem 2006, p. 238).In that list, bearers of surnames originally brought from the Maghreb continue to represent the largest category (almost 50 clearly bear them), though their dominance is not as distinct as it was in the Montefiore censuses.More than 30 persons bear names typical of Middle Eastern Jews, but two thirds of them are covered by a single name, Mizrahi.More than 50 persons have names that do not reveal the geographic origin of their ancestors: Cohen, Levi, and several names coinciding with male given names (Asher, Nahum, Nissan, Peres, Ruben).Surnames typical of Sephardic Jews in the narrow sense-that is, revealing ancestors that were either Jewish exiles from Iberia or the "Portuguese" Jews-are a small minority.The assignment to that category is doubtless for Amarillo and Pinto that were common in various provinces of the Ottoman Empire.About 150 different surnames appear in the voter list for the Sephardic community of Haifa compiled in 1939 (Tagger and Kerem 2006, pp. 212-13).They are distributed almost evenly between three groups: Maghrebi, Middle Eastern, and Sephardic.
Table 6 compares names present in the Sephardic voter lists of Jerusalem, Safed, and Haifa to the data of the Montefiore censuses for non-Ashkenazic communities for the same three cities.This information allows us to evaluate the stability of local communities.We can observe that, on the one hand, in both Jerusalem and Haifa, about one third of surnames used in the mid-19th century were still present in the same cities during the 1930s.In Safed, this percentage is significantly smaller.In theory, in all places, these figures may be relatively small not only because of families that left them, but also since voter lists could be less representative than the censuses.On the other hand, in both Jerusalem and Safed, about two thirds of surnames known in 1939 were already known in the same cities in the mid-19th century.In Haifa, this percentage is much smaller.In other words, Haifa received the largest number of new settlers and Safed lost the largest portion of settlers already present.These indicators can be explained by the economic development of Haifa during the first decades of the 20th century and apparently the decline in the importance of Safed.

Conclusions
In this article, it was shown that the presence of various Jewish families in the Land of Israel was mainly discontinuous.This rule is not absolute; exceptions to it do exist.Various Jewish groups that constituted the Yishuv during the 19th century did not follow the same naming practices.Ottoman Jewish migrants with the Sephardic ancestry, those from the Maghreb, and Ashkenazim from Western Europe, regularly used surnames.The same is true for Syrian Jews, though their sample is too small to make statistical conclusions.The situation is quite different for Ashkenazim from Eastern Europe and Georgian Jews; they mainly appear without surnames, while in that period all Jews of the Russian and Habsburg Empire already had official surnames.This fact shows that these surnames were marginal for the consciousness of the Jews in question, being not an integral part of their culture yet.It also appears that the inception of a very few surnames took place in the Land of Israel.The members of the Yishuv using surnames mainly brought these names as ready-made forms from the areas from which they moved to the Land of Israel.

3
The Ottoman Turkish documents use the word *ifranjiye having the same root as the words "Frank(ish)" and "France," and used by Muslims since at least the Fourth Crusade (1204) to designate Christians from Western Europe.David (1999a, p. 109) suggested that "Frankish" Jews present in the Land of Israel originated from Provence from which Jews expelled at the turn of the 16th century.The information in our possession does not preclude, however, the possibility of other geographic sources from Western Europe: Italy and/or Spain.4 Cohen and Lewis (1978, pp. 94, 111, 128, 149), David (1999a, pp. 26-33).Our list covers neither Hebron (where no more than 20 households was recorded), nor Tiberias (where during the 1560s and 1570s there was an unsuccessful attempt by Don Joseph Nasi and Dona Gracia Mendes to establish a major Jewish settlement).5 Cohen and Lewis (1978, p. 161), Epstein (1980, p. 260).Two Christian pilgrims who visited Safed in 1552 and 1565 noted the presence in the city of numerous Jews from Portugal who formerly were Christians.These "Portuguese" Jews founded in 16th-century Safed a Brotherhood of Repentant (David 1987, pp. 70, 75).In the Hebrew letters sent by its leaders in 1637, the congregation is not called "Provençal" or "Provence," but "France" ‫)פרנסייא (‬ (Schwarzfuchs 1991, pp. 158, 159). 8 In Safed, the Jewish community ceased to exist altogether in 1655, but about three years later it was renewed (David 2013, p. 54*).After the destruction of the city of Tiberias in 1660, its local Jewish community was renewed in 1740 only.Communities of Hebron and several villages in Galilee were significantly smaller than that of Jerusalem (Barnai 1992, pp. 54, 74, 109).9 (Rozen 1985, pp. 102-7;David 2013, pp. 52*-53*).In 1625, the general administration was still in the hands of Sephardim: both community officers (parnasim) were Sephardim.Yet, their cultural dominance was no more valid during the 17th century (David 2013, p. 53*).10 Barnai (1992, pp. 110-14).At the beginning of the 18th century, only a few hundred Ashkenazic Jews were living in all of the Land of Israel, mainly in Jerusalem.A letter of 1735 refers to seventy Ashkenazim present in the city (Barnai 1992, pp. 161-62).
12 All information about these censuses present in this article is based on an Excel file listing all persons counted that was kindly provided to me by the Montefiore Endowment association.

13
Meshullam of Volterra provides the following list of notable Jews of Jerusalem in 1481: Joseph da Montagna(na) Ashkenazi, Jacob, Moses, Amram Zedekiah, Obadiah Samuel, Mordecai *H .alpatan, Jacob Joseph ben Obadiah Abraham, Nathan Samuel ben Joseph, Obadiah ben Israel, Shalom Ashkenazi, Nathan, Moses, Samuel, H . alifa, *Sevilliano, Nissim.We can observe that in this list, two community leaders have the nickname Ashkenazi (the first of them apparently came from the town of Montagnana in northern Italy, compare the entry Montagnana in Beider 2019), another notable had a nickname indicating his provenance from Seville, and one hapax legomenon (*H .alpatan).All other persons are called by given names and, sometimes, patronymics.The same Jewish traveler also refers to two rabbis in Gaza: Moses ben Judah and Meir, both with the nickname Sefardi (Mešullam da Volterra 1989, pp. 70, 82-83).Moses Basola notes the presence in Jerusalem in 1521 of Rabbi Israel, the head of the Ashkenazic yeshiva, Rabbi Peres ., a newcomer from Germany, and Isaac, the judge of the musta'riba congregation (David 1999b, p. 83).Note that all of them are called by their given names only. 14 The story about the presence of a Spanish Kabbalist Joseph de la Reina in Safed in the 1470s is doubtful.The earliest exposal of the legend about his death-said to be provoked by his attempt to advance the arrival of the messiah by entering in a direct contact with the King and the Queen of the Demons-are from the 16th century when the first Sephardic congregation has been established in the city.De la Reina sounds as a typical name of "Portuguese" Jews: it is used by Spanish Catholics, while no reference to Jewish bearers is known in the Iberian Peninsula before the 1490s.15 David (1987) considers that members of the Portuguese congregation present in Safed during the 16th century were mainly (or exclusively) ex-Conversos.His global idea sounds attractive.Most Jews present in Portugal between 1492 and 1497 were recent exiles from Spain.For this reason, for those who succeeded to escape without being converted from Portugal in 1497, it would be illogical to become culturally associated in their destination country to Portugal, the country where they lived for five years only.Yet, the assertion by David (1987, p. 76) that surnames based on Portuguese toponyms reveal ex-Conversos appears inadequate.Indeed, in the detailed lists of Jews who lived in Portugal before 1492 (Tavares 1984), we find, without surprise, numerous surnames of this kind including, among others, de Leiria and Sages.The same lists also refer to Albotene.Consequently, bearers of these and other names present in Safed could, in principle, be culturally associated with Portugal without being going through the stage of formal conversion to Catholicism.
The Hebraicized form is known in Savoy and Piedmont since the end of the 15th century (see the entry CREMIEU in Beider 2019).According to David (1999a, p. 65), the Sephardic component becomes dominant in Jerusalem only during the period between 1520 and 1570, while at the beginning of the 16th century they still represent a minority.To back this opinion, he states that among twenty signatories of a rabbinic regulation compiled in 1509, only four-five have identifiable Sephardic names, others are Ashkenazic, musta'riba, or Maghrebi.The consideration of the list in question (published in Ankawa 1869-1871, 2:23a) corroborates the idea by David.(A)bzaradiel, Albotene, and Bensusan are doubtless Sephardic names.One rabbi has the nickname ha-Sefardi.Two other rabbis have the nickname Ashkenazi, and Isaac Zelikman is obviously Ashkenazic too.One rabbi is from Crete ‫.)מקריט(‬ Samuel Masud ‫)מסעוד(‬ is a local Jew, as is, most likely, Jehiel *Atan ‫.)עטאן(‬The origin is unclear for Nathan *Shato ‫,)שתו(‬ Joseph ben Isaac ha-Levi, and eight rabbis listed only with given names and patronymics.Yet, they are unlikely to belong to Sephardic Jews who usually had family names already before the expulsion from Spain and Portugal. 20 The lists appear in Nahon (1993, pp. 224-31).The numbers of fund receivers are 105 in 1705/06, 83 in 1720/21, and 77 in 1728/29.Some of them do not correspond to specific families but rather associations such as whole communities of various cities or yeshivot.

24
The numbers of members of the Maghrebi congregations whose birthplace is indicated in the census data are: 69 in 1849, of which 32 from Morocco, 30 from Algeria (including 20 from Oran or neighboring Tlemcen); 98 in 1855, of which 46 from Morocco and 30 from Algeria; 288 in 1866, of which 254 from Morocco.

25
The absolute number of Sephardim listed without surnames is large only in 1875.It is 999.Yet, of them, 589 are widows or orphans, that is, population categories for which Jewish sources from various countries often omit their family names.

26
This word represents a Hebrew acronym for 'son of esteemed Mister' and is traditionally put between the given name of a Jewish man and the given name of his father.

27
The absence of such evidence is not sufficient to conclude about a continuous presence of a family in the Land of Israel.For example, Abraham Almeyda lived in Jerusalem in 1706.David Almeida ‫,)אלמידה(‬ 25 years old, a native of Jerusalem, appears in the Montefiore census of 1839.On the one hand, he could be a direct descendant of Abraham.On the other hand, no data in our possession preclude the possibility of dealing with two independent branches.The father or the grandfather of David could come to Jerusalem from either Istanbul (where the name regularly appears in the tombstone inscriptions between mid-17th century and the end of the 18th century), or one of the "Portuguese" congregations in Western Europe such as Amsterdam, Livorno, Venice, or Bordeaux (where multiples references to Almeida, Almeda, or d'Almeida are found during the 18th century, Beider 2019).

Table 2 .
Number of poor "Portuguese" families receiving money to emigrate to the Ottoman Empire. 12
a This figure covers Safed and other places in Upper Galilee.
Table 5 presents the number of persons who appear in the census data without surnames. 22

Table 5 .
Number of persons without surnames in the Montefiore censuses.

Table 6 .
Presence of names in voter lists (1930s) and the Montefiore censuses.