Thread: Русские фамилии (имени) евреев

To Antonio, it is possible. The names of some of the so called 'oligarchs' (this word should always be in quotes, you know, given the original Greek meaning of the roots) end with -ий (Ходороковский, Березовский, well the latter is no longer a factor), -ич (Абрамович). These people are Jewish and it's possible to guess it from their names, and well - the way they look))) Another identifier would be name with a double German root (like Einstein, or similar) as there are Jews who took German names while residing in Germany and Eastern Europe. I am not sure about Polish names, but some Russian Jews may have Polish names too (not very often though). And there are also names that don't look Russian at all, and it's easy to guess that such names are Jewish. The reason I have seen so many Jewish names here in Russia is that I work in power system engineering, and this has always been one of the traditional fields where 'Jewish technical intelligentsia' applies their knowledge.

To Throbert, Jews were changing names in USSR due to political situation. An example, just off the top of my head, which I remember is Яков Казаков (one of the first Jews in USSR who managed to fight the system and emigrate to Israel in the 70s when it was almost impossible to do it at that time). Their family name was Казаков, a common Russian name, i don't remember why particularly this name now, but it was due to the political situation. In Israel he became an army officer with combat experience, intelligence officer and close to prime ministers and he took a Jewish name (Яков Кедми).

Originally Posted by alexsms

To Antonio, it is possible. The names of some of the so called 'oligarchs' (this word should always be in quotes, you know, given the original Greek meaning of the roots) end with -ий (Ходороковский, Березовский, well the latter is no longer a factor), -ич (Абрамович). These people are Jewish and it's possible to guess it from their names, and well - the way they look))) Another identifier would be name with a double German root (like Einstein, or similar) as there are Jews who took German names while residing in Germany and Eastern Europe. I am not sure about Polish names, but some Russian Jews may have Polish names too (not very often though). And there are also names that don't look Russian at all, and it's easy to guess that such names are Jewish. The reason I have seen so many Jewish names here in Russia is that I work in power system engineering, and this has always been one of the traditional fields where 'Jewish technical intelligentsia' applies their knowledge.

To Throbert, Jews were changing names in USSR due to political situation. An example, just off the top of my head, which I remember is Яков Казаков (one of the first Jews in USSR who managed to fight the system and emigrate to Israel in the 70s when it was almost impossible to do it at that time). Their family name was Казаков, a common Russian name, i don't remember why particularly this name now, but it was due to the political situation. In Israel he became an army officer with combat experience, intelligence officer and close to prime ministers and he took a Jewish name (Яков Кедми).

Excellent information alexsms and extremely helpful.