Jewish surnames in the Czech Republic carry significant historical and cultural importance. Prior to the implementation of surname laws in the late 18th century, Jews in the region often did not possess hereditary surnames, using patronymics or names associated with their occupation or place of residence instead.
In 1787, Emperor Joseph II issued a decree requiring Jews in the Habsburg Empire, including the Czech lands, to adopt permanent family names. This marked a significant change for Jewish communities, as surnames became a legal requirement and a means of identification.
As a result, many Jewish families in the Czech Republic adopted surnames during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These surnames were often chosen based on a variety of factors, including occupation, geographic location, personal characteristics, or religious symbolism.
Jewish surnames in the Czech Republic can reflect a wide range of linguistic influences, including Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Czech, and other languages prevalent in the region. Some surnames may be derived from Hebrew names, while others may be connected to Yiddish or German words.
Due to historical events such as World War II and the Holocaust, which led to the persecution and extermination of a significant portion of the Jewish population, many Jewish surnames in the Czech Republic have been lost or diminished. However, efforts have been made to preserve and document Jewish genealogy and surname history, particularly by organizations and researchers dedicated to Jewish genealogical research.
Before 1787, Prague was the only community in Eastern Europe where Jews commonly used hereditary names in today's sense of surnames. Alexander Beider, the leading researcher of Jewish surnames, notices that:
"In Prague, many Jews had surnames already during the 17th century. Consequently, when asked in 1787, along with other Jews of the Habsburg Empire, to acquire surnames, the majority of the Jews of Prague simply retained the surnames they had had before the promulgation of the law. <...> A common use of surnames in both Prague and Frankfurt-am-Main since the 17th century, contrasting with the situation in other places of Central Europe, could be related to the fact that these two were the largest Jewish communities, in which there was a need to distinguish by name their numerous members.[1]
Jewish cemetery in Prague
Beider classifies surnames in the following categories:
Taussig/Taussinger (Domažlice). Germanized habitational name for someone from Taus (Domažlice in Czech Toysk in Yiddish) a place in a town in the Plzeň Region, Bohemia.
The surname Roubíček, although sounding entirely Czech, may come from the Jewish name Ruben (Re'uven) meaning "behold, a son," or it could have originated during a time when Jews intermarried or women married into Czech Protestant families.
