It’s What They Answered To: Understanding Ashkenazic Jewish Names by Emily Garber

Name changes, both in adopted countries and in the old world, make determining Ashkenazic (central and eastern European) Jewish names a genealogical puzzle. Finding these people in the new world and the old is dependent upon not only seeking out but especially understanding the clues that may come from a variety of records. This presentation will provide some of the basic clues for a researcher to recognize the same person recorded under a variety of names.

Ashkenazic Jewish names were the result of a complex amalgam of family, business, social, and religious influences, as well as their interaction with the government. Unlike their Christian neighbors, many Jewish people only adopted permanent family surnames fairly late in eastern European history - when they were required to do so by the government. For some people, this was as late as about 170 years ago. Ashkenazi Jews, depending upon when and where they resided, may have answered to several different forenames in several different languages. Then, after they emigrated to a new country with a new language, they may have adopted new forenames and last names.

We will work through the challenges of understanding the contexts and origins of Ashkenazic Jewish names.

Emily H. Garber is an archaeologist by training (B.A., Vassar College; M.A., University of New Mexico), Emily Garber is a professional genealogy researcher, writer and speaker who specializes in Jewish genealogical research. She has researched both Eastern European and German Jewish communities and immigrants to the United States and Great Britain. She has toured family shtetlach (communities) and explored archives in Ukraine.

After retiring from her 30+ year career in natural resources management, Emily earned a certificate from Boston University's Genealogical Research program. She has an abiding interest in Jewish immigration to the United States and historical context. Since 2013, she has spoken at every International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference. She has also presented talks at National Genealogical Society conferences, for the NYG&B Society, the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree, the Genealogy Society of Pennsylvania, and the Utah Genealogical Society’s Summit of Excellence. She has delivered talks and seminars in-person and virtually to groups throughout the United States, in England, Israel and Poland. She coordinated three week-long seminars on Jewish genealogy at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.

Emily has authored four articles published in Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy and, for a client, completed two privately published volumes chronicling the 300-year history of a German Jewish family. Most recently, she has written an article, “Gone But Never Forgotten: Researching the Victims of the Holocaust,” for National Genealogical Society Magazine 30:2 (April-June 2024). She also writes a family history blog, The Extra Yad (https://extrayad.blogspot.com/).

Emily is Vice President of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. She also chairs the Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group and is on the board of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society. She served for about ten years as one of the moderators of the JewishGen Discussion Group.

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