ORIGIN OF OUR FAMILY NAMES:

 

Choose a name from the menu at left to learn accepted history on the origin of the names. Choices currently include DREIFUSS, BERNHEIM, HESS, SCHNEIDER, GARFINKEL, KLESS or EISENSTADT. Alternate spellings of each name are included.

 

To learn about Jewish names in general, see the JewishGen FAQ on Jewish Names.  It addresses questions frequently posed to us: why there are many spellings of the name "Dreifuss" and are they all related?  However, one of our favorite sources of information on Jewish names as well as on Jewish Genealogy in general, is Arthur Kurzweil's, From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History 1st Edition (2004).

 

Note that a consistent spelling of surnames is a 20th century invention and names were almost never spelled in a standard manner before. In earlier days Jews who were living in German speaking areas adopted or were referred to as Dreifuss and those in French speaking areas were Dreyfus or Dreyfuss.