German and/or Jewish?

[thorsblot]

Do any of the German members here know anything about the surname "Schipalius"? Where it is from in Germany, etc?

[Ulf]

Many of my surnames have come back from sites as Ashkenazic and I just rage and throw my keyboard at the wall.

We were always Christian. Until this generation at least.

[Goidelic]

All my German ancestors were Old Stock/18th century immigrants. One was born in 1800 but was of Protestant religion, also her picture looks very Nordish/Northwest Euro, absolutely no Armenid/Orientalid in her phenotype. 99.9% of Germans in the 17th and 18th centuries to America were biologically indigenous Germans, not Middle Eastern/Ashkenazi German Jews. When the 19th century arrived there was a change in scenery, especially "German" phenotypes in New York.

I've met in the past some people claim their German heritage, when they have recent 20th century "German" ancestry named Stein or Berg.

They don't look that Nordish to say the least.

So you'll know what type of religion/ethnoreligious group I'll be referring to.

[rothaer]

Some German surnames are common among Jews too, as many were living in Germany and had adopted German surnames. One of these is Hoffman. Even though quite prevalent among Jews, Hoffman is certainly first and foremost German.

The question is: In a genealogical search, how does one distinguish whether an overlapping surname like that is of German or Jewish origin, apart from the obvious religious adherence of the individual?

For the period from when on Jews (and Frisians) had to take heriditable surnames - you can say from abt. 1820 onwards - you can not distinguish overlapping surnames.

As for the time before 1820 Jews rarely had surnames and if so, they were not heriditabel for more than 3 generations. Regularly Jews had patronyms, f. i. David Benjamin. This implies that the father's first name is Benjamin. His name could have been Benjamin Herz f. i. and by that indicating that his father in turn hat the first name Herz. Back to David Benjamin. If he considered his name not specific enough there could just be added the grandfather's first name. The result would then be David Benjamin Herz.

Now, if you find a surname in Germany before 1820 that was inherited for more than 3 generations then it is not a Jewish name.