Hyphenated surnames of Jews in the Russian Empire

Hyphenated surnames of Jews in the Russian Empire followed the same patterns as those of non-Jews. The most frequent type was the combination of two parents’ surnames into a single hyphenated surname for the children. 

This type of surname arose due to one of two factors: 

(1) the mother’s surname indicated “noble” ancestry, that is, Kohen or Levite origin (Kogan, Kagan, Levin) or descent from a famous rabbinical family (Shapiro, Lur’e, Shor, etc.), or

 (2) the mother’s family had produced no male children and the surname would otherwise disappear. 

The first of these factors was so significant that hyphenated surnames were taken not only by the children, but also by the husband after marriage. Surnames such as Kogan, Levin and Shapiro appear frequently as parts of hyphenated surnames not only due to the prestige associated with these surnames. In part, it is because these names were common generally speaking.

As a result, hyphenated surnames in which these appellations are present may have been created to distinguish among different families named Kogan, Levin, etc. This pattern appears in Russian Christian surnames where the most common Russian surname, Ivanov, appears frequently in hyphenated surnames (Superanskaya 1981:127). Hyphenated surnames evolved mainly during the 19th century. Some became fairly common, for example, the surnames Frank-Kamenetskij and Kogan-Bernshtejn, found at the end of the 19th century in Vilna and Bessarabia, respectively.

Other hyphenated surnames include Vinokur-Kogen, Vinokur-Shapiro, Shokhor-Trotskij, Shor-Chudnovskij, Landa-Glaz, Krupnik-Levin and Bongard-Levin. Some hyphenated surnames were transformed to compound surnames by omitting the hyphen sign: Dimentkhankin, Fridzajchik, Levigurovich, Levinshchirin, Tsukerkhal’fin, Vol’èpshtejn. 

Of particular interest is the surname Levin-Kagan and its variant Levinkagan, which indicated both Levite and Kohen origin. 

 Many Jews bear artificial surnames based on animal names. Various sources document the existence of semantically comic Jewish surnames such as Fuks-Rabinovich (fox-rabbi’s son), Vol-Rabinovich (ox- rabbi’s son), Sobol’-Mednik (sable- brazier), Komissar-Los’ (commissary-elk), Zajchik-Komissarchik (little hare-commissary), Blyum-Kunitsa (flower-marten), Tarakan -Dashevskij (cockroach from [the town of] Dashev), Soroka-Mozyrskij (magpie from [the town of] Mozyr’). Among curiously sounding names unrelated to animals are Bisnovatyj-Kogan (demoniac Kohen), Karlik-Levenzon (dwarf, the son of Levi or Levin), Landa-Bezverkhij (topless Landa).