Ashkenaz Surname

2,273,756th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 70 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
United States
Highest density in:
Israel

Ashkenaz Surname Definition:

(from a place name) Ashkenaz is mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 10:3; Jeremiah 51:27; 1 Chronicles 1:6) and is probably Ash-ku-za in the ancient Assyrian empire. It is also identified in the early rabbinic sources as Asia. Beginning with the ninth century, however, Ashkenaz is identified with Germany and Ashkenaz and Ashkenazi mean “German.

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Ashkenaz Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
United States521:6,970,364322,914
Israel101:855,76354,181
Tanzania41:13,235,40384,310
Pakistan21:89,321,942157,560
England11:55,718,059489,080
Latvia11:2,050,04660,295

Ashkenaz (29) may also be a first name.

Ashkenaz Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

(from a place name) Ashkenaz is mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 10:3; Jeremiah 51:27; 1 Chronicles 1:6) and is probably Ash-ku-za in the ancient Assyrian empire. It is also identified in the early rabbinic sources as Asia. Beginning with the ninth century, however, Ashkenaz is identified with Germany and Ashkenaz and Ashkenazi mean “German.” The name appears in the forms Askenazy, Asknasy, Askanasi, Esknazy, and Schinasi.

In the seventeenth century Turkish Jews invited Jews from Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Czechoslavakia to come and settle among them. These European Jews were called Ashkenazi (coming from the German territories). When they later returned to Europe they kept the name or sometimes changed it to Deutch (“German,” in German).

— Rabbi Benzion Kaganoff

User-submitted Reference

Ashkenazi, and variants of this surname, signify that a distant paternal ancestor of the bearer belonged to the Ashkenazi subdivision of the Jewish people.

The Ashkenazi Jews are a Jewish ethnic subdivision who lived in Northern and Eastern Europe. They named themselves 'Ashkenazi' when they first settled the Rhine, in Germany, in the 8th century AD. This was because it was thought 'Ashkenaz,' a place named in the Old Testament, referred to Germany, though modern scholarship suggests this is extremely unlikely.

The vast majority of bearers of the Ashkenazi surname are not Ashkenazi themselves. Rather, they pertain to other Jewish groups, and their ancestor, who would have left an Ashkenazi community to join a different one, retained 'Ashkenazi' as a surname because it was noteworthy that he was from a distinct background to the rest of his adopted community. It is most common amongst Syrian and Bukharan Jews.

The surname Ashkenazi is of Hebrew origin, and ultimately topographical in nature.

- archeroftheeyes

Ashkenaz Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Ashkenaz Come From? nationality or country of origin

The last name Ashkenaz is carried by more people in The United States than any other country/territory. It can appear in the variant forms:. For other potential spellings of this last name click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Ashkenaz? popularity and diffusion

The last name Ashkenaz is the 2,273,756th most widespread family name on a worldwide basis, held by around 1 in 104,107,799 people. It is primarily found in The Americas, where 74 percent of Ashkenaz reside; 74 percent reside in North America and 74 percent reside in Anglo-North America. Ashkenaz is also the 1,951,561st most commonly held first name on earth. It is borne by 29 people.

This last name is most widely held in The United States, where it is borne by 52 people, or 1 in 6,970,364. In The United States Ashkenaz is primarily concentrated in: Illinois, where 21 percent live, Florida, where 19 percent live and Tennessee, where 17 percent live. Besides The United States Ashkenaz is found in 5 countries. It is also found in Israel, where 14 percent live and Tanzania, where 6 percent live.

Ashkenaz Last Name Statistics demography

In The United States those bearing the Ashkenaz surname are 16.77% more likely to be registered Democrats than the national average, with 70% being registered to vote for the party.

Ashkenaz earn notably more than the average income. In United States they earn 15.96% more than the national average, earning $50,035 USD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Askenaz931/
Ashkenas8880/
Ashkinaz8827/
Ashkenase8236/
Aschkenas8222/
Ashchenaz824/
Ashkanaaz821/
Askenas80108/
Eskenaz803/
Aschkenase788/
Askenase7537/
Aszkenas756/
Ashkynas751/
Ashkinaci711/
Aszkenast711/
Askanas6777/
Eskenas6763/
Askinas6744/
Azkanaz6716/
Asconaz6711/
Askonas6711/
Eskinaz6710/
Ashkinos6351/
Askanass6314/
Aszkinas636/
Haskinaci599/
Aşqinaz531/
Askinoss501/
Esquenas501/

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Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Ashkenaz
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis