Irish Jewish surnames are the family names of Ireland’s small Jewish community, and most of them, such as Briscoe, Goldberg, Herzog, Leventhal, Noyk, Elyan and Wigoder, arrived with Lithuanian Jewish (Litvak) families between the 1880s and the early 1900s.
Journey through the rich tapestry of 47 Irish Jewish surnames, reflecting centuries of cultural integration and identity. These names highlight the remarkable stories of Jewish families who made Ireland their home, contributing to the island’s diverse heritage while preserving their own traditions.
Quick answer: Irish Jewish surnames at a glance
- Best-known names: Briscoe, Herzog, Goldberg, Solomons, Noyk, Leventhal, Elyan, Wigoder, Shatter and Taylor.
- Where most families came from: Lithuania, then part of the Russian empire. The Irish Jewish Museum notes that many came from the town of Akmenė.
- Where they settled: Dublin’s “Little Jerusalem” around Clanbrassil Street and the South Circular Road, with smaller communities in Cork, Limerick, Belfast and Waterford.
- The earliest Jewish names: Sephardic (Spanish and Portuguese) families such as the Pereiras, who opened a prayer hall in Crane Lane, Dublin, in the 1660s.
- The community today: 2,193 people in the State gave their religion as Jewish in Census 2022, down from 2,557 in 2016 (CSO).
- Changed names: some families anglicised their names, so Feldman became Fields, Hellman became Elliman and Buchalter became Bookman.
Below you’ll find 47 surnames tied to documented Irish Jewish families, followed by 53 common Jewish surnames you may also come across. Each one was checked against the Dictionary of Irish Biography, the Irish Jewish Museum, CSO census tables and Robert Matheson’s 1909 surname report in October 2026.
A Short History of Jewish Families in Ireland
Jewish families have lived in Ireland in small numbers for centuries. In 1555 William Annyas, a Portuguese Jewish refugee from the Inquisition, became Mayor of Youghal in Co. Cork, and from the 1660s Sephardic traders (Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent) worshipped in a prayer hall in Crane Lane, close to Dublin Castle, according to the Irish Jewish Museum timeline. The Jewish cemetery at Ballybough in Dublin recorded its first burial in 1718. Like the Irish Viking surnames left by Norse settlers, these names are one more layer of family names brought to Ireland from outside.
The surnames most people now think of as Irish Jewish came later. In the 1880s Jews escaping persecution in the Russian empire, most of them Litvaks from what is now Lithuania, began arriving in Dublin. Robert Matheson, the Registrar-General, wrote in his 1909 Special Report on Surnames in Ireland that during 1881 to 1890 “their numbers were largely increased by the arrival of Russian and Polish Jews,” most of whom settled on the south side of Dublin and formed a Jewish Quarter.
Here are the key moments at a glance:
That quarter became known as “Little Jerusalem”: the streets off Clanbrassil Street and the South Circular Road around Portobello, where kosher shops and small synagogues served families such as the Leventhals, Noyks and Levitases. Today you can see the story at the Irish Jewish Museum, in a former synagogue on Walworth Road, an easy addition to a few days in Dublin.
In Limerick the community was driven out. In January 1904 the Redemptorist priest Fr John Creagh preached sermons attacking the city’s Jews and calling for a boycott, and the Dictionary of Irish Biography records that within months the Jewish population “dwindled to approximately six families.” Census figures show the number of Jewish people in Limerick falling from 171 in 1901 to 122 in 1911, and families such as the Goldbergs moved to Cork.
The community peaked at 3,907 people in the 1946 census and then shrank as many families emigrated for work or to settle in Israel. In Census 2022, 2,193 people in the State gave their religion as Jewish, compared with 2,557 in 2016.
47 Irish Jewish Surnames
Every surname in this list belongs to a family with a documented place in Irish Jewish history, along with the person or record that ties it to Ireland.
Abrahamson – From Abraham, meaning “father of many nations.” Dr Leonard Abrahamson (1896 to 1961) came to Newry, Co. Down, aged three when his family fled pogroms in what is now Belarus, and went on to a distinguished medical career in Dublin. The film director Lenny Abrahamson is his grandson.
Altman – Albert Altman (about 1853 to 1903) was born in Prussian Poland and raised in Dublin, where his parents settled in the early 1850s. He became a businessman and nationalist politician in the city.
Annyas – One of the earliest Jewish names on record in Ireland. William Annyas, a Portuguese Jewish refugee from the Inquisition, became Mayor of Youghal, Co. Cork, in 1555.
Benmohel – Nathan Lazarus Benmohel, a Hamburg-born language teacher who settled in Dublin, entered Trinity College in 1832. The Dictionary of Irish Biography calls him the first Jew to graduate at an Anglican university.
Blond – Marcus Joseph Blond, a rabbi from Lithuania, ran a grocery in Limerick and led the city’s Jewish community. He was one of the victims of the 1904 boycott.
Bookman – Louis Bookman was born Buchalter in Žagarė, Lithuania, in 1890 and grew up in Dublin, where the family took the name Bookman. He played both football and cricket for Ireland.
Bradlaw – Robert Bradlaw, an oculist born in Kovno, founded the St Kevin’s Parade synagogue in Dublin in 1883 and helped establish the Jewish cemetery at Dolphin’s Barn.
Briscoe – Ireland’s best-known Jewish political family. Robert Briscoe, son of a Lithuanian-born Dublin merchant, became the first Jewish TD in 1927 and was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1956 to 1957 and again in 1961 to 1962. His son Ben Briscoe was a TD from 1965 to 2002 and Lord Mayor in 1988 to 1989. The name itself is English in form.
Clein – Cana Clein of Cork married Barney Hurwitz of Belfast, and another Clein, Anne, was the grandmother of the director Louis Lentin.
Cohen – Meaning “priest” in Hebrew, a common Jewish surname, representing descendants of the ancient priestly class. In Ireland, Rabbi Isaac Cohen was chief rabbi from 1959 to 1979.
Coplan – One of the surnames Robert Matheson, the Registrar-General, gave in his 1909 report on Irish surnames as examples of “the names of the Jewish Settlers” in Ireland.
Edelstein – Meaning “precious stone” in German. Joseph Edelstein (1886 to 1939), born in Portobello, Dublin, was a writer and the secretary of the Judaeo-Irish Home Rule Association, founded in 1908.
Elliman – Maurice Elliman was born Moshe Hellman in Kovno, registered in Dublin as Moses Helman and later changed his name. He opened the Theatre De Luxe cinema on Camden Street in 1913, and his family became well known in Irish cinema and theatre.
Elyan – Jacob Elyan founded the Judaeo-Irish Home Rule Association in Dublin in 1908, part of a shift among Dublin Jews towards supporting home rule.
Feldman – Meaning “field man” in German. Elaine Feldman (1916 to 2006), born in Harold’s Cross, Dublin, founded a secondary school for the Jewish community, and the photographer Arthur Fields, the “man on the bridge”, was born Abraham Feldman in Dublin in 1901.
Fridberg – Another of the names on Matheson’s 1909 list of Jewish settlers in Ireland.
Glucksman – Lewis Glucksman, a New York financier of Hungarian Jewish descent, made his home in Ireland and was a major supporter of University College Cork, where the Glucksman art gallery bears his name.
Goldberg – A common Jewish surname meaning “gold mountain,” reflecting European origins. Gerald Goldberg, born in Cork in 1912 to a Lithuanian Jewish family who left Limerick after the 1904 boycott, became the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Cork in 1977.
Goldblatt – Meaning “gold leaf” in German. Harold Goldblatt (1901 to 1982), a Belfast actor and producer, founded the Jewish Institute Dramatic Society and helped form Belfast’s Group Theatre in 1940.
Greenberg – Meaning “green mountain” in German and Yiddish, and one of the names on Matheson’s 1909 list of Jewish settlers in Ireland.
Harris – An English surname meaning “son of Harry.” Lewis Wormser Harris, a German-born Jewish merchant and three times president of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation, was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1876 but died the night before he was due to take office.
Herzog – German for “duke.” Rabbi Isaac Herzog was rabbi in Belfast from 1915, moved to Dublin in 1919 and became the first chief rabbi of the Irish Free State in 1925. His son Chaim Herzog, born in Belfast in 1918, was President of Israel from 1983 to 1993, and Chaim’s son Isaac Herzog became Israel’s 11th president in 2021.
Hesselberg – Listed by Matheson in 1909 among the names of the Jewish settlers in Ireland.
Hurwitz – A spelling of Horowitz. Barney Hurwitz, a linen merchant, was president of the Belfast Jewish community, and his son Lewis Hurwitz (1926 to 1971) became a neurologist.
Jaffe – Daniel Joseph Jaffé, a Hamburg linen merchant, moved his family business to Belfast in 1858 and founded the city’s first synagogue in 1871. His son Sir Otto Jaffé became the first Lord Mayor of the county borough of Belfast in 1899 and held the office again in 1904.
Lentin – Louis Lentin (1933 to 2014), born in Limerick, became a theatre, film and television director. His grandparents lived through the 1904 boycott, and his uncle was Gerald Goldberg.
Leventhal – A. J. “Con” Leventhal (1896 to 1979), born on Lower Clanbrassil Street in Little Jerusalem, lectured in French at Trinity College Dublin and later became Samuel Beckett’s literary assistant in Paris.
Levine – The feminist writer June Levine (1931 to 2008) was born in Dublin, the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Latvia. Another Dublin Levine, the furniture maker Nathan Levine, was father-in-law to the art dealer Victor Waddington.
Levitas – The brothers Max (1915 to 2018) and Maurice “Morry” Levitas (1917 to 2001) were born in Portobello’s Little Jerusalem and became well-known communist activists.
Marcus – David Marcus (1924 to 2009), a Cork-born writer and literary editor, was a nephew of Gerald Goldberg. Both families descended from Lithuanian Jews who came to Ireland in the 1880s.
Noyk – Michael Noyk (1884 to 1966), also spelled Noyek, grew up in a family living on Lower Clanbrassil Street by 1891. As a Dublin solicitor he defended many republican prisoners during and after the War of Independence.
Pereira – A Sephardic family who set up a prayer hall in Crane Lane, near Dublin Castle, in the 1660s, Ireland’s first known synagogue. A related Pereira family of bakers in Holland later held the contract to supply bread to William of Orange’s army.
Rabinowitz – Meaning “son of the rabbi,” a surname reflecting Jewish heritage. Matheson recorded the spelling Rabinovitch among the Jewish settlers in Ireland in 1909.
Shatter – Alan Shatter, born in Rathgar, Dublin, in 1951, was a Fine Gael TD for Dublin South and served as Minister for Justice and Equality and Minister for Defence from 2011 to 2014.
Shillman – Bernard Shillman wrote A Short History of the Jews in Ireland, one of the first books on the community, reviewed in the Irish Independent in 1946.
Solomons – One of Dublin’s best-known Jewish families. Estella Solomons (1882 to 1968) was a painter, her brother Bethel Solomons won ten rugby caps for Ireland and was Master of the Rotunda Hospital from 1926 to 1933, and their parents helped found the Adelaide Road synagogue.
Steinberg – Ettie Steinberg grew up off the South Circular Road in Dublin and married at Greenville Hall synagogue in 1937. She, her husband and their baby son Leon were murdered at Auschwitz in 1942, and she is often described as the only Irish citizen known to have died in the Holocaust.
Steyn – Stella Steyn (1907 to 1987), a Dublin-born painter and designer, came from Steyn and Jaffe families who moved from Russia to Limerick in the 1870s. Her sister Mabel married Michael Noyk.
Taylor – Mervyn Taylor (1931 to 2021), whose parents grew up in Poland, was a Labour TD for Dublin South-West from 1981 to 1997 and became the first Jewish cabinet minister in 1993. As Minister for Equality and Law Reform he steered the 1995 divorce referendum.
Towb – The actor Harry Towb (1925 to 2009) was born in Larne, Co. Antrim, to a mother from a Belfast Jewish family and a father from Žagarė in Lithuania.
Wachman – Also on Matheson’s 1909 list of the names of Jewish settlers in Ireland.
Waddington – An English-looking name with a Dublin Jewish story. Victor Waddington (1907 to 1981), son of a Scottish convert to Judaism, ran Ireland’s leading gallery for avant-garde art in the 1940s and 1950s, and his son Leslie Waddington was born in Dublin in 1934.
Weiner – Another surname Matheson gave in 1909 as an example of the names of the Jewish settlers in Ireland.
Weingreen – Jacob Weingreen (1908 to 1995) was Erasmus Smith Professor of Hebrew at Trinity College Dublin from 1937 to 1978.
Wigoder – Dr Selig George Wigoder, born near Wexna in Lithuania in 1865, joined his brother Myer Joel Wigoder in Dublin, practised medicine there and wrote in Hebrew. Myer Joel’s grandson Geoffrey Wigoder studied at Trinity College Dublin and became editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Judaica.
Wine – Hubert Wine (1922 to 2011), a Dublin district judge from 1976 to 1992, chaired the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland for fourteen years.
Winstock – One more of the names Matheson listed in 1909 as examples of the Jewish settlers in Ireland.
53 Other Jewish Surnames (Common Worldwide, Not Specific to Ireland)
These are widespread Ashkenazi and Biblical surnames. You may meet them in Irish records, but they aren’t distinctively Irish and we haven’t tied each one to a documented Irish family, so here we stick to what each name means.
Abrams – Derived from the Hebrew name Abraham, meaning “father of many nations.”
Adler – Meaning “eagle” in German.
Baruch – A Hebrew name meaning “blessed.”
Berg – Meaning “mountain” in German, a common Jewish surname.
Bernstein – Meaning “amber stone” in German.
Bloom – Best known in Ireland as the surname of Leopold Bloom, the fictional hero of James Joyce’s Ulysses, whose Hungarian Jewish father changed the family name from Virag (Hungarian for “flower”) to Bloom.
Blum – Meaning “flower” in German.
Deutsch – Meaning “German” in German and Yiddish, reflecting Ashkenazi origins.
Feinberg – Meaning “fine mountain” in German.
Fischer – Meaning “fisherman” in German.
Frankel – Derived from a term meaning “Frankish,” indicating European Jewish origins.
Friedlander – A name for someone from one of the German places called Friedland.
Friedman – Derived from German meaning “man of peace.”
Fuchs – Meaning “fox” in German.
Glickman – Meaning “lucky man” in Yiddish.
Goldfarb – Meaning “gold color” in German or Yiddish, a common surname for Jewish families.
Goldman – Derived from German meaning “gold man.”
Goldsmith – Reflecting the trade of goldsmithing.
Goldstein – Meaning “gold stone,” a common surname among Jewish immigrants, reflecting European origins.
Green – Often an anglicization of the Jewish surname Grun or Grunwald, meaning “green” or “green forest.”
Halpern – Derived from the town of Heilbronn in Germany.
Hochman – From the German Hochmann, a descriptive name for a tall man.
Horowitz – A prominent Ashkenazi Jewish surname originally from Horovice in the Czech Republic. In Belfast the family name was spelled Hurwitz.
Isaacs – Derived from the Hebrew “Yitzhak,” meaning “he will laugh.”
Isaacson – A patronymic surname meaning “son of Isaac,” a name rooted in Hebrew heritage.
Jacobs – A patronymic surname meaning “son of Jacob,” a name rooted in the Hebrew Bible. Don’t confuse it with Jacob’s biscuits: the Jacob family behind the firm were Quakers from Waterford.
Jacoby – A variation of Jacob, meaning “supplanter” in Hebrew.
Kahn – A variant of Cohen, meaning “priest.”
Kaplan – Meaning “chaplain” in German and Yiddish.
Katz – An acronym for Kohen Tzedek, meaning “righteous priest.”
Kaufman – Meaning “merchant” in German.
Leibowitz – Derived from the Yiddish name “Leib,” meaning lion.
Levy – A traditional Jewish name derived from the Hebrew “Levi,” one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Lieberman – Meaning “beloved man” in German.
Liebman – Derived from the Yiddish word for “beloved man.”
Marks – Derived from Marcus, a Latin name probably taken from Mars, the Roman god of war.
Moses – Derived from the Biblical figure Moses, meaning “drawn out of water.”
Newman – An anglicization of the Jewish name Neumann, meaning “new man.”
Oppenheimer – From the town of Oppenheim in Germany.
Perlman – Meaning “pearl man,” referring to someone in the jewelry trade.
Rosen – Meaning “rose” in German.
Rosenthal – Meaning “rose valley” in German, a common Jewish surname.
Rosner – A German surname that Ashkenazi Jews treat as a form of Rose; it can also mean someone from a place called Rosenau or Rosna.
Roth – Meaning “red” in German.
Rothstein – Meaning “red stone” in German.
Samuels – Derived from the Hebrew name Samuel, meaning “heard by God.”
Schneider – Meaning “tailor” in German.
Schulman – From the Yiddish shul, “synagogue,” a name usually given to a synagogue official.
Schwartz – Meaning “black” in German.
Shapiro – Derived from the town of Shpira (Speyer) in Germany.
Wolf – A surname derived from the Hebrew name Ze’ev, meaning “wolf.”
Zelman – A Yiddish surname derived from Solomon, meaning “peace.”
Zucker – Meaning “sugar” in German.
Irish-Looking Names, Changed Names and One Famous Fictional Name
Not every Irish Jewish family kept the name it arrived with, and not every Jewish-sounding name in Ireland is Jewish.
- Anglicised names: the Dictionary of Irish Biography notes that, faced with anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic hostility, some families changed their surnames to something less identifiably Jewish. The Feldman children became Harry, Jack, Morris and Arthur, and Arthur later took the surname Fields. Moshe Hellman became Maurice Elliman, and the Buchalter family became Bookman. Gaelic Irish families had changed their own names centuries earlier, as our guide to why Irish families dropped the O’ explains.
- Anglicised first names: Gerald Goldberg was named Yael (or Yoel) at birth, and his sisters chose the name Gerald for him.
- Irish names through marriage: some Jewish-born women ended up with very Irish names. Sophie Raffalovich took the O’Brien surname when she married the nationalist MP William O’Brien, and Ellen Bischoffsheim became Ellen Cuffe, Countess of Desart, later a senator in the Irish Free State.
- English-looking names: several of the best-known Irish Jewish families carry English-looking names, among them Briscoe, Taylor and Harris. Victor Waddington’s surname came from his Scottish father, who converted to Judaism.
- Lookalikes that aren’t Jewish: the Connacht surname Coen comes from the Irish Ó Comhghain, not from the Jewish Cohen, and the Jacob family behind Jacob’s biscuits were Quakers.
- A fictional name: Ireland’s most famous “Jewish” surname belongs to someone who never existed. Leopold Bloom, the hero of James Joyce’s Ulysses, has a Hungarian Jewish father who changed the family name from Virag to Bloom, and a plaque on Clanbrassil Street marks the house Joyce gave the family.
Find Out More About Irish Jewish Surnames
What are some examples of Irish Jewish surnames and their origins?
Well-known Irish Jewish surnames include Briscoe, Herzog, Goldberg, Solomons, Noyk, Leventhal, Elyan, Wigoder, Shatter and Taylor. Examples of Irish Jewish surnames include Levy, from the Hebrew Levi, often explained as “joined,” and Cohen, meaning “priest.” Names like Abrams and Isaacs reflect Biblical origins, while surnames such as Goldberg and Rabinowitz are tied to Ashkenazi traditions. These names were brought to Ireland by Jewish families fleeing persecution in Europe.
How did Jewish families integrate their naming traditions with Irish culture?
Jewish families in Ireland maintained their traditional surnames while adopting anglicized spellings to blend with Irish society. For example, Cohen and Goldberg remained unchanged, while the Feldman family became Fields and Moshe Hellman became Maurice Elliman. This integration reflected a balance between preserving Jewish identity and adapting to local norms.
Are there surnames unique to the Jewish community in Ireland?
While most Irish Jewish surnames have international origins, some became uniquely associated with Ireland due to long-term settlement. For example, Briscoe is closely tied to Dublin politics and Goldberg to Cork through Gerald Goldberg. Additionally, Bloom gained cultural significance in Ireland through Joyce’s fictional Leopold Bloom.
What historical events brought Jewish families to Ireland?
Small numbers of Sephardic Jews, some of them refugees from the Inquisition, were in Ireland by the 16th and 17th centuries. The largest wave came in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during pogroms in Eastern Europe. Most families settled in Dublin, with smaller communities in Cork, Belfast, Limerick and Waterford, though the 1904 Limerick boycott showed the welcome was far from universal.
How have Irish Jewish surnames evolved over the centuries?
Irish Jewish surnames have evolved through anglicization and cultural integration. Names like Feldman became Fields and Buchalter became Bookman, while others such as Goldberg and Cohen stayed the same. Over time, these surnames maintained their Jewish heritage while becoming part of Ireland’s multicultural identity.
How many Jewish people live in Ireland?
2,193 people in the State gave their religion as Jewish in Census 2022, according to CSO census table F5088, down from 2,557 in 2016. The highest census figure was 3,907 in 1946.
Who was the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin?
Robert Briscoe was the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin, serving in 1956 to 1957 and again in 1961 to 1962. Lewis Wormser Harris was elected in 1876 but died before he could take office, and Ben Briscoe followed his father as Lord Mayor in 1988 to 1989.
What was Little Jerusalem in Dublin?
Little Jerusalem was the Jewish quarter around Clanbrassil Street and the South Circular Road in Portobello, Dublin 8, where Litvak families settled from the 1880s. The Irish Jewish Museum on Walworth Road is in a former synagogue there.
Was Leopold Bloom a real person?
No. Leopold Bloom is the fictional hero of James Joyce’s Ulysses, and Joyce gave him a Hungarian Jewish father who changed the family name from Virag to Bloom.
