NAMES ANALYSIS REPORT
You searched for:"Franco",
Here's what we found
The English meaning of Franco is Honest, sincere, French, From Eastern Europe.
The name Franco is of Portuguese,Spanish origin.
The surname Franco is aCompound name, which means that it is derived from a man's given name, usually a father , paternal ancestor or patron.
There are many indicators that the name Franco may be of Jewish origin, emanating from the Jewish communities of Spain and Portugal.
When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian Peninsula. The approximately 750,000 Jews living in Spain in the year 1492 were banished from the country by royal decree of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Jews of Portugal, were banished several years later. Reprieve from the banishment decrees was promised to those Jews who converted to Catholicism. Though some converted by choice, most of these New-Christian converts were called CONVERSOS or MARRANOS (a derogatory term for converts meaning pigs in Spanish), ANUSIM (meaning "coerced ones" in Hebrew) and CRYPTO-JEWS, as they secretly continued to practice the tenets of the Jewish faith.
Our research has found that the family name Franco is cited with respect to Jews & Crypto-Jews in at least 113 bibliographical, documentary, or electronic references:
From the civil records of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The Amsterdam Municipal Archives possess a complete set of registers of intended marriages from 1578 to 1811, the year when the present Civil Registry was started. Between 1598 and 1811, 15238 Jewish couples were entered in these books. Both the number of records and the volume of data that may be extracted from them are unprecedented.
From the records of Bevis Marks, The Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of London
Bevis Marks is the Sephardic synagogue in London. It is over 300 years old and is the oldest still in use in Britain.The Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London has published several volumes of its records: they can be found in libraries such as the Cambridge University Library or the London Metropolitan Archive
From the burial register of Bethahaim Velho Cemetery, Published by the Jewish Historical Society of England and transcribed by R. D. Barnett.
The register gives us dates for the burials in the "Bethahaim Velho" or Old Cemetery. The dates are listed as per the Jewish calendar.
History of the Jews in Venice, by Cecil Roth
In this work, Cecil Roth covers the long course of Italian-Jewish history extending from pre-Christian times, comprising in a degree every facet of the evolution of Jewish life in Europe. Contains a huge store of facts tracing regional variations over a period of 2000 years.
Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy, by Dan Rottenberg
In this work Dan Rottenberg shows how to do a successful search for probing the memories of living relatives, by examining marriage licenses, gravestones, ship passenger lists, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and other public documents, and by looking for clues in family traditions and customs. Supplementing the "how to" instructions is a guide to some 8,000 Jewish family names, giving the origins of the names, sources of information about each family, and the names of related families whose histories have been recorded. Other features included a country-by-country guide to tracing Jewish ancestors abroad, a list of Jewish family history books, and a guide to researching genealogy.
The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman. Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in the New Spain
Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.
The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman.Reports the names of people who appeared before the inquisition in New Granada
Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.
A History of the Marranos, by Cecil Roth.
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 by the infamous decree of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was the culmination of a series of anti-Jewish persecutions throughout the 14th and 15th centuries in which thousands of Jews were massacred. Thousands of others converted in order to escape death. After the expulsion many more joined the ranks of these "new Christians" as an alternative to exile. A large number of converts, while outwardly professing Christianity, secretly continued to practice Judaism. These Marranos, as they were popularly known, were then mercilessly persecuted by the dreaded Inquisition which through tortures of forced confessions and auto-da-fes sent thousands to the stake. Many others managed to escape to countries outside the reach of the Inquisition where they created a widespread Marrano diaspora. Thousands of Marranos have survived even into our times. This seminal work by the eminent historian traces the tribulation of these secret Judaizers as well as the fate of those who succeeded in escaping to other lands where many of them rose to prominence in various fields of endeavor.
Jews in Colonial Brazil, by Arnold Wiznitzer
Professor Wiznitzer gathered detailed information about individual Jewish settlers in colonial Brazil and about cases where they were brought before the Inquisition at Lisbon, and his study throws new light on some phases of Brazilian colonial history. Many Jews fled to Brazil and others were deported to the colony as convicted heretics after the King of Portugal attemtped to compel all of his Jewish subjects to accept Christianity in 1497.They were active in the establishment of the sugar industry and in trade, and they maintained close relations with another large group of exiles who had taken refuge in Amsterdam.Most of the "new Christians" continued to practice the old religion secretly.
Precious Stones of the Jews in Curaçao; Curaçaon Jewry 1656-1957, by Isaac Samuel Emmanuel (1957)
Names taken from 225 tombstones of 2536 persons, 1668 - 1859, men, women and some Rabbis. Includes cemetery history and plan, biographies including family histories, chronological list of names, alphabetical list of family names + number of members + eldest tombstone year, large bibliography, general alphabetical index, 15 genealogies.
The Jews of Rhodes, by Marc D. Angel
This book on the history of the Sephardic community of Rhodes, traces not only its history but also its economic and cultural life, customs and traditions, its rabbis and scholars, its folklore and literature.
List of (mostly) Sephardic brides from the publication, "List of 7300 Names of Jewish Brides and Grooms who married in Izmir Between the Years 1883-1901 & 1918-1933". By Dov Cohen.
Dov Cohen has created an index of brides and grooms based on the organization of Ketubot (Jewish wedding contracts) from marriages within the Turkish community of Izmir. From this material we can identify the Jewish families who lived in Turkey since the Spanish expulsion in 1492 in two periods: the end of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of the secular government of Turkish Republic. Events of these periods forced this community to emigrate to America.
List of (mostly) Sephardic grooms from the publication, "List of 7300 Names of Jewish Brides and Grooms who married in Izmir Between the Years 1883-1901 & 1918-1933". By Dov Cohen.
Dov Cohen has created an index of brides and grooms based on the organization of Ketubot (Jewish wedding contracts) from marriages within the Turkish community of Izmir. From this material we can identify the Jewish families who lived in Turkey since the Spanish expulsion in 1492 in two periods: the end of the Ottoman Empire and the beginning of the secular government of Turkish Republic. Events of these periods forced this community to emigrate to America.
The Jews of New Spain, by Seymour B. Liebman
Professor Liebman endeavors to discover why, beginning in 1521, Jews migrated from Old Spain to New Spain. He then proceeds to document the persistence of Jewish life in the face of a new Spanish Inquisition and formalized suppression including forced conversion and exclusion from citizenship. The author concludes it was the religious, cultural and personal vitality of Jews that caused their cherished and proud identity to persist, even though most of the earliest Jewish migrants eventually did assimilate into Mexican society.
From the publication, "Los Sefardíes" (The Sephardim),by Jose M. Estrugo. Published by Editorial Lex La Habana, 1958.(Surnames common among the Sephardim)
When the Romans conquered the Jewish nation in 70 CE, much of the Jewish population was sent into exile throughout the Roman Empire. Many were sent to the Iberian peninsula. The area became known by the Hebrew word "Sepharad". The JEWS in SPAIN and PORTUGAL became known as "Sephardim" or and those things associated with the SEPHARDIM including names, customs, genealogy and religious rituals, became known as SEPHARDIC.
The Jews of the Balkans, The Judeo-Spanish Community , 15th to 20th Centuries, by Esther Benbassa and Aron Rodrigue
This volume is a history of the Sephardi diaspora in the Balkans. The two principal axes of the study are the formation and features of the Judeo-Spanish culture area in South-Eastern Europe and around the Aegean littoral, and the disintegration of this community in the modern period. The great majority of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 eventually went to the Ottoman Empire. With their command of Western trades and skills, they represented a new economic force in the Levant. In the Ottoman Balkans, the Jews came to reconstitute the bases of their existence in the semi-autonomous spheres allowed to them by their new rulers. This segment of the Jewish diaspora came to form a certain unity, based on a commonality of the Judeo-Spanish language, culture and communal life. The changing geopolitics of the Balkans and the growth of European influence in the 19th century inaugurated a period of westernization. European influence manifested itself in the realm of education, especially in the French education, dispensed in the schools of the Alliance Israelite Universelle with its headquarters in Paris. Other European cultures and languages came to the scene through similar means. Cultural movements such as the Jewish Enlightenment (haskalah) also came to exert a distinct influence, hence building bridges between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi worlds
The Sephardim of England, by Albert M. Hyamson
A history of the Spanish & Portugese Jewish Community, 1492-1951.
A History of the Jews in Christian Spain,Volume 2, by Yitzhak Baer.
Traces the economic, social, legal and political life of the Spanish Jewish community from the 11th century re-conquest of Iberia from Muslim rule to the expulsion of 1492. Based on many years of study in the Spanish archives by a Professor from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.
A Life of Menasseh Ben Israel,by Cecil Roth.
This book contains names from the Sephardic community of greater Amsterdam. Amsterdam was a major haven and transfer point for Sephardim and Crypto-Jews leaving Iberia.
Secrecy and Deceit: The Religion of the Crypto-Jews, by David Gitlitz
Despite the increased attention given to Hispano-Jewish topics, and the "conversos" or Crypto-Jews in particular, this is the first thorough compilation of their customs and practices. The author has culled from Inquisition documents and other sources to paint a portrait of the richness and diversity of Crypto-Jewish practices in Spain, Portugal, and the New World. The history of Spanish Jews, or Sephardim, stretches back to biblical times. The Jews of Spain and Portugal made formative contributions to all Hispanic cultures, the impact of which is first being measured and recognized today. The Sephardim experienced a Golden Age in Iberia between 900-1100, during which they acted as the intermediaries between the rival political and cultural worlds of Islam and Christianity. This Golden Age ended with the Reconquest of Spain by Catholic overlords, though for another 300 years the Jews continued to contribute to Iberian life. In 1391 and again in 1492, intense and violent social pressures were put upon the Jews to join the larger Christian community. Many Jews converted, often unwillingly. In 1492 the remaining Jews were exiled from Spain. The converted Jews (Conversos) became an underclass in Spanish society. Many of them clung tenaciously to Jewish practices in the face of torture and death at the hands of the Inquisition. Having lost contact with other Jews, these people developed a religion which was an admixture of Catholic and Jewish rituals. David Gitlitz examines these practices in detail and attempts to answer the question of whether the Conversos were in fact Jewish. Gitlitz's research is exhaustive. He has combed through thousands of Inquistion records, showing that a sense of "Jewishness" if not Jewish practice remained a core value of many Spaniards' lives well into the 1700s. Gitlitz is convincing in showing that the Inquisition unwittingly aided crypto-Jews in perpetuating themselves by publishing Edicts of Faith. Essentially checklists for informers, they described the behavior of "Judaizers" (sometimes the practices listed were absurd or simply erroneous). These, ironically, were used by Judaizers as guides to religious behavior. It is revealing that as the Inquisition faded, crypto-Judaism waned, though never totally vanished. Gitlitz's knowledge and research on the subject is encyclopedic. The book is written in a "textbook" style which makes it somewhat technical and dry, though it is enlivened by excerpts from Inquisition records, which Gitlitz has apparently chosen for their interest, irony, unintended comedy, or spiritedness. It is difficult to imagine that human beings would face the tortures of the rack for not eating pork. That these same tortured people could summon the will to laugh at their executioners is something wondrous. The book includes the names of the Sephardim (and sometimes their residences too).
The Jews of Jamaica, by Richard D. Barnett and Philip Wright.Oron Yoffe, Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, 1997.
The product of many years of painstaking research by two late scholars, Richard D. Barnett and Philip Wright, this volume presents the texts or summaries of 1456 tombstone inscriptions of Jews who lived in Jamaica between 1663, when the British ousted the Spanish, and 1880, when systematic registration of deaths was introduced. Jewish families who had fled the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal settled in Jamaica in increasing numbers during that time. Ashkenazic Jews also settled there in the eighteenth century. The Jews played a significant part in developing the island's natural resources and its international trade. Featuring detailed indexes by name, date and language, The Jews of Jamaica is a valuable tool for the study of immigration to the Americas, the surnames, given names and genealogy of Sephardi Jews. The texts of the inscriptions, many of them in three languages (Hebrew, English and Portuguese or Spanish), are of cultural interest and sometimes refer to dramatic events in the lives of the Jewish residents of Jamaica during a turbulent period.
Judios Conversos (Jewish Converts) by Mario Javier Saban. Distal, Buenos Aires, 1990. The ancestors of the Argentinian Jewish families. "Portuguese" (Jews) of La Rioja.
This best-selling work traces the immigration of Conversos from Portugal to Argentina and Brazil. It contains many Sephardic names and family trees within its 3 volumes. Many of the individuals listed appeared before the Inquisition and were secret Jews. Some later converted and intermarried. Many of the names listed here represent the famous names of Jewish/Sephardic Argentina. Over 100 pages of genealogies, well detailed, are provided.
Sangre Judia (Jewish Blood) by Pere Bonnin. Flor de Viento, Barcelona, 2006. A list of 3,500 names used by Jews, or assigned to Jews by the Holy Office (la Santo Oficio) of Spain. The list is a result of a census of Jewish communities of Spain by the Catholic Church and as found in Inquisition records.
Pere Bonnin, a philosopher, journalist and writer from Sa Pobla (Mallorca), a descendant of converted Jews, settles with this work a debt "owed to his ancestors", in his own words. The book, written in a personal and accessible style and based on numerous sources, includes a review of basic Jewish concepts, Jewish history in Spain, and Christian Anti-Semitism. There is also a section that focuses on the reconciliation between the Church and Monarchy and the Jews, which took place in the 20th Century. In this study, Bonnin deals in depth with the issue of surnames of Jewish origin. In the prologue, the author explains the rules he followed in the phonetic transcription of surnames of Hebrew origin that are mentioned in the book. The researcher cites the Jewish origin, sometimes recognized and other times controversial, of historically prominent figures (like Cristobal Colon, Hernan Cortes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and many others) and links between surnames of Jewish origin with some concepts in Judaism.. The book also includes an appendix with more than three thousands surnames "suspected" of being Jewish, because they appear in censuses of the Jewish communities and on the Inquisitorial lists of suspected practitioners of Judaism, as well as in other sources. In the chapter "Una historia de desencuentro", the author elaborates on surnames of Jewish origin of the royalty, nobility, artistocracy, clergy, and also of writers, educators and university teachers during the Inquisition. Special attention is given to the "Chuetas" of Mallorca, the birthplace of the author.
Raizes Judaicas No Brasil,(Jewish Roots in Brazil) by Flavio Mendes de Carvalho.
This book contains names of New Christians or Brazilians living in Brazil condemned by the Inquisition in the 17th and 18th centuries, as taken from the archives of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon. Many times details including date of birth, occupation, name of parents, age, and location of domicile are also included. The list also includes the names of the relatives of the victims. There are several cases in which many members of the same family were tortured and sentenced so some family lines may end here.
Sephardic names from the magazine "ETSI". Most of the names are from (but not limited to) France and North Africa. Published by Laurence Abensur-Hazan and Philip Abensur.
ETSI (a Paris-based, bilingual French-English periodical) is devoted exclusively to Sephardic genealogy and is published by the Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society (SGHS). It was founded by Dr. Philip Abensur, and his professional genealogist wife, Laurence Abensur-Hazan. ETSI's worldwide base of authors publish articles identifying a broad spectrum of archival material of importance to the Sephardic genealogist. A useful feature of ETSI is the listing, on the back cover, of all Sephardic family names, and places of origin, cited in the articles contained in each issue
The Inquisitors and the Jews in the New World, by Seymour B. Liebman
Except for a brief introduction, the entire book is a listing of Inquisition Records in the New World. This is a source for converso names in the New World.
The Sephardic Jews of Bordeaux, by Frances Malino
Describing the tensions that existed between the Sephardic community of Bordeaux and the Ashkenazic Jews of France, the author also depicts their role in the relation of the Jews with Napoleon and the forming of the Grand Sanhedrin
Histoire des Juifs de Rhodes, Chio, Cos,(History of the Jews of Rhodes: Chio,Cos) by Professor Abraham Galante, published in Istanbul.
Abraham Galante (1873-1961) was first a teacher and an inspector in the Jewish Turkish Schools of Rhodes and Izmir. He conducted an active campaign for the adoption of the Turkish language by the Jews. In 1914, after the revolution of the Young Turks, Galante was appointed professor of Semitic languages and later of history of the Ancient Orient. His principal field of scientific activity was the study of the Jewish history in Turkey
A Origem Judaica dos Brasileiros (The Origin of The Brazilian Jews), by Jose Geraldo Rodrigues de Alckmin Filho
This publication contains a list of 517 Sephardic families punished by the inquisition in Portugal and Brazil.
The Circumcision Register of Isaac and Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks (London. England).
This register is from the manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers & Godmothers.
The Circumcision Register of Isaac and Abraham De Paiba (1715-1775) from the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of Bevis Marks(London. England).
The circumcision register of Isaac and Abraham de Paiba (1715-1775): from the manuscript record preserved in the Archives of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation of London named "Sahar Asamaim" transcribed, translated and edited by the late R.D. Barnett, with the assistance of Alan Rose, I.D. Duque and others; There is also a supplement with a record of circumcisions 1679-1699, marriages 1679-1689 and some female births 1679-1699, compiled by Miriam Rodrigues-Pereira. The register includes surnames of those circumsized as well as the names of their Godfathers & Godmothers.
Conversos on Trial, by Haim Bienart. The Hebrew University Magnes Press Ltd. 1981.
The third volume in the Hispania Judaica Series, this well written story of the converso community of Ciudad Real in Spain, based on the Inquisition trials of the mid 15th century. The book was written by Haim Beinart (1917-2010), Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an expert on this subject, and contains a list of names, sometimes also providing the names of relatives, house locations, and professions. Based on the Inquisition's records, it is a portrait of the Conversos' deep yearning for their Jewish past and the ultimate sacrifice they were prepared to offer for their continued adherence to their ancestral faith.
Apellidos de Judios Sefardies (Surnames of the Sephardic Jews) from the site Comunidad Judia Del Principado de Asturias
The Principality of Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias - Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies) is an autonomous community within the kingdom of Spain, former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. It is situated on the Spanish North coast facing the Cantabrian Sea (Mar Cantábrico, the Spanish name for the Bay of Biscay). The most important cities are the provincial capital, Oviedo, the seaport and largest city Gijón, and the industrial town of Avilés. No one knows the exact date at which Jews arrived in Asturias. Based solely on the documentation found so far in Asturias, there are clear references to the mid-eleventh century Council of Coyanza held in the Diocese of Oviedo in 1050 which states in Chapter VI: "... no Christian shall live in the same house with Jews or eat with them; if anyone infringes our constitution, they shall do penance for seven days, and if not willing to do it, being a noble person, they shall be deprived of communion for a full year, and if an inferior person they will receive a hundred lashes." But it is in the twelfth century when the rise and importance of the Jewish people is more noticeable in this region. Jewish witness signatures begin to appear more often on donation pledge cards from 1133. Asturias names are not very common among the Jewish population in other parts of the peninsula around the same time, perhaps causing confusion.
Dicionario Sefaradi De Sobrenomes (Dictionary of Sephardic Surnames), G. Faiguenboim, P. Valadares, A.R. Campagnano, Rio de Janeiro, 2004
A bilingual (Portugese/English)reference book of Sephardic surnames. Includes New Christians, Conversos, Crypto-Jews (Marranos), Italians, Berbers and their history in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Contains over 16,000 surnames presented under 12000 entries, with hundreds of rare photographs, family shields and illustrations.It also contains a 72-page summary of Sephardic history, before and after the expulsion from Spain and Portugal, as well as a 40-page linguistic essay about Sephardic names, including an interesting list of the 250 most frequent Sephardic surnames. The period covered by the dictionary is of 600 years, from the 14th to the 20th century, and the area covered includes Spain and Portugal, France, Italy, Holland, England, Germany, Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, the former Ottoman Empire, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America and more.
ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001, "Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used by Sephardim in Amsterdam. True Sephardic Name=Alias Name
When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism. Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam. Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam. Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.
ETSI, Volume 4, No.12 dated March 2001, "Aliases in Amsterdam", by Viberke Sealtiel-Olsen, a list of alias names used by Sephardim in Amsterdam. Alias Name=True Sephardic Name
When the Conversos fled Portugal to settle in Amsterdam they returned openly to Judaism. Because they often still had relatives in Portugal, they tried to protect them by using aliases in their transactions. However, it wasn’t only the Portuguese who wound up in Amsterdam. Even a century after 1492, conversos were finding their way from Spain to Amsterdam. Listing a person as a Portuguese merchant generally meant he was Jewish. Their family contacts worldwide, along with their language skills, were great commercial assets in their farflung business ventures. And in their contacts with family back home, they had to be discreet as to not bring suspicion on relatives left behind This work is a wonderful research tool for Sephardic research in Amsterdam.
Dicionario Sefaradi De Sobrenomes (Dictionary of Sephardic Surnames), G. Faiguenboim, P. Valadares, A.R. Campagnano, Rio de Janeiro, 2004
A bilingual (Portugese/English)reference book of Sephardic surnames. Includes New Christians, Conversos, Crypto-Jews (Marranos), Italians, Berbers and their history in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Contains over 16,000 surnames presented under 12000 entries, with hundreds of rare photographs, family shields and illustrations.It also contains a 72-page summary of Sephardic history, before and after the expulsion from Spain and Portugal, as well as a 40-page linguistic essay about Sephardic names, including an interesting list of the 250 most frequent Sephardic surnames. The period covered by the dictionary is of 600 years, from the 14th to the 20th century, and the area covered includes Spain and Portugal, France, Italy, Holland, England, Germany, Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, the former Ottoman Empire, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America and more.
Ruth Reyes, "Sephardic Family Names from Puerto Rico", The Casa Shalom Journal, Volume 10, Published by The Institute for Marrano-Anusim Studies, Gan Yavneh, Israel 2008
This list is compiled from a catalogue the author found on a visit to Puerto Rico in the Museum of San Juan.
Studies on Turkish-Jewish History: Political and Social Relations, Literature and Linguistics, by David Altabe, Erhan Atay and Israel J. KatzSepher Hermon Press, Brooklyn,New York, 1996
In the decade following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and during the generation following the forced baptism of the Jews in Portugal in 1498 (many of them Spanish refugees), Sephardim migrated eastward to the Ottoman Empire and were encouraged to settle in those areas devoid of Jews. A vibrant renaissance of Jewish creativity was intimately linked with the fate and fortune of the Ottoman realm that welcomed them.
Laurence Abensur-Hazan. La Boz del Pueblo,(The People's Voice) from "CGJ: Cercle de Genealogie Juive", the Jewish Genealogical Society in France, Publication No. 49,t.13, Paris, 1997.
Genealogical data records on Jews from Izmir from "La Boz del Puevlo", by Laurence Abensur-Hazan. The author is a founder and president of Etsi ("my tree" in Hebrew), the Sephardi Historical and Genealogical Society based in Paris. A graduate notary and lawyer, she is currently a professional genealogist in Paris. She works on the French naturalization of Jews from the Ottoman Empire and on the Alliance Israelite Universelle Archives.
Laurence Abensur-Hazan. Genealogical Review & Sephardic History, Paris, 1997.
The author is a founder and current President of Etsi ("my tree" in Hebrew), the Sephardi Historical and Genealogical Society based in Paris. A graduate notary and lawyer, she is currently a professional genealogist in Paris. She works on the French naturalization of Jews from the Ottoman Empire and on the Alliance Israelite Universelle Archives.
List of eminent members of the Asociacion Israelita de Venezuela, Caracas, 1999.
The Israelite Association of Venezuela, known as Tiferet Israel, founded in the 1920's by Sephardic Jews, is the oldest surviving Jewish organization in Venezuela. An association of Sephardic Jews, The Association has two synagogues in Caracas and other affiliated synagogues in various locations, and counts 800 families among its members. In late January 2009, the synagogue was badly damaged in a devastating attack, following an article inciting anti-Semitic violence, which appeared (later removed, and replaced by an apology) on a government website, after the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict.
Bernard Allali. La saga des noms des familles juives tunisiennes(The saga of the names of Tunisian Jewish families) en "Le Voyage Loisirs", France, 1977
The story of Jewish surnames in Tunisia.
Nota dei Mezzani ebrei di Livorno approvati nel 1765 (The Jews of Livorno 1765), in Archivio Storico, Italy, 1989
List of Jews in Livorno in 1765, published in "Italian Historical Archives", a magazine founded in 1842 and published under the auspices of the Deputation of National History in Tuscany.
Robert Attal and Joseph Avivi. "Registres Matrimoniaux de la Comminaute Juive Portugaise de Tunis. XVIII-XIX Siecles" (Matrimonial records of the Tunisian Portuguese Jewsih Community 18th-19th Centuries), Oriens Judaicus, Ben Zvi Institute, Israel 1989
Listing of marriages that occurred in the Portuguese Jewish Community of Tunis which kept itself separate from the local Tunisian Jews and kept careful records. French and Hebrew editions are available.
J. Lucio de Azevedo. Historia dos Cristaos-Novos Portugueses (History of the Portuguese New-Christians), Lisbon, 1989.
The author is considered an expert on the study of this subject. After the Portuguese Inquisition, the remaining Jewish population in Portugal became officially Christian. These new Christians were always under suspicion of apostasy.
Samuel Isaac Benchimol."Eretz Amazonia. Os Judeus na Amazonia" (The Jews of the Amazons), Manaus, 1998.
Samuel Isaac Benchimol was born on July 13, 1923 in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. He was a writer (with 110 published works), member of the Academia Amazonense de Letras), professor (Emeritus at the Universidade do Amazonas, where he taught for over 50 years), community leader (served as president of the Amazonas Jewish Community from 1975-1985) and businessman. His vast body of intellectual work includes books and articles. His dedication to his community culminated with the publication of this work, “Eretz Amazônia”. Professor Benchimol took it upon himself to visit every Jewish cemetery in the Amazon, listing all the surnames. Later, tracking these surnames, he was able to determine which were the Amazonian families of Jewish origin, extrapolating as in the case of the surname Assayag, nowadays used by thousands of families, many of them assimilated and converted to Christianity.
Marcelo Benveniste. "Origen: La Isla de Rodas" (Origin: The Island of Rhodes), in Boletin No.3, Sociedad Argentina de Genealogia Judia, Buenos Aires, apr 1997.
Marcelo Benveniste, List of Holocaust Victims (online)
List of names based on the book "The Jewish Martyrs of Rhodes and Cos" by Hizkia Franco (Rhodes, 1947) and in "History of the Jews of Rhodes, Chios and Cos" (Istanbul, 1948) by Abraham Galante. Revised and corrected by David Galante and Rita Eskenazi de Levitus.
Matilde Gini de Barnatan. Picciotto, originals, Sao Paulo, 1996.
Genealogy of the descendants of Daniel Pichoto (b.1605), a family originating from Livorno and based in Alepo. It is a branch that became a consular dynasty, representing European powers in the East.
Claudie Blamont (president). Revue du Cercle de Genealogie Juive (The Circle of Jewish Genealogy), Paris, 1998.
The Cercle de Généalogie Juive (CDGJ) located in Paris,France maintains a list of members and the families and areas they are researching.
Ugo Caffaz. Discrimination & Persecution of the Jews in Fascist Italy, Florence, 1988.
Written by a Jewish sociologist in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the promulgation of Mussolini's anti-semitic measures. These began with a manifesto on the race prepared by Italian "scientists" on 14 July 1938 and continued with successive, ever more draconian, edicts throughout the year. This work collects much of this legislation, which expelled foreign Jews from Italian soil and deprived Italian Jews of their civil rights, stripped them of party membership, expelled them from the armed forces, removed them from their positions in government service (and, thus, from educational institutions), barred students from the universities and the public schools, banned marriages between Christians and Jews, forbade Christians from domestic employment in Jewish homes and Jews from the ownership and management of large corporations, among other punitive measures. One of the most valuable features of this book is its listing of every Jew expelled from the education system, specifying university affiliation and discipline.
Paul Armony. "Apellidos sefardies mas frecuentes obtenidos de los cementerios Avellaneda - Lomas de Zamora - Ciudadela (Acis y Asia) - Tablada Sefaradi y Bancalari" (Common sephardic names as taken from the Avellaneda Cemetery). SEFARAires Nº9 / 2003 página 7.
Paul Armony, President of the Jewish Genealogy Association in Argentina, collected and organized 19,060 records from six Jewish Sephardic cemeteries in Argentina. Of the 3682 surnames of deceased found there, 58% were found to have the same 334 surnames.
Rabbi ltzjak Chehebar: Un visionario. Vida y Obra,(Rabbi Yitzhak Chehebar : Life and Work of a Visionary), Buenos Aires, 1995.
In Argentina there is a sizeable community of Syrian Jews. The most influential rabbinic authority for this community was Rabbi Isaac Chehebar from the "Yessod Hadat" congregation on Lavalle street (Buenos Aires); he was consulted from all across the globe, and had an influential role in the recovery of parts of the Aleppo Codex (a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible).
Rio de Janeiro's Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Burial Society) lists, Rio de Janeiro, august 1998.
Sao Paulo Chevra Kadisha, List of people buried, Sao Paulo 1997.
The Chevra Kadisha (Jewish Burial Society) of Sao Paulo is a Society founded in February 25, 1923, to care for the burial of the Jews of Sao Paulo (city and state). The Society currently runs 4 Jewish cemeteries in Sao Paulo. The research was conducted in three ways: reading the tombstones, a consulting the list of deaths until 24 September 1997, and from the society's records and books. The list of deaths, organized by Prof. Solomon, has the name of the deceased, the grave location and the date of his burial. The books are more detailed, with biographical data, which includes the city of origin, thus enabling it to be confirmed as Sephardic. This is a formal record of one of the most important Jewish communities in Latin America, showing how the country was very attractive for Jews from different and distant locations.
Dov Cohen. "Fuentes para la Genealogia de los Judios de Izmir (Esmirna)(Sources for the Genealogy of the Jews of Izmir (Smyrna)" Boletin n° 2 p. 18-9 Sociedad Argentina de Genealogia Judaica, Buenos Aires, dec 1996.
Joseph Covo. The Jewish community and family names of Sephardic Jews in Ruschuk (Rousse), Bulgaria, in Etsi n° 15, vol. 4, pp. 10-13, Paris, 2001.
Joseph Covo, is a native of Sofia, Bulgaria. He holds a B.A. in political science and journalism and an M.A. in international law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He immigrated to Palestine in 1944 after spending two years in a forced labor camp during World War II. After the establishment of the State of Israel and service in the Israel Defense Forces, he was sent by the Jewish Agency to South America to promote the Aliya of young Jews. He devoted his career to the advancement of Israeli technological training systems in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries. After retiring he studied Ladino literature at Bar Ilan University. His book on the history of the Jews of Bulgaria was published in 2002. In the newly-liberated Bulgaria of the late 19th century, Ruse was a cosmopolitan city with a multi-ethnic population. According to the first census conducted in 1883, Ruse was populated by 26,156 people,of which 1943 were Sephardic Jews.
Samuel de Paz. Commonaute Portugaise de Tunisie (Portuguese Community of Tunisia), manuscript, Jerusalem, 1932.
Dodi Harari Sasson (Traductor), Caderno de Brith Milah de Alepo entre 1861 e 1940, (Notebook of "Brith Milah" of the Mohel Isaac Dayan from Aleppo).
The principal identification of the Jewish male is the Brith Milah(circumcision). The "Mohelim" (circumsizers) usually keep a record with a list of the circumcised boys. This serves as a guide for him and also for the Rabbis. These private documents were manuscripted and there are many notebooks like this in existence throughout the world. The Dayan Family was a dynasty of mohelim in Aleppo, between 1871 and 1941.This particular record belongs to Mr. Isaac Dayan (Sao Paulo), who received it from his father, the Mohel Selim Dayan. There are 56 pages written in Hebrew-Rashi, with dates in Arabic. The notes include the identity of the child (first name, patronymic and surname) and date of circumcision according to the Jewish calendar.The translation was done by Mr. Harari Dodi, originally from Halab,(Daud Farag Sasson, Sao Paulo), who knew both Arabic and Hebrew and also knew the historical peculiarities of the Jewish community. Surnames are of varied origins, because the city was a gateway for caravans and commerce and include surnames from Arabic, Turkish, Italian and Iberian origins. Several of them are not used anymore because of their derogatory meaning. Jews no longer live in Aleppo. Initially they immigrated to Cairo, Alexandria and Beirut. Subsequently, from the Middle East, they immigrated to Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Mexico and USA, where they have attained substantial economic and social influence.
List of the eminent associates of the Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, Seattle, 2000.
Congregation Ezra Bessaroth is a Sephardic Congregation founded by immigrants from the Mediterranean Island of Rhodes in Seattle, Washington (USA). The Synagogue, which was founded about a hundred years ago, holds fast to the traditions of their home island, fastidiously maintaining the liturgy and customs of the Rhodes tradition.
Maurice Eisenbeth. The Jews of North Africa, Demographics & Omnastics, Argelia, 1936.
There are two parts to this study by a rabbi from Algeria: The first is the demography and the occupation of Jewish families in North Africa, including those who settled there after the expulsion. The second part of this work is a study of North African Jewish names. The goal of this research was to record family surnames and the locations where they were found. This work is a good source for onomastical origins.
Nissim Elnecave. Los Hijos de Ibero-Franconia. Breviario del Mundo Sefaradí desde los Orígenes hasta nuestros días(The Children of Iberia-Spain: World Sephardic Breviary from the beginning to today), Editorial "La Luz", Buenos Aires, 1981.
In this work on Sephardic history, the author argues his main thesis: Sephardic is a cultural concept, and therefore should not be restricted to descendants of Portuguese and Spanish Jews, but should also extend to France, Italy and the Arab world.
Esther Fintz Menasce. Gli Ebrei a Rodi (The Jews in Rhodes), Edizioni. Angelo Guerini e Associati, Milano, 1992.
This book is more than a history of what was the Jewish community of Rhodes - it is a vibrant chronicle of how the Jews have survived and how they have been perceived by travelers from other lands, and recounts their intimate relationships, their language, their folklore and their religious festivities. The text is enriched with 254 pages of documents in several languages dealing with governmental, communal, commercial and personal communications, photographs, maps (some dating back to the 15th century),musical notations, newspaper excerpts and much more. All this research is presented in a style that charms the reader.
Claudio Missistrano. El Tiempo, 1890-1891 et 1894-1897 published in ETSI n. 14, Paris, 2001.
Announcements of invitations for weddings and engagements published in the newspaper "El Tiempo" in 1890-1891 and 1894-1897.
List of surnames of Jews residing in Toledo prior to expulsion edict.
From Nahman Family Research.
Liliana Picciotto Fargion.Il Libro Della Memoria, Gli ebrei deportati dall'Italia 1943-1945 (The Book of Memory:Jews Deported from Italy 1943-1945), Mursia, 1991.
This meticulously and painstakingly researched work reconstructs the deportation of Italian Jewry to the German death camps. Out of a Jewish population that by 1943 had been reduced by emigration to slightly over 40,000 (of whom 6,500 were foreigners), 6,746 were deported from Italy proper, and another 1,820 from the Dodecanese, Italian possessions in the Aegean. An additional 303 Jews were killed on Italian soil. Identities of at least 900-1,100 other victims have not been established. This work lists in precise demographic detail the names of the known deceased together with the date and place of each arrest, initial place of incarceration, date of departure for Auschwitz, convoy number (forty-four trains set out from Italy), date of debarkation at the camp (the journey took about five days), and date of execution. For most, this was the same day as arrival. The cover photo of this book shows two-year-old Fiorella Anticoli, seized with her entire family in the infamous roundup of almost 1,300 Roman Jews on 16 October 1943. The arrests were carried out by units of the S.S. specially trained for such "actions" and sent to the Italian capital for the purpose. Working under the very walls of the Vatican, the operation had to be carried out as efficiently and with as little tumult and commotion as possible.
Maria Jose Pimenta Ferro. Os Judeus em Portugal no seculo XIV (The Jews in Portugal in the 14th Century), Guimarães,Lisbon, 1979.
In this work the author describes the Jewish communities and their position in Portuguese society and economy in the 14th Century. The book contains biographical data, maps, bibliography, name index.
List of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Sao Paulo (Federacao Israelita de Sao Paulo), Sao Paulo, 1988.
The Jewish Federation of São Paulo is an entity that seeks to unite the community Jewish state of Sao Paulo. It was founded in 1946 in order to meet the needs of Jewish immigrants fleeing Europe. The federation has been expanding its headquarters and its services and in 2001 inaugurated the Centro Cultural Israelita de Taubaté.
Iria Goncalves. Imagens do Mundo Medieval (Images of the Medieval World), Lisbon, 1988.
La Designation d' un Grand Rabbin de Tunisie en 1928 (The appointment of a Chief Rabbi of Tunisia in 1928), in Revue des Etudes Juives, CLI, Paris, jan/jun 1992.
From literary and archaeological sources, evidence has been gathered of a rich Jewish communal life in Tunisia going back some 2300 years. This article discusses the changes that came about with the introduction of the French protectorate in 1881. The French intervened in all areas of Jewish communal life, so far as to decide on the appointment of the chief rabbi of all Tunisia, which was to be a French Jew. This decision aroused a revolt in the community, who strongly opposed it, demanding the appointment of a Chief Rabbi of Tunisian origin. The Conservative Party took the lead in drafting a petition calling on the entire Jewish population of the Regency to support this view and won: Rabbi Youssef Guez, a Tunisian Jewish native, was elected in 1928 to the post of Chief Rabbi of Tunisia, and remained so until his death in 1934.
Cap. Artur Carlos de Barros Basto (editor). HaLapid (official organ of the Obra do Resgate), Porto, dec. 20-50.
Magazine edited by the "Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue" congregation, in the city of Porto. This was founded by Crypto-Jews who returned to the Jewish religion during a movement called "the Work of Rescue" which was undertaken by Captain Barros Basto in the 1930's among various communities of Jewish descent.
Liz Hamui de Halabe and Fredy Charabati(co-editors), Los Judios de Alepo en Mexico,(The Jews from Alepo in Mexico), Mexico,1989.
History and genealogy of the Jews from Aleppo, Syria who emigrated to Mexico; with index, bibliography and maps.
Worcman, Suzanne, Feller, Aiala, & Worcman, Karen. Legacies and memories: Jewish immigrants in Rio de Janeiro, Jewish Religious Association of Rio de Janeiro, 1991.
The contents of this book are now available online. This material was collected in direct contact with immigrants, focusing on the period of its origins. Their stories, consisting of words, photographs and objects they brought with them, represent the last chance to meet directly the collective experience of individuals who, in the 20th century, started a new life in Brazil.
Albert Montefiore Hyamson. The Sefaradim of England, Methuen, 1951.
This is a history of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community in the years 1492-1951 by Albert Montefiore Hyamson (1875-1954),a British zionist and historian who served as chief immigration officer in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1921 to 1934. He argued that Christians should assist the Jews in creating and protecting the new state to atone for their persecution of the Jews in the past.
Joseph Toledano. Une Histoire de familles. Les Noms de Famille Juifs d'Afrique du Nord (A family story. The Family names of Jews from North Africa). Jerusalem, 1998
The author is descended from one of the important Jewish families of North Africa, that settled in Morocco in 1492 after fleeing the Inquisition. The book which has 870 pages and is arranged like an encyclopedia with onomastics entries, brings valuable information on 1250 family groups from North Africa, their family names, and location in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Julio Caro Baroja. Los judios en la Espana Moderna y Contemporanea (The Jews in Modern and Contemporary Spain), I,II,III, Madrid, 1986
In these 3 volumes, the author relates the history of the descendants of Jews in Spain, mainly with respect to the persecution of New-Christians, and their contribution of this group to the country.
Jean Pierre Filippini. Il Porto di Livorno e La Toscana (1676-1814)(The Port of Livorno and Tuscany 1676-1814), Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli, 1998.
Contains the census of Jews in Livorno in 1809.
Yosef Kaplan (editor). Jews and Conversos, Studies in Society and the Inquisition, in The Hebrew University Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 1985
This collection of articles sheds lights on the social, economic and cultural life of Spanish and Portuguese Jewry in the Middle Ages, while stressing at the same time the unique role of the conversos in the history of the Iberian Peninsula and its Jewish community.
Yitchak Kerem. La Aristocracia Sefaradi de Jerusalén (Sephardi Aristocracy in Jerusalem) - 500 Years after the Expulsion from Spain, in Ariel No 105, pp. 63-67,Jerusalem, Jul 1998.
"Just as New York has its Grandees, Jerusalem has its aristocratic Samech-Tetim; those affluent Sephardic families who trace their origin to Spain. This sector of the population of the capital city is hardly known, rarely heard from, but centrally important." The author goes on to discuss who these aristocrats are, their history and their heritage.
Ketuboth van de Portugees-Israelietische Gemeente te Amsterdam van 1650-1911 (Index of Ketuboth of the Portuguese Jewish Congregation in Amsterdam from 1650 and 1911). D. Verdooner and H.J.W.Snel.
The Portuguese Jewish Community in Amsterdam was formed by Marranos who returned to Judaism after they had been converted to Catholicism in 1492 (Spain) and 1497 (Portugal). Families who lived in Toledo before 1492 reappear in Amsterdam in the 17th century, showing that for five generations (120 years) they succeeded in maintaining some form of Judaism behind the Catholic image. In the Amsterdam Municipality between 1598 and 1811 about 15,000 marriage certificates of Jews were registered. This Index mainly pertains to the richer and influential Sephardic community of Amsterdam. The great merchants, ship owners, rabbis and philosophers (Spinoza, Menasse ben Israel, Isaac Aboab da Fonseca) all appear on it. There are also families from other Sephardic communities from Livorno and Tunis. Many times weddings represented the creation and maintenance of commercial alliances.
Plaque honoring the victims of the Holocaust who belong to the Synagogue "Kahal Shalom", Rhodes
In July 1944 the Nazis rounded up the more than 1600 Jews of Rhodes and sent them off to Auschwitz. Only 120 men and 30 women survived the ordeal.
Abraham Isaac Laredo. Les Noms des Juifs du Maroc,(Names of the Moroccan Jews), 1978.
Among scholars, this is considered one of the leading works on Judeo-Moroccan onomastics.Contain names,origins and variants.
Michele Luzzatti, Liana Borghi (ed.), Ebrei di Livorno tra Due Censimenti (1841-1938) (The Jews of Leghorn Between Two Censuses), Belforte Editore Libraio, Livorno, 1990.
This work tells the story of one upper-class Italian family: The Salmon - Cave Bondi Jews of Leghorn in between two censuses (1841-1938). Family memories and identity.
Eli S. Malka. Jacob's Children in the Land of the Mahdi: Jews of Sudan, Syracuse, 1997.
The author was born in the Sudan in 1910; his father was that nation's chief rabbi from 1906 to 1949. Malka chronicles the Sephardic Jewish community's history from its beginning in 1885 (when there were only eight families) to the late 1960s, when the Jews left the Sudan for more hospitable countries. Malka writes about his father's prominent role in the community and in the building of Khartoum's lavish synagogue and the community's growth, which peaked in the 1930s and 1940s. The book's final chapters are autobiographical as Malka focuses first on his childhood, then on his travels, career, marriage, and family, offering descriptions of Sephardic life and culture. The book offers plenty of charming stories centering around the hospitality of the Malka household, where Jews from the world over were welcomed and a variety of languages, including Arabic and French, were spoken.
Moises Hasson Camhi. Apellidos de los Judios de Monastir (Surnames of the Jews from Monastir).
The aim of this study is to identify the surnames of Jews who formed the community of Monastir. Monastir, which is now called Bitola, is the second largest city in Macedonia and it was the Capital of a province during the Ottoman Empire's rule. The author uses several sources to identify these names, including the list of Jews deported from Monastir in 1943. The locations to which these exiles migrated is also discussed and these include several cities in the same region: Thessaloniki, Florina, and even Jerusalem, and many others in the New World: USA, Brazil and Temuco,Chile.
Gary Mokotoff. Avotaynu.
Gary Mokotoff is a noted author, lecturer and leader of Jewish genealogy. He has been recognized by three major genealogical groups for his achievements. Avotaynu, The International Review of Jewish Genealogy, was founded in 1985 as a 20-page semiannual; it has grown to 68-page quarterly that is one of the most respected magazines in genealogy. The Avotaynu Consolidated Jewish Surname Index (CJSI) enables search by surname on 42 different databases.
A. Rodriguez-Monino. Les Judaisants a Badajoz de 1493 a 1599 (Secret Jews in Badajoz from 1493 until 1599), Paris, 1956.
This article includes a list of 231 condemned in chronological order and a list ordered by family names.
Emma Moya. New Mexico's Sephardim: Uncovering Jewish Roots in La Herencia del Norte: Our Past, Our Present, Our Future, Vol. XII, Winter 1996. (www.herencia.com).
According to author, Emma Moya, in an article written for La Herencia Del Norte, Volume XXII, Winter, 1996, there is evidence that many of the families who settled in New Spain were forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish and Mexican Inquisition. The article goes on to list many relevant Sephardic names.
Neusa Fernandes. A Inquisicao em Minas Gerais no sec. XVIII (Inquisition in Minas Gerais in the 18th Century), Rio de Janeiro, 2000.
Michael Molho. Surnames of the Sephardic Jews in Salonika, Madrid, 1950.
This work focuses on the rich cultural traditions and heritage of the largest Sephardic Jewish Community in the Balkans and provides names of the Sephardic Jews from the Salonica community.
Manuel Ramos de Oliveira. Os Cristaos-novos nos Distritos da Guarda e Castelo Branco,(New Christians in the districts of Guarda and Castelo Branca), em Beira Alta, vol. X, fasc. I-II, Portugal, 1951.
Judaism and Inquisicion in Panama Colonial, Panama, 1980.
Ohel Yaakov Synagogue, members list, Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo is home to approximately half of Brazil's Jewish population. The Ohel Yaakov Synagogue is one of the two major Sephardic synagogues in the region.
Emilio Picciotto. Genealogia della Famiglia Picciotto (dalla fine del 17° secolo), Milan, 1985.
Genealogical research on the Picciotto Family of Italy from the late 17th Century.
Franco Pisa, "Parnassim: le grandi Famiglie Ebraiche Italiane dal Secolo 11 al 19" (Parnassim : The great Italian Jewish families from 11th to 19th centuries), edited by Ariel Toaff in Annuario di Studi Ebraici, Carucci Editore, Rome, 1984
This is a recommended work about the genealogy of the great Italian families.
Max Polonovski. Les Juifs Proteges de la France dans les echelles du Levant et de Barbaria. (XVIIIe et XIX siecles),(Jews under French protectorate in Levant and Barbaria in 18th-19th centuries), in Revue du Cercle de Genealogie Juive No 53, tome 14, Paris, 1998.
Jacob Rubel et. al. (Editorial coordinator), "Sephardic Presence in Argentina" , published by the Sephardic Educational Center , Buenos Aires, 1992.
Book published by the Sephardic Educational Center on the occasion of 500th Anniversary of the Discovery of America.
J. Mendes dos Remedios, "Os Judeus Portugueses em Amsterdam" (The Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam), 1911, Coimbra
A compilation of Judeo-Portuguese texts published in Amsterdam can be found in this book and can now be downloaded. http://www.archive.org/details/osjudeusportugue00mend
Adriano Vasco Rodrigues. Judeus e Inquisição na Guarda,(Jews and The Inquisition in Guard, Portugal),published in the journal "Altitude", Porto, 1980.
Adriano Vasco Rodrigues is himself a historian and ethnographer from the Guard region in Portugal.
Yves Fedida & Avraham Malthete, "Montefiore Census: Jews in Alexandria", 1840
This census taken in 1840 amongst Jews in Alexandria Egypt can be viewed online with data including family names, first names, age, economic wealth,occupation, marital status, and offfspring. In the 19th and 20th community the Jewish community in Egypt was vibrant and growing, to which existing documents and records can testify. The Jewish population grew to over 90,000 poeple in the first half of the 20th century but virtually all the Jews fled the country in 1948. Today only a handful remain.
W.S. Samuel. In Jewish Historical Society of England. Transactions. Sessions 1968-1969, vol. XXII & Miscellanies Part. VII, University College, London, 1970.
This collection includes a list of Jewish Persons endenizened and naturalised in England in the period 1609-1799.
Samuel Benchimol. Judeus no Ciclo da Borracha,(Jews in the Rubber Age), Manaus, 1994.
Professor Samuel Benchimol estimates that between 1810 and 1850, before the rubber boom, about 300 Sephardic Jewish families emigrated to the Amazons, and between 1851 and 1910, another 700 arrived. At first, these immigrants found their way to the small towns of the interior of Pará and Amazonas, as Cameta, Almeirim, Obidos, Santarem, Itaituba, Itacoatiara, Tefé, Humaita, Porto Velho, and Belém where they found employment in offices and shops,or trading activities. Later, in the heyday of the boom, they began to advance economically as tenants and owners of rubber plantations in the interior, or as buyers of local products, in the streets of Bethlehem and Manaus. This Jewish immigration of the 19th century did not have the privelege of an organized Jewish community in Manaus and other cities. Only after the rubber boom receded was a strong Jewish Community established in the state capital.
Eleonora Maria Smolensky and Vera Vigevani Jarach, Tante Voci, Una Storia. Italiani Ebrei in Argentina (Many Voices, One Story :Italian Jews in Argentina) (1938-1948), Buenos Aires.
A collection of diaries and memoirs of Italian Jews who emigrated during the years of 1938-1948.
Daniel M. Swetschinski. Reluctant Cosmopolitans: The Portuguese Jews of Seventeenth Century Amsterdam, London, 2000.
Several thousand "New Christians" (the descendants of Portuguese Jews who had been forcibly converted some two centuries before) emigrated to Amsterdam in the 17th century. Subsequently the community decided to remanifest themselves as Jews. The author focuses on the social dimension of Jewish economic and religious life, formal and informal, as well as their interactions with the Dutch authorities and populace (an exceptionally cordial relationship for that time). Also explored is the contradictions that arose from Jews that often retained, sometimes without realizing it, Catholic ideas and views.
Leon Taranto. Izmir and Rhodes: Taranto family origins, archives and links to other Sephardim, in Etsi No 15, Paris, dec 2002.
ETSI (a Paris-based, bilingual French-English periodical) is devoted exclusively to Sephardic genealogy and is published by the Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society (SGHS). It was founded by Dr. Philip Abensur, and his professional genealogist wife, Laurence Abensur-Hazan. ETSI's worldwide base of authors publish articles identifying a broad spectrum of archival material of importance to the Sephardic genealogist. A useful feature of ETSI is the listing, on the back cover, of all Sephardic family names, and places of origin, cited in the articles contained in each issue
Maria Jose Pimenta Ferro Tavares. Os Judeus em Portugal no seculo XV (The Jews in Portugal in the Fifteenth Century) Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Lisbon, 1984.
Includes biographic data, maps and bibliography.
Renzo Toaff. La Nazione Ebrea a Livorno e a Pisa (1591-1700),(The Jewish Nation in Livorno and Pisa 1591-1700), Leo S. Olschki Editor, Florence, 1990.
The demographic history of Italian Jewry. Includes bibliographical references, with indexes and appendixes in Italian and Portuguese.
Paulo Valadares Collection, Campinas.
Dr. Albert de Vidas (editor). Erensia Sefardi, Fairfield, CT, USA.
This newsletter which is now online reports on a variety of topics related to the Sephardic world.
Isabel Monteiro. Os judeus na regiao de Viseu (The Jews in the region of Viseu), Viseu, 1997.
Rufina Bernardetti Silva Mausenbaum has extracted names of Jewish women, Jewish family names and names of New Christians in the 16th century in Viseu from this work by Isabel Monteiro.
The Abarbanel Foundation Website, "Reintegrating the Lost Jews of Spain & Portugal"
List of names of forcibly converted Jews who were tried by the Spanish Inquisition for practicing Judaism in Mexico in the years 1528 - 1815
The Other 1492: Jewish Settlement in the New World
1492 was the year in which the vibrant Jewish community of Spain came to an abrupt and tragic end. This book details the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal and their early immigration to the New World. European anti-Semitism followed the Jews but the newcomers persevered and made a home for themselves in the New World.
Distinguished Jewish bearers of the Franco name and its variants include : David Franco Mendes, poet born in Amsterdam (1713-1792). Moses Franco, historian Pinhero Aaron Franco, Dutch mathematician (7th Century). Gad Franco (1876-1954), Turkish lawyer
Around the 12th century, surnames started to become common in Iberia. In Spain, where Arab-Jewish influence was significant, these new names retained their old original structure, so that many of the Jewish surnames were of Hebrew derivation. Others were directly related to geographical locations and were acquired due to the forced wanderings caused by exile and persecution. Other family names were a result of conversion, when the family accepted the name of their Christian sponsor. In many cases, the Portuguese Jews bear surnames of pure Iberian/Christian origin. Many names have been changed in the course of migration from country to country. In yet other cases "aliases", or totally new names, were adopted due to fear of persecution by the Inquisition.
Here are some locations where registries of Sephardic or Christianized Jewish families with this surname have been traced: Amsterdam, Netherlands,Brusa, Italy,Magnesia, Greece,Navarra, Spain,Prague, Czech Republic,Rhodes, Greece,Smyrna, Netherlands,Tunis, Tunisia,Venice, Italy,Toledo, Spain,Aleppo, Syria,Boston, MA, USA,Hebron, Israel,Jerusalem, Israel,London, England,Mexico City, Mexico,Beja, Portugal,Minas Gerais, Brasil,Abrantes, Portugal,Alcacovas, Portugal,Alegrete, Portugal,Alenquer, Portugal,Alexandria, Egypt,Amazonas, Brazil,Arruda, Portugal,Aviz, Portugal,Badajoz, Spain,Borba, Portugal,Braganca, Portugal,Brousse, Balkans,Buenos Aires, Argentina,Cairo, Egypt,Caracas, Venezuela,Castelo Branco, Portugal,Castelo de Vide, Portugal,Coimbra, Portugal,Crato, Portugal,Elvas, Portugal,Estremoz, Portugal,Evora, Portugal,Faro, Portugal,Ferrara, Italy,Florence, Italy,Fronteira, Portugal,Fundao, Portugal,Gorizia, Italy,Gouveia, Portugal,Haskoy, Turkey,Istanbul, Turkey,La Canee, France,La Guardia, Spain,Lamego, Portugal,Leiria, Portugal,Lisbon, Portugal,Livorno (Leghorn), Italy,Macapa, Brasil,Monastir, Tunisia,Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal,Napoli, Italy,Nisa, Portugal,Odemira, Portugal,Padova, Italy,Paris, France,Penamacor, Portugal,Pisa, Italy,Portel, Portugal,Porto, Portugal,Portugal, ,Rio de Janeiro, Brasil,Rousse (Ruse), Bulgaria,Rovigo, Italy,Saloniki, Greece,Santarem, Portugal,Sao Paulo, Brasil,Seattle,WA, USA,Setubal, Portugal,Silivria, Turkey,Torino, Italy,Torre de Moncorvo, Portugal,Torres Novas, Portugal,Torres Vedras, Portugal,Trancoso, Portugal,Trieste, Italy,Verona, Italy,Vila Flor, Portugal,Viseu, Portugal,
Some interesting facts about the name this name are : The name Franco may derive from a place near Navarre (Spain).The name Franco existed prior to 1400.The name Franco appears in the records of the Inquisition of Lisbon, Mexico, Toledo and Panama
A common variation of Franco is Franqo.
The following websites are relevant to the surname Franco:
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=300&letter=F&search=Franco
