Why do some Jewish names sound German?
The majority of the Jewish population of North America is descended from the
Jews of central and eastern Europe. The ancestral language of this population
was Yiddish, a form of German written in Hebrew letters. The Jewish people
did not use family surnames until relatively late in history, when local
governments required them to choose names. Many invented fanciful Yiddish names
such as Goldberg (Gold Mountain) or Silverman (Man of Silver), and many
other combinations often involving Germanic elements such as "man"
(man) or "berg" (mountain), "feld," (field),
"stern" (star) or "stein" (stone). When transliterated
back into Latin characters, the affinity to German is apparent.
Of course, not all Jewish families have such German-sounding names. Many are
derived from Hebrew first names (such as "Jacoby" or "Levitt")
or use the Slavic patronymic suffix -witz (as in "Horowitz" or "Manischewitz").
Families believed descended from the ancient priestly class may use various
forms of the name "Cohen," (Hebrew for "priest").
When Zionism took hold, it become a custom for Jewish families returning tothe
land of Israel to adopt Hebrew surnames. That is the reason that Israelis
very often have Hebrew names such as Ben-Gurion (son of the Lion
Cub), Netanyahu (Gift of God) and Barak (Lightning).