MEIER Origin of surname
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a patronymic surname derived from a male ancestor's personal name, in this case of biblical origin.
Literally Meier/Mayer means "farmer" in German, however as a Jewish family name, it is a form of the Hebrew male personal name Meir. In talmudic times, people credited with bringing light or intellectual clarity to their subject were given the name Meir (Hebrew for "illuminates or radiates" or "one who sheds light"). A 2nd century, disciple of Rabbi Akiva, believed to have been named Mesha or Nehorai (the Aramaic forms), was known as Rabbi Meir because of his keenness in shedding light on the Halacha (the Jewish code of law). Associated Jewish family names are Yair ("will illuminate") and the Aramaic Nehorai ("light") or their variants and patronymics. Similarly, the names Uri and Shraga (literally "fire"). Meir is documented as a Jewish family name in Arles, France, in the 13th century. It appears as Meiger and Meyger in the 14th century in Strassbourg, as Meyr in 15th century France, as Meyer in the 17th century in Germany, and as Maier in Germany in the 18th century. Other variants include May in Germany and Poland, Major in Turkey, both in the 16th century, Mayer in France and Germany, and M'riro and Merito in Morocco. Named for their forefathers, families were called Meyerson, Meyerovitch, Meyrowitz, Merovic and Ben-Meir, all meaning "son of Meir". As a Jewish name, May is documented in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in the 15th century; in the 16th-18th centuries it is recorded in the Tyrol, Austria. May families also lived in Poland and Italy.
Mayer is documented as a Jewish family name in the mid 18th century in Nancy and Paris, France. In 1683 Meyer is documented in Frankfurt am Main with Moses Meyer.
Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Meier include the American businessman, politician and Jewish community leader, Julius Meier, governor of the State of Oregon in 1931-1935, and the 20th century German organization executive, Heinz Meier. Joseph Meiers (originally Meyer) was a prominent German-born 20th century American neuropsychiatrist.
Le Havre
(Place)Le Havre
Major port in northwestern France on the shore of the English Channel and the mouth of the Seine river.
21st Century
There is an Association Cultuelle Israelite du Havre. The community has a Chabad Lubavitch center with a rabbi who serves as spiritual leader of Le Havre’s synagogue.
History
From about the beginning of the 18th century, Jews, especially from Bordeaux and its environs, wished to settle in Le Havre. In 1714, Louis XIV ordered the town to expel all foreign Jews except "those who call themselves 'Portuguese.”
Around 1725, however, a Jewish family of German origin, the Hombergs, and their relatives the Lallemends, settled in Le Havre. They were not a community but a group of individuals practicing their Judaism privately. The Hombergs became very wealthy merchants involved in armaments, shipping, and international commerce with Russia, the West Indies, as well as several northern countries. They also took part in the slave trade, and created a successful insurance company. The family made every effort to integrate and assimilate into the society around them. They received French nationality in 1775 and converted to Catholicism in 1785-86.
In 1776 the town refused several Jews permission to reside in Le Havre in spite of their "royal passports" (actually valid for Paris).
An organized community was first founded in the middle of the 19th century. A synagogue was constructed in 1864.
It was a heterogenous community, with merchants, middle class professionals, shopkeepers, and craftsmen, for the most part Ashkenazim.
The mayor of Le Havre from 1919 to 1940, Leon Meyer (1868-1948) was a Jew. A Radical Socialist, he was elected to the National Chamber of Deputies in 1923 as the candidate of the Union of the Left.
The Holocaust
In 1939, the number of Jews in Le Havre was approximately 320. In addition to those who had settled there during the 19th century including those from Alsace who chose French nationality after the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), there were immigrants escaping persecution from Poland, Romania, Russia, and Turkey. There were also recent arrivals from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia who were fleeing the Nazis. An official count in 1940 identified 39 foreign Jews.
Le Havre was occupied by the Germans on June 13, 1940, and transformed by them into a naval base. The Jewish mayor and other Jewish public officials were removed from their posts. Property and businesses owned by Jews were confiscated. Some Jews fled but most were rounded up in 1942 and 1943 and deported to the Nazi death camps.
Le Havre was liberated by the Allies on September 12, 1944.
Post War
A new Jewish community was reconstituted after World War II. The synagogue on the Rue Victor Hugo that had been destroyed during bombardments in 1944 was rebuilt and a community center opened.
The community was invigorated by the arrival of Jews from North Africa after 1962. In February 1957 the Jewish population numbered 265, but by February 1963 it had grown to 520, The new arrivals were much more religiously committed. The synagogue that had only been open on the high holidays began to hold services every week. Now that there was a demand, kosher food became available.
In 1969 Le Havre had a Jewish population of about 1,000.