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ROTSCHILD Origin of surname
ROTSCHILD, ROTHSCHILD
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name may be a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The family name Rotchild/Rothschild belongs to a group of Jewish family names that are derived from a medieval house-sign, as for example in the Jewish quarter (Judengasse) of medieval Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where each house had a sign (an animal, a flower, or an abstract shape). With time, the terms designating many of those signs became fixed hereditary family names. Rotschild means "red shield" in German. It was the sign of house number 148 in the Judengasse of Frankfurt am Main. It is known that one ancestor of the famous Rothschild family of Frankfurt lived in a house marked Zum Rothen Hahn ("at the sign of the red rooster"), and then moved to the house at the sign of the red shield, which was formerly called Zum Gruenen Schild ("at the sign of the green shield"). It was a second coat of paint that caused the change of name. Rothchild is recorded as a Jewish family name in 20th century America with the author and communal worker Sylvia Rothchild and among the numerous Jewish families called Rothschild, the most famous were the descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) of Frankfurt, among them Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934).
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name may be a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The family name Rotchild/Rothschild belongs to a group of Jewish family names that are derived from a medieval house-sign, as for example in the Jewish quarter (Judengasse) of medieval Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where each house had a sign (an animal, a flower, or an abstract shape). With time, the terms designating many of those signs became fixed hereditary family names. Rotschild means "red shield" in German. It was the sign of house number 148 in the Judengasse of Frankfurt am Main. It is known that one ancestor of the famous Rothschild family of Frankfurt lived in a house marked Zum Rothen Hahn ("at the sign of the red rooster"), and then moved to the house at the sign of the red shield, which was formerly called Zum Gruenen Schild ("at the sign of the green shield"). It was a second coat of paint that caused the change of name. Rothchild is recorded as a Jewish family name in 20th century America with the author and communal worker Sylvia Rothchild and among the numerous Jewish families called Rothschild, the most famous were the descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812) of Frankfurt, among them Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934).
ID Number:
165305
Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People
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