FRAIME Origin of surname
FRAIME
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 based on a male ancestor's personal name, in this case of biblical origin.
Fraime, Fraim, Freyum and Freyem are variants of Ephraim. Ephraim was the younger son of Joseph, whom Jacob blessed by predicting that his seed would multiply like the fish in the sea (Genesis 48.16). This is the source of Fish as the 'kinnui' ("secular equivalent") of Ephraim. Some family names associated with Fish could come from house-signs which were frequent in German towns in the Middle Ages, or from the fish trade. Fis(c)h is also one of the German/Yiddish forms of the Latin Vives ("life"), a translation of the Hebrew Hayyim. The word Hayyim, meaning "life", first appears in the Bible as a word when God creates man out of dust and breathes 'nishmat hayyim' ("the breath of life") into his nostrils (Genesis 2.7). Translations into Romance languages such as Vives, Vita and Vidal eventually produced German and Yiddish variants including Fisch, Fischel, Feivush and Feischel. Fischlin is documented as a Jewish family name in Germany in 1383, and Fischel in the 15th century. Fischbein is recorded in France in the mid 20th century with a family which changed its name to Fichebin, and the Polish spelling variant Fisz In 1956 with a family which Frenchified its name to Fize.
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 based on a male ancestor's personal name, in this case of biblical origin.
Fraime, Fraim, Freyum and Freyem are variants of Ephraim. Ephraim was the younger son of Joseph, whom Jacob blessed by predicting that his seed would multiply like the fish in the sea (Genesis 48.16). This is the source of Fish as the 'kinnui' ("secular equivalent") of Ephraim. Some family names associated with Fish could come from house-signs which were frequent in German towns in the Middle Ages, or from the fish trade. Fis(c)h is also one of the German/Yiddish forms of the Latin Vives ("life"), a translation of the Hebrew Hayyim. The word Hayyim, meaning "life", first appears in the Bible as a word when God creates man out of dust and breathes 'nishmat hayyim' ("the breath of life") into his nostrils (Genesis 2.7). Translations into Romance languages such as Vives, Vita and Vidal eventually produced German and Yiddish variants including Fisch, Fischel, Feivush and Feischel. Fischlin is documented as a Jewish family name in Germany in 1383, and Fischel in the 15th century. Fischbein is recorded in France in the mid 20th century with a family which changed its name to Fichebin, and the Polish spelling variant Fisz In 1956 with a family which Frenchified its name to Fize.