I don’t know Eve, if I were you, I’d hold out for Adam Platinum.
"Do you mean “Why did so many Jews end up with German color names as surnames, seemingly more so than German
speakers in general?”, the answer would be that Jews functioned quite well without surnames for several millenia until
required to assume surnames, in the local language, by the authorities in German-speaking areas of Europe in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries "
I have heard amost exactly the same story, except it was the English requiring the Irish to invent last names for themselves, and if they had no other ideas, suggesting either an occupation (clark, miller, smith) or a color. That is why many Irish are named Brown, White, Black…
Surnames relating to color are relatively common in Spanish, and in Catalan too. Examples: “Blanco” in Spanish and “Blanc” in Catalan, meaning “White” in English, “Rojo” in Spanish and “Roig” or “Vermell” in Catalan, meaning “Red”, “Negro” in Spanish and “Negre” in Catalan, meaning “Black”. Besides, there are “Rubio” in Spanish and “Ros” in Catalan, meaning “Blond/e” in English, and “Moreno” in Spanish, meaning “Dark”. Green, Yellow, Pink, and Purple are not common surnames anywhere, at least not in the Spanish- and Catalan-speaking areas.
I haven’t seen this name mentioned yet–In my town, there are at least three people/families with the surname Purple, and I’ve seen at least a few in one of the cemeteries. Therefore, we also have the rather comical sounding Purple Insurance. Where one earth would that name have originated from?
“Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” --1984
Sorry, Sofa King, gotta call you out on this one. Edel in German means ‘noble’. Just a nitpick…
All I wanna do is to thank you, even though I don’t know who you are…
Wendolynne:
My sources for this were several well-respected histories of Judaism, remembered from my studies during the process of converting to Judaism, including Paul Johnson’s A History of the Jews. In the interest of completeness and accuracy (i.e., the Spirit of Cecil), I’ve done some more searching. It appears that at least one reputable authority discounts the stories of Jews having to “buy” names with pleasant or neutral connotations. The gist, however, is true: Jews in German, Austria, and the German-speaking areas of Eastern Europe were compelled to adopt surnames between 1787 and 1835 or so (the dates varied by region).
For more info, try this link: http://www.jewishgen.org/mentprog/namfaq0.htm
“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” –Satchel Paige
I think the most common male given name in the world is “Kim.” I seem to recall reading that; I suppose you’ll all expect me to track down a source now.