One of the most significant moments for the Mecklenburg Jews was the adoption of their hereditary family names in the years 1813 and 1814.
The adoption of family names was originally a ducal requirement in the context of the first successful emancipation of the Jewish inhabitants of Mecklenburg in 1813 and 1814, which they were quite willing to comply with. The duke's actual intention was purely fiscal: tax-liable and protection-fee-paying Jews could thus be better identified and confusion avoided. For the Jews, however, it represented a first step towards civil equality with the German population, among whom hereditary family names had been the norm for centuries. In contrast to their Christian neighbors, the use of hereditary family names was not customary among them at this time. They frequently bore only a double name, composed of their own first name and a first name of their father or grandfather. Whether the father's or grandfather's name was chosen depended on whether that person was already deceased. The appellation could in no case be derived from a living ancestor. Not infrequently, a designation of origin was also chosen as a byname. Nevertheless, there were isolated cases of hereditary family names among Jews already in the 17th century, including in Mecklenburg. This was, however, not the rule, particularly among the poorer rural Jews of Mecklenburg.
At the petition of the leaders of the Jewish community of Schwerin, Duke Friedrich Franz I announced as early as November 1811 to the "Engerer Ausschuss der Ritter und Landschaft" his intention to issue a decree with the following wording:
"Every head of household of the Jewish religion shall be obligated to adopt for himself and his
entire children a hereditary, permanent family name.
According to French law, this surname may not be borrowed from the Old
Testament nor from cities of birth."
[Silberstein, Siegfried: Die Familiennamen der Juden unter besonderer Beruecksichtigung der
gesetzlichen Festlegungen in Mecklenburg. In: Juedisch-Theologisches Seminar Fraenckel'scher
Stiftung (Breslau): Festschrift zum 75jaehrigen Bestehen des juedisch-Theologischen Seminars
Fraenckelscher Stiftung. Band II, Breslau: Verlag M. & H. Marcus, 1929, p. 326.]
Two years later, the duke issued the decree subsequently often referred to simply as the Emancipation Edict. This "Decree on the Adoption of Hereditary Family Names by the Jews in Mecklenburg-Schwerin" was contained in Section 4 of the "Sovereign Constitution for the Determination of an Appropriate Organization of the Jewish Co-religionists in the Ducal Lands" of 22 February 1813:
"All domestic Jews shall henceforth bear firmly determined hereditary names.
Those already privileged shall within 4 weeks report the name chosen by them
to the authorities of their place of residence, which shall present the intended change
of such names to Our Government and, after its approval,
publish them all at once in the public papers. The penalty for failure
to register and report the name to be adopted shall be the
loss of the existing privilege. Of the foreign Jews possibly to be admitted in the future,
the new surname shall likewise always
be published."
[Silberstein, Siegfried: Die Familiennamen der Juden unter besonderer Beruecksichtigung der
gesetzlichen Festlegungen in Mecklenburg. In: Juedisch-Theologisches Seminar Fraenckel'scher
Stiftung (Breslau): Festschrift zum 75jaehrigen Bestehen des juedisch-Theologischen Seminars
Fraenckelscher Stiftung. Band II, Breslau: Verlag M. & H. Marcus, 1929, p. 325.]
The Mecklenburg Jews enjoyed greater freedoms in choosing their names than was the case in other territories, principalities, or duchies. In total, only two registered family names were rejected: Kamensky and van Tettenborn. Prohibitions on account of the use of Old Testament names or designations of origin did not occur.
The Mecklenburg Jews frequently retained their traditional Hebrew names as family names. Otherwise, the usual Ashkenazi naming practices were followed as elsewhere. Names of origin (Merseburger), occupational names (Goldschmidt), descriptive names (Friedmann), nature names (Rosenbaum), plant names (Blumenthal) and animal names (Leo) or fantasy names were chosen, or the already existing Hebrew first names were extended by appending a syllable (Jacobson, Josephi, Josephy). It also happened, however, that within a single family different family names were chosen, which today can make the reconstruction of family relationships extremely difficult in some cases.
The publication of the name choices mandated by the Emancipation Edict in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin took place in the years 1813 to 1814. From April to August 1813, a total of 31 towns, the district court for the rural community of Dargun, and the patrimonial court for Netzeband (Raegelin estate) announced the chosen names in the "Schwerinschen oeffentlichen Anzeigen". Some latecomers followed from February to August 1814, a total of nine magistrates and the office of Wredenhagen for the domain village of Rossow. The lists of Marlow and Schwerin Altstadt were never published. The reason for non-publication is known only for the latter. Schwerin Altstadt waged a fierce fight against the admission of Jews as citizens of the town.
The originals of the publication lists are no longer extant, as they were destroyed in the fire at the Schwerin Collegiengebaeude on 1 December 1865. State Rabbi Dr. Siegfried Silberstein was able to reconstruct these for the two Mecklenburgs -- unfortunately often only incompletely -- from other documents. He ultimately compiled them in the "Register of the hereditary family names adopted by the licensed Mecklenburg trading Jews in accordance with the sovereign ducal Constitution of 22 February 1813".
In recent years, original registrations or copies thereof have been found in several town archives, for example in Grevesmuehlen and Sternberg. It is to be assumed that further ones still exist.