Why???????????

Question:

Why???????????

If friedman is an ashkenazi for german jews, is commonly found in hungarians jews/non jews?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Why not? Although the surname may be of German origin, it can be found in not only Hungary, but Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, etc. Those w/ the surname can be Ashkenazi Jews, but not necessarily so. There are German non-Jews with FRIEDMAN as a surname, as well.

The countries of eastern Europe have morphed many times over the years. Also, people move for a variety of reasons. One branch of my family moved from Poland to an area of Hungary which is now in Slovakia. Many folks from my great grandparents southeastern Polish town ended up moving to Hungary in the late 1800s. I even found a distant FRIEDMAN uncle, although I have no clue as to the relationship to my family.

FRIEDMAN is a very common surname. In fact, if you go to the Family Finder at http://www.jewishgen.org , you will find that 679 different researchers are researching this particular spelling of the surname. If you use alternate versions of the spelling, we're talking about 1,000 researchers!

Not sure about your reference to 'Ashkenazi' since almost all Jews from Germany or Hungary would have been Ashkenzazi. There were some Sephardic Jews (from Spain for example), but they would have been in the minority.