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Are You a Jewish Descendant of King David?
Jewish descent from the Royal House of David can be traced through oral tradition, rabbinic sources, historical data and/or extensive research. Most families claim descent from King David through Rashi. Several families claim descent "ben akhar ben"(father to son) in a direct line, most notably the Dayan, Shealtiel and Charlap/Don Yechia, families.
There have been many great rabbis and rabbinical houses that trace their ancestry back to David Hamelech. This group of great scholars and leaders include: Hillel, Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, Yochanan Hasandler, Rashi, the Rambam and Yosef Karo as well as the more contemporary gedolim like the Baal Shem Tov, the Breslevor Rebbe and the first Lubavicher Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, to name but a few.
Here we will enumerate some of the well-known family names that trace their ancestry back to David Hamelech. Since well over 100 generations have passed between the time of King David to the present, there might be hundreds, even thousands, of family names that can legitimately trace their family line back to David Hamelech. Therefore, the omission of your family name from this list does not exclude you as a possible descendant. On the other hand, the inclusion of your family name on the list below does not necessarily guarantee that you are a descendant of King David. In fact, the well-known line from the Maharal of Prague is now in question. The opening thought of this page bears repeating - It is only through oral tradition, rabbinic sources, historical data and or extensive research that one can determine if he/she is indeed a descendant of David Hamelech.
Here is the partial list of family names that trace their descent back to King David. It is important to note that through the course of years and trails through many countries, variant spellings and pronunciations have evolved for many of the names.
| Abarbanel* |
| Adler |
Alter/Rotenberg
(Ger Chassidim) |
| Altshuler |
| Ashkenazi |
| Auerbach |
| Averels/Everels |
| Babad/Heschel* |
Bach
(descendants of Sirkes) |
| Bachrach |
| Beharier |
| Berdugo |
| Berlin/Berliner |
| Bernstein |
| Biederman |
| Birnbaum |
| Breslav Chassidim, Nakhman |
| Burstein |
| Caro/Karo |
| Charif |
| Charlap* |
| Chayes/Chayut |
| Cohen (various families) |
| Dayan* |
| Don Yechia/Ibn Yechia* |
| Edels |
| Ehrenreich |
| Ehrlich |
Eichenstein
(Zditchov Chassidim) |
| Elfandari |
| Enzel |
| Epstein* |
| Falman |
| Fishel |
| Freidensohn |
| Frenkel/Frankel* |
| Frenkel-Teomim* |
| Friedland |
| Friedman (Rizhin, Sadagora etc. Chassidim) |
| Fuchs |
| Ginzburg/Gunzburg |
| Glickman |
| Goldman |
| Gombiner |
| Gordon |
| Halberstam(ZanzChassidim) |
|
| Heilprin/Halperin* |
| Heller* |
| Helman |
| Hertzkes |
| Heschel/Babad* |
| Hillel and the Nesi'im* |
Horowitz/Hurwitz
(various Chassidim)* |
| Ish-Zvi |
| Isserles/Isserlin* |
| Itinga/Ettinger/Ittingen |
| Jaffe/Yoffe* / ** |
| Kalb |
| Kalmankes |
| Kalonymus* |
| Karo/Caro* |
Katz (Maharal of Prague)
* / ** |
| Katzenellenbogen* |
| Klauber |
| Klausner* |
| Klingberg |
| Landau |
| Lau |
| Levinsohn |
| Lichtenstadt |
| Lichtenstein |
| Lifshutz/Lipshitz |
| Loeb* |
| Loewenstam |
| Lowe* |
| Lubarsky |
| Lukashevesky (Lux) |
| Lurie/Luria* |
| Maharal of Prague * / ** |
| Malavski |
| Margolioth |
Margulies/Margolis
/Margaliot* |
| Meisels* |
| Mintzberg |
| Mirels |
| Mirkes |
Morgenstern
(Kotzk Chassidim) |
| Moskowitz |
| Oknovski |
| Openheim |
| Paprosh |
| Parnas |
| Pereles |
|
| Peretz |
| Polak |
| Posner |
| Rabinowitz |
| Rapaport* |
Rashei Galut (Exilarchs)
male descent from David* |
| Rashi (descendants of daughters)* |
| Reines |
| Roffe |
| Rokeach (Belz Chassidim) |
Rotenberg/Alter
(Ger Chassidim) |
| Roth |
Rubin (Horowitz)
(Ropshitz Chassidim) |
| Rubinstein |
| Sabatka |
| Safrin |
| Sassoon* |
| Schneurson |
Schneurson
(Lubavitch Chassidim) |
| Schol |
| Schorr* |
| Segal (descendantz of "Taz") |
| Shachor/Charny/Shwartz |
| Shapiro/Shapira.Spiro/Spira* |
| Shealtiel/Sealtiel* |
| Shereshevski |
| Shrentzels* |
| Simchowitz/Simchowitch |
| Sirkes/Sirkin |
| Sonnabend |
| Spiro |
| Tamarels |
| Teomim/Teomin-Frenkel* |
| Treves/Dreyfus* |
| Twersky |
| Twersky (Chernobyl Chassidim) |
| Weil * |
| Weinberg |
Weisblum
(Lizhensk Chassidim)* |
| Widslawski |
| Winkler |
| Zak |
| Zaslovsky |
| Zifferstein |
| Zinger |
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* Primary Families **Further Research Required
The research on this matter is an ongoing process. In the event that you have the family tradition of being a descendant of King David, please let us know! If you have already put together your family tree showing descent from David Hamelech, please forward us the family tree and accompanying information so that we can post it in our upcoming ‘Family Tree’ section. If you have already posted your information on the Internet, just send us the link.
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