You may have Jewish heritage if your last name sounds like this: check your ancestry.

Almost all Ukrainian surnames have diverse origins; some stem from the professions of ancestors or their personal traits, while others were assigned to Jews. Indeed, in the right-bank part of Ukraine, the Jewish population made up a significant portion of the urban residents.

This is discussed by linguist Yulian Redko in his book "Modern Ukrainian Surnames". Most of these family names originated from nicknames that Jews received while living in Ukraine.

Ukrainian surnames with Jewish roots include:

• Atlas;
• Gabinets;
• Zelman;
• Bucher;
• Vercher;
• Margules;
• Nisht;
• Rebman;
• Rubin;
• Shabas;
• Shaigets, Shaigits.

At the same time, Israeli philologist, linguist, and cultural scholar Wolf Moskovich notes that approximately 30% of modern Jewish surnames derive from geographical names in Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and Lithuania.

It is worth mentioning that since the 16th century, Jews began to migrate intensively to Ukraine. However, the first family names started to emerge around the 19th century and often derived from the names of cities in Ukraine.

"Ivankin, Vannikov – from the town of Ivanky near Uman (Mankovshchina, – ed.). Zavodivker – from the village of Zavadivka near Cherkasy (Korsunshchina, – ed.). Makendonski originate from the village of Makendony near Kanev (Myronivskyi district of Kyiv region – ed.), and not from Macedonia," – emphasized Wolf Moskovich.

Previously, "Telegraph" reported on Ukrainian surnames that were historically given to cat owners.