Origins of the names BERENSTEIN and BERNSTEIN

POSTED AT WORLDFAMILIESFORUM.NET

The names "Berenstein" and "Bernstein" did not arise from any special family feeling
about amber-colored rocks. Ukrainian Jews were compelled to assume a "German
sounding" surname in 1787 and Lithuanian Jews followed in 1797. Their task: to choose
a name that sounded German but that had significance to them specifically as Jews.

(1) The Lithuanian branch of this family, calling themselves BERENSTEIN, combined
"Berungia", medieval name for French Burgundy (Bourgogne), and "Liechtenstein" as
places of the family's residence prior to its emigration into the Pale of Settlement.
Members of my own Berenstein family also named daughters "Rea" after the ancient
Roman region of "Rheatia" or "Reatia", which included Burgundy, Bavaria, and other
adjacent mountainous areas, indicating that my particular branch of this family emigrated
very early from the Levant into the Rhine region, possibly hundreds of years before the
Christian era, as Rheatia as an official entity disappears with Rome itself before 500AD.

(2) BERENSTEIN/BERNSTEIN also deliberately alludes to the 7th century Hebrew

exilarch, Bustenai ben Chanina (618-670 CE), from whom some Jews proudly claim
descent, as Bustenai's descendents are related to the British and French royal houses
through Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover and mother of King George I of Great
Britain. My own great-grandmother changed her name from Meyta to Dora after she
settled in America to reinforce this identity: Dora/Dara was the name of the Persian
princess who became the wife of Bustenai and the progenitor of the line that became
Hannover.

(3) BERENSTEIN also alludes to the Yiddish "b'reinshtein", which combines the Hebrew
prefix "b'", meaning "from"; the German "rein", meaning "kosher" or "clean"; and the
metonymic "shtein", derived from the German "Scheuerstein", meaning "kitchen" or
"hearth". "Berenstein" (and Bernstein, as the shortened form) thus also means "from a
kosher family".

4) As yet untested is the hypothesis that Albert EINSTEIN's family took its name from an
abridgement of Berenstein--i.e., from "Bereinstein" to "Reinstein" or "Einstein". An
"Einstein", on the other hand, is a stone mason. The Einsteins arose in the same general
vicinity of Germany as the Berensteins/Bernsteins.

Bustenai's story is told comprehensively in "Bustenai" by Lehman, out of print but

available at Amazon. Burke's genealogy states that Bustenai is the 37th great-grandfather
of George I; the best online article about him is at www.jewishencyclopedia.org.

I don't know about you, but all this makes me want to bring out the family portraits and
polish up the family silver.