Falkenthal History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Israel

Etymology of Falkenthal

The name Falkenthal is a proud symbol of ancient Jewish culture. In the Biblical period, Jews, and members of all the ancient civilizations had no surnames. Even until the late Middle Ages, people were known only by a single name. However, as populations increased and people began to both urbanize and travel more, it became necessary for people to adopt a second name to identify themselves. Jewish hereditary surnames were adopted from a variety of different sources. In Frankfurt, in the Middle Ages, the Jews lived in a ghetto called the Jedengasse, where the families were registered according to the houses they occupied. The houses were categorized with symbols, long before they were numbered, and many of these house signs found their way into Jewish surnames.

Some of the name Falkenthal, then, are descended from occupants of house 62, which bore the sign of a falcon, or "falke" in Yiddish. Others were Jews named Joshua (Yehoshua), who adopted Falk as a "kinnui," or a secular name. For such a case the name Falkenthal should be considered as a patronymic surname: that is, a hereditary surname that is derived from the name of a male personage. Also for this scenario, it has been suggested that there is some connection between the biblical figure of Joshua and a falcon. Although that is certainly a possibility, such a scenario is by no means clear.

Finally, the name Falkenthal was also an acronym of "veahavta lereakha kamokha" ('love thy neighbor as thyself'): the letter A was simply added to make Valk.

Falkenthal Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Falk, Falcke, Valke, Falke, Falken, Falkenfeld, Falkenheim, Falkenstein, Falkenthal, Falkenber, Falkheim, Valk, Wallik, Wallich and many more.