How can you tell when a last name is Jewish??

Question

Is there a distinctive characteristic of a Jewish name that signifies it as Jewish? If so, how did it come to be that way? If not....why not?

Answer 1

berg, feld, en, many polish sounding endings, ski, eck, etc....

edit: while you can convert to judaism, it's also a race...you can be jewish without practicing the religion.

Answer 2

Jewsficult question, there are very few last names that are definitely Jewish, like Cohen or Levi, or some variations on these names, Jews included, received last names several centuries ago, and these names usually represented their profession or place of birth, (potter, goldsmith. etc.) in some countries the names were those of the father of the person (Johnson)

Answer 3

Judisim is a religion.
A name can be from any country.
There are Russians, Polish, Italian, dozens of other names, and the people may or may not be Jewish.

I've never understood why many Jewish people reply that they are Jews, when asked their nationality.
Many Jews are Israelis, but I seldom hear that.

Answer 4

If the name is a Hebrew word (i.e. Lieber = "Lover"), it's Jewish. Also, if it ends in "berg", "stein", or "man", it's Jewish.