Re: Myers - Mayer etymology

Donald -- You're no doubt correct that there were converts from Judaism in the 17th and 18th centuries, but I do not have a firm sense of how extensive this was.I have seen some censuses from the 17th century where the Jewish portion of the population is easily distinguished because they were not allowed to have surnames.

At the end of the list of inhabitants of Schwaigern, for instance, it says "Marx the Jew" and one or two others whose names I do not recall.In other words, this community of about a thousand people had only a handful of Jewish families.In this section of Germany, at least (the Kraichgau), Jews were a small minority.They were far less numerous there than in Poland and the old Kingdom of Lithuania.In these more eastern land, they had been tolerated much better during the Middle Ages than in the southwest German lands from which most 18th century emigration to America originated.

If I recall correctly, when Hitler in his madness sought to exterminate the Jewish population of Germany, there were only "about" a million victims available.The truly huge numbers of Holocaust victims came from Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania and White Russia, though of course Hitler's underlings also did their best to murder every Jew in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Yugoslavia and Romania as well.

If you have Myers relatives who carry the name, why not test this theory by having their DNA tested?Ashkenazi or Sephardic Jewish DNA is markedly different from that of Nordic Germans, or Schwabians, etc.The fact that once Jews were allowed to adopt surnames some chose the name Mayer / Meyer simply has no bearing on any blood relationship with those who already born that surname.Candidly, therefore, I'd be surprised if you confirm Jewish ancestry in Johannes' descendants, but will be happy to buy you lunch if I'm wrong.