Katz (name)

Katz is a frequent German surname. It is also a common Ashkenazi Jewish surname. It is, along with Cohen, the oldest and most common of Jewish last names.

It is believed that Germans with the last name Katz originate in the Rhine River region of Germany, where the Katz Castle is located.

It is an abbreviation formed from the initials of the name Kohen Tzedeq (כּ״ץ), and has been used since the seventeenth century, or perhaps somewhat earlier, as an epithet of the descendants of Aaron. The collocation is most likely derived from "Melchizedek" ("king of righteousness"), who is called "the priest ("kohen") of the most high God" ("Genesis" xiv. 18), or perhaps from Psalm cxxxii. 9: "Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness ("tzedeq")".

If the reading is correct, this abbreviation occurs on a tombstone, dated 1536, in the cemetery of Prague (Hock, "Die Familien Prag's", p. 175); it is found also on a tombstone of the year 1618 in Frankfort-on-the-Main (M. Horowitz (Moses Horowitz?), "Die Inschriften des Alten Friedhofes der Israelitischen Gemeinde zu Frankfurt-am-Main" 1901, p. 63), in the books of the Soncino family of Prague of the seventeenth century (Zunz, "Z.G." p. 262), and in one of the prefaces to Shabbethai ben Meïr ha-Kohen's notes on the "Choshen Mishpat" (Amsterdam, 1663).

The name Katz has a website devoted to [http://www.katz.us All Things Katz] .

Some people surnamed Katz include:

* Alex Katz, American artist
* Amir Katz, Israeli born musician
* Andy Katz, American college basketball journalist
* Sir Bernard Katz, British biophysicist (born in Germany)
* Boris Katz, American but Russian born Computer Scientist
* Daniel Katz, American psychologist (1903-1998)
* Daniel Katz (politician), Mayor of Mar del Plata, Argentina
* Daryl Katz, Canadian drug store owner
* David Katz, British music historian and journalist
* Elie Katz, former mayor of Teaneck, New Jersey
* Elihu Katz, American sociologist
* Harold Katz, American entrepreneur
* Jacob Katz, Israeli historian
* Jay Katz, nickname/pseudonym for several people
* Jerrold Katz, American philosopher and linguist
* Jon Katz, American journalist and writer
* Jonathan Katz, American comedian, actor, and voice actor
* Jonathan D. Katz, American professor
* Jonathan Ned Katz, historian of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender American history
* Joseph Katz, Comintern member, CPUSA and Soviet spy
* Joseph Katz, Johns Hopkins University Professor
* Mane-Katz, a Ukraine-born Israeli artist
* Mickey Katz, American comedian and musician
* Mike Katz, American bodybuilder
* Nathan Katz, American professor
* Nicholas Katz, an American mathematician
* Omri Katz, an American-Israeli actor
* Phil Katz, American computer programmer
* Phoebe Cates (born Phoebe Belle Katz). American actress
* Randy H. Katz UC Berkeley Professor
* Ronald A. Katz, inventor
* Sidney A. Katz, mayor of the City of Gaithersburg, Maryland
* Shmuel Katz, Israeli historian
* Stu Katz, jazz pianist and vibraphonist
* Welwyn Wilton Katz, Canadian children's author
* William Loren Katz, American historian, specializing in African American history
* Yuri Katz, a Ukraine born American music producer

Article references

* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=152&letter=K article Katz] , by Gotthard Deutsch from the "Jewish Encyclopedia"

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