Shafran is a surname which derived from eastern Yiddish shafran and originated from Arabic زعفران (az-za'faran).
The root of the surname lies in the spice saffron. The Russian version is Шафран (Shafran). There are various forms of the name in Russia. Polish version is Szafran. The surname has also existed in various forms in Hebrew (שפרן), Old French, Hungarian, and Middle High German. The name is most common among Jewish and Russian families.[1][2] It is known to be ornamental, used to describe someone with saffron-colored (yellow-red) hair, occupational, used to describe a merchant of the spice, and topographic, for someone who lived where saffron grew.[1][3][4] Common forms of this name include "Safran", "Safranek", "Safranski", and "Szafran".[1] Shafran may be cognate with the name "Safra".[5]
People with the surname Shafran
edit- Alexandru Șafran, rabbi
- Avi Shafran, rabbi
- Daniil Shafran, Soviet cellist
- Eva Shafran (1906–1944), American Communist
- Isaak Grigorevich Shafran, creator of Shafran's hexagonal chess
- Nigel Shafran, English photographer
- Peter Shafran, concert and festival producer/promoter
- Shimrit Shafran (Shim), Israeli musician (maiden name: Shimrit Ovadia)
- Robert Shafran, a triplet profiled in the 2018 documentary film, Three Identical Strangers
- Shafran Packeer
See also
edit- Ashkenazi Jews, those who speak Yiddish
- Zəfəran, Azerbaijan
References
edit- ^ a b c Hanks, Patrick (2003). Dictionary of American family names. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195081374. OCLC 51655476.
- ^ Hanks, Patrick (2003-05-08). Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199771691.
- ^ Smith, Elsdon C. (1973). New dictionary of American family names (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060139331. OCLC 547141.
- ^ Kaganoff, Benzion C. (1996). A dictionary of Jewish names and their history (1st Jason Aronson Inc. ed.). Northvale, N.J.: J. Aronson. ISBN 1568219539. OCLC 34409787.
- ^ Guggenheimer, H.W.; Guggenheimer, E.H. (1992). Jewish Family Names and Their Origins: An Etymological Dictionary. Ktav Publishing House. p. 650. ISBN 978-0-88125-297-2. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
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