Hello,

Can anyone tell me what kind of name Atlas is
...English, Irish, Jewish, etc.?

Thank you for any information!

Dear Christine,

To the best of my belief, I think the Atlas name is Jewish. There was an older gentleman in our home town that was Jewish and he tried to get my grandfather to go to Synagogue with him. He never would go.

Nette

My grandmother's brother Adolph Krause married an Esther Atlasz in the first decade of the 20th Century. She was a Jewish/Hungarian emigrant, living in Passaic (?) New Jersey

There are many, many with the Atlas name who settled in Ohio. The ones that I have been following were Jewish, having come from Hungary (I think) and marrying into various families with surnames Raduziner, Englander, Pastor, Duga (my family), Freilich, Seidenfeld, and interconnected with many others. There are quite a few who are connected with teh extended Jewish families of Zanesville, OH, and small towns in Perry County, OH.

If the person with the name is from Eastern Europe, then the chances are that it is a Jewish name, which is a Hebrew anachronym.

- Adam

Yes, I am Jewish. Obviously I can't speak for all Atlases.

My grandfather Joseph Solomon Atlas was from Wielkie Oczy (near Lvov/Lemberg) on the Poland/Ukraine border.

Nick

I know two origins of the name Atlas.
One is a Hebrew anachronym: Ach Tov L'Israel Selah
The other is an old German word for silk.
Some say the name was granted to certain prominent Jews in the Greek court.

The name Atlas is used in at least three eithnic groups. Jewish, Greek and Iranian. I only know a little of the possible origins of the Jewish use of the name.

There are two competing sources for the name Atlas in Jewish geneology:
1. It is a Hebrew anacronym: "Ach Tov L'Israel Selah", which, loosely translated, means 'like a brother to Israel'.
2. Atlas is similar to "Atwaf", which I believe is an old German word for silk. As such, the name could come from silk traders.

I have also heard that certain Jewish families in ancient Greece were given Greek names. That could be anohter possible origin.