The clan of Samoilovich
- Last name translations Samoilovich , סמוילוביץ'
- Related articles Происхождение фамилии Самойлович
About the family coat-of-arms
Origin of Samoilovich name
The name Samoilovich can be both Jewish and Russian-Ukrainian (there is even an entire famous kazak clan of Samoilovich, which by the way does not exclude its (and some other kazak clans) origin from Jews. The name Samuil or Samoilo is a russified version of the Hebrew name Shmuel).
Speaking of the Jewish name Samoilovich, it appeared in the Russian empire in the beginning of the 19-th century when Jews were ordered to take names. The name was taken after the name of the head of the family - Shmuel, or Samuil in Russian, or Samoilo in eastern-Ukrainian dialect. And indeed in the preserved documents and records for the 19-th and 20-th centuries there are many Samuils and Shmuels sons of Samoilo that in accord with the Jewish tradition were called after died ancestors.
According to our conjecture, this name was chosen by members of one big family that by the beginning of the 19-th century spread over the Kiev gubernia. The main part of the Samoilovich family resided then near the shtetl Zolotonosha (today Cherkassk area of Ukraine). Then this was a region explored actively by people who came out of western gubernias of the empire. That is one can conjecture that the first Samoilovichs came to this region from Belorussia or Lithuania.
By the way in Belorussia one can encounter a much more wide spread version of this name - Shmulevich. However, we would not claim that all Samoilovichs and Shmulevichs are relatives, even though majority of them undoubtedly have common roots.
Full article pageDear representatives of the Samoilovich clan
We would like to invite you to help us ressurect the history of your family, to link up the branches of your family tree and to find relatives abroad. Among Jews, due to the manner in which family names were acquired and passed down, there are relatively few people who, although unrelated, bear the same surname as one another. The majority of Jewish people who bear a certain family name can usually trace their roots back to a common ancestor about 5-6 generations back. Further, when two Jewish people bear the same surname, they are usually members of the same broader 'clan', descended of the same extended family.Resurrect your History - for he, who owns the Past also owns the Future.
Let your family be entered into the Book of Generations!
