Origin of the name Kiselevich

The surname Kiselevich belongs to the group of so-called “Patronymic” Jewish surnames, i.e., those surnames, which were derived from masculine personal names. Most frequently, these surnames were based on the name of the father, rarely - the grandfather. Analyzing these surnames it is sufficiently easy to determine the name of the head of this family at the moment when the Jews were given surnames.

Thus, surname Kiselevich originates from the man named Kisel. Kisel is the form of the Jewish name Kusel (Kushel) - Ashkenazi reduction from the Tanachic name Yekutiel. The name Yekutiel means “G-d will feed”. In the Torah the name Yekutiel is a name by which Moshe was known. As well there was a man of the tribe of Judah whose name was the same.

In the Middle Ages the name Yekutiel was widely used by the Italian Jews but it was almost unknown in medieval Germany and Bohemia. At later periods the name became very popular in Eastern Europe, most likely, due to the direct migration of the Mediterranean Jews.

Kisel, is a sufficiently late form of the name Yekutiel. This name appeared for the first time at the end of the 18th century on the territories of Podolia and Galicia (modern Ukraine).

The surname Kiselevich means “the son of Kisel” so that the name of the family head's father was Kisel (Yekutiel).

In the end of the 19th century the bearers of the surname Kiselevich lived in such cities as Ushitsa, Kiev and Odessa in Ukraine, and also, in Khotin region, in Bessarabia.