Origin of the name Majmin

The name Majmin (or its russified version Mamin) came from the Hebrew word "maamin" - "believe". In Yiddish this word also sounds similarly - "majmen".
One of the first families having this name, about which there are historical documents, lived in the 12-th century in Spain. A well-known halachist Majmon ben Iosef lived in the town Cordova (this part of Spain was Islamic then). His son the famous Moshe ben Majmon or Majmonid or Rambam (an abbreviation from rabbejnu Moshe ben Majmon) is known as a great philosopher, scientist, doctor and rabbinical authority of the middle ages. To save themselves from persecutions, in 1148 their family had to flee Spain. In 1160 they settled in the town Fes in Morocco. But soon the family had to leave this country as well. In the end of wanderings they reached Egypt. This is where Majmonid spent the major part of his live where his famous works were written. After the death of the great Rambam his body was moved to Tiberia where his grave is visited by pilgrims until today.

Another member of this family, "rav Majmon from Lithuania" was a well-known rabbi and a religious Zionist activist. He was born in 1875 in Bessarabia and died in 1962 in Tel Aviv. His real name is Iehuda Leib Fishman. He studied in the Lithuanian yeshiva and for some time he in fact lived in Lithuania. In 1913 he moved to Eretz-Israel and became one of the creators of the main rabbinate of Palestine. After the establishment of the State of Israel he was a member of the first Knesset and a minister of the first Israeli government. Indisputably the name Majmin has the same origin as Majmon.

There are two versions of the origin of this name.
The first version suggested by many specialists is that the name Majmon (that with some phonetic changes may correspond to the Russian Majmin) comes from the Hebrew "memune". In Hebrew "memune" means repsonsible, put to manage.

The second version is that the family name comes from the Arabic "mimun" that means in translation - happy, blessed, lucky. In the Northern African folclore there is a spirit Mimun that in these countries was often asked for help by Arabs and Jews alike. They turned their prayers to this spirit so it sends them luck. As many research think the Mimuna holiday celebrated in Israel by Jews who came from Morocco has its origin in this name.