Jerusalem – Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) celebrated Family Day by publishing the numbers on the most common family names in Israel.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Not surprisingly, the report shows that the most common family name in the Jewish State is Cohen, followed by Levi, Mizrachi, Peretz, Biton, Avraham and Friedman.
One in every 50 Israelis is named Cohen, consisting of 2.7 percent of the population, and one in every 85 Israelis or 1.5 percent is named Levi. One in every 470 Israelis is named Friedman.
The most common last name among Muslims in Israel is Agrabiya, shared by 18,000 people, and Huri is the most common last name among Israel’s Christians.
The leading last name among the Druze is Halabi.
A point of interest is the fact that unlike the Jewish last names which are more or less common in an equal fashion throughout Israel, the common family names in Arab cities fluctuates.
For instance, 87 percent of the population in Um al-Fahm share only four last names: Mahamid, Agrabiya, Jabarin and Mahajne.
Some 40 percent of the town of Tamra share the same last name, while in Sachnin and Taiba 35 percent of the population share the same last name.
The commonality of the last name in specific localities may denote to the tribal ties that are found among Israel’s Arab population.
and in this secular State of affairs less then half of the “Cohens” are really Cohanim
i have distant secular Family that changed their name to Choen and so on