Sarfati
Sarfati (Hebrew: צרפתי; also spelled Sarfatti, Sarphati, Serfaty, Sarfaty) is a Sephardic Jewish surname. It means "French".[1]
It is believed that the surname may be linked to Rashi by way of his grandson Rabbeinu Tam,[2] but the connection, although anchored in the Ketubot traditions has never been fully proven due to a seven generations gap in the genealogy after Jews were expelled from France by Philippe le Bel in 1306.[3]
In another belief, when the Jews were being expelled from Spain in 1492, a number of them went to France, where they were soon discovered and forced to leave so not to break France's treaty with Spain. From France, the group then went to Turkey. When questioned by the Turkish authorities as to their origin, learning from their previous experience, they replied that they came from France, and were permitted to stay, hence they called themselves Sarfati: Frenchman.
List
Notable people with the surname include:
Sarfati
- Georges-Elia Sarfati, philosopher, linguist, poet, and an existentialist psychoanalyst
- Jonathan Sarfati (born 1964), Australian–New Zealander chess player and creationist author
- Lea Michele Sarfati (born 1986), American singer and actress, Broadway performer and star of TV show "Glee"
- Lise Sarfati (born 1958), French photographer
- Lydia Sarfati, Polish-born American esthetician, entrepreneur, consultant and author
- Samuel Sarfati (died c. 1519), Italian physician to Popes Alexander VI and Julius II
- Sonia Sarfati (born 1960), French author and journalist
Sarfatti
- Anna Sarfatti (born 1950), Italian writer of children's books
- Jack Sarfatti (born 1939), American theoretical physicist and writer
- Margherita Sarfatti (1880–1961), Italian journalist and lover of Benito Mussolini
- Riccardo Sarfatti (born 1940), Italian architect and politician in Lombardy
Sarfaty
- Gretta Sarfaty Marchant (born 1947), British-Brazilian artist and curator
- Regina Sarfaty (born 1934), American operatic mezzo-soprano
Sarphati
- Samuel Sarphati (1813–1866), Dutch physician and city planner
Serfaty
- Abraham Serfaty (1926–2010), Moroccan dissident
- Abraham Serfaty (Gibraltarian), former Mayor of Gibraltar
- Christine Daure-Serfaty (1926–2014), French-Moroccan activist
- Dan Serfaty (born 1966) is a French entrepreneur and businessman
- Isaac Chocrón Serfaty (1930-2011), Venezuelan playwright
- Rosalinda Serfaty (born 1969), Venezuelan actress
- Sylvia Serfaty, French Mathematician, winner of the 2004 EMS Prize for her contributions to the Ginzburg–Landau theory
- Willa Vasquez Serfaty, Gibraltarian artist
See also
- Olry Terquem (1782–1862), who wrote under the pseudonym "Tsarphati"