Hello
Thank-you for your question which involved some interesting research.
Kroitor does mean 'tailor' in Romanian, though it is usually spelt
'croitor'.
Yes, Kroitor is a Jewish name. I've found various pieces of evidence
for this and am now convinced that together they add up to a definite
'yes' answer.
I started by discovering that the Romanian for tailor is 'croitor'. My
next find was that Croitor and Croitoru are considered to be the same
name. This meant that, as with other name and family history searches,
the hunt would have to include a variety of spellings of the same
name.
At Ancestry.com, Kroitor is included in a "Dictionary of Jewish
Surnames", which seems like good evidence, but it costs $80 to access
this, so I needed to look elsewhere too.
My next stop was the Jewish Genealogy website, Jewishgen.com. This
site is for people researching Jewish names and history. The JewishGen
Family Finder has one entry for 'Kroitoru', two for 'Croiter', and
five for 'Croitoru'. Looking in their Discussion Groups as well, I
found a message confirming 'Croitoru' as a Jewish name.
In searches on Google I found some people with the Kroitor/Croitor
name active in fields which emphasise their Jewish background: Sania
Kroitor, an Israeli musician; a Kroitor who's trustee of an American
synagogue; Jeff Croiter, working in American-Jewish theatre; Joseph
Croitoru, a German Jewish writer and a German Jewish musician also
called Croitoru.
Here are the references to back up my conclusions.
----------------------------
TAILOR = CROITOR IN ROMANIAN
----------------------------
English-Romanian online dictionary at:
http://www.castingsnet.com/dictionaries/
(I already put this in a comment (below) before I decided I had time
to work on the whole question!)
and in The JewishGen SIG Lists message Archive:
" croitor = tailor
croitor "derbitec" = tailor of ______
croitor de straie jidovesti = tailor of Jewish clothes
croitoreasa = seamstress /dressmaker"
message 17 Sep 2000
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/
-------------------------------
KROITOR/CROITOR - JEWISH ORIGIN
-------------------------------
Kroitor is included in a "Dictionary of Jewish Surnames in the Russian
Empire"
"This is a scholarly work which will help researchers identify the
history and etymology of Jewish surnames."
Further details are available to subscribers only (subscription starts
at $80)
http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/
..........
Jewishgen Discussion Group
information from 19th century Romanian birth records:
"Witnesses: Haim Croitoru, Jewish, 34, neighbour; Moisa Croitoru,
Jewish, taylor"
message of 31 Jan 2000
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/
.............
JewishGen Family Finder
contact information for people researching into these names:
Kroitoru, Croiter, Croitoru and Croiterin
searches on croit* and kroit* - results from 1998-2002
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/
Please note that many of these messages include email addresses, if
you are interested in making contact with other people researching the
name 'Kroitor'.
--------------------------------------------------------------
PUBLIC FIGURES WITH KROITOR/CROITOR NAMES & JEWISH CONNECTIONS
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sania Kroitor - part of an Israel-based music group, mentioned on many
sites, including:
Bands and Performing Groups: Klezmer, Jewish, and Related or
Derivative musics
http://www.klezmershack.com/contacts/klezbands_s.html
Jeff Croiter - lighting designer in Jewish theatre productions,
mentioned here:
Connecticut Jewish Ledger - February 28, 1997
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~krevolin/boychik.html
Joseph Croitoru - a German writer on Israeli-Palestinian topics,
described here as Jewish:
"Messianische Juden?"
http://www.luebeck-kunterbunt.de/seite/Juden3.htm
Michael Croitoru-Weismann - musician mentioned on a page of news about
Jewish culture in Berlin
Juden in Berlin
http://www.berlin-judentum.de/kultur/juedische-kulturtage.htm
-------------------------------
LINKS BETWEEN KROITOR & ROMANIA
-------------------------------
The Family History Message Board has a message from someone linking
Kroitor to Romania.
You need to register (free) to see this:
http://www.ancestry.com/
You'll see that Ancestry.com offer you other possibilities when you
type 'Kroitor' in the search box. Most have a lock next to them and
these options require you to be a paid subscriber.
Two people called Kroitor from Romania at:
http://www.familysearch.org/
"My mother's parents were Croitoru (or Croitor).."
message from someone with Romanian roots on Family History message
board
http://www.ancestry.com/
I hope this is helpful. Please get back to me if you need any further
explanation, or if you have trouble with any of the links, and I'll do
my best to assist further.
Thank-you for offering me an interesting research task.
Regards - Leli
searches on:
RootsWeb
http://www.rootsweb.com/
Ancestry.com
http://www.ancestry.com/
Jewish Genealogy
http://www.jewishgen.org/
Family Search
http://www.familysearch.org/
kroitor kroitoru kroiter croitor croiter origin jew jewish
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kroitor kroitoru kroiter croitor croiter croitoru juden juedische
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