I have a list of 263 Jewish Taxpayers >from Raczki Poland in 1863 (see
Kehilalinks - Poland - Raczki).

One of the names is Sera Percyk listed with occupation "krawiec". The
other 262 names are commonly used male names. The Polish translation
for the occupation on Google is "tailor" or "sewer".

I had never seen a male name similar to Sera. I would have remembered
because my wife's name is Sara. I could not find other online records
for this person or any other person with given name Sera or even close
like Sira and was clearly a male.

Please add this to the list of questionable Jewish given names

Robert Zavos
Pittsburgh PA

The form of the name I have come across in my own family is Zoruch. It
is not a common first name and makes searching for family easier as it
can be used for first name searches on various databases. However, it does
get mangled - my favourite was when I got a return of Saragh on one search and
fortunately I looked more closely because this was the person I was seeking.

Dorothy Leivers
Hadlow, Kent

Dear all,
I received many useful responses regarding the given name Sira or Sera
or Sirach or Serach. (The initial S is voiced; in a Polish
transliteration it would be a Z.)

The consensus was that the name was indeed used among Ashkenazim, but
was relatively rare. This is helpful to my research in that I am
searching for a Sirach COHN who lived in Deutsch Eylau, West Prussia
(now Ilawa) in the 1st half of the 19th century. I have only one vital
record of him--his death in 1863. A few years later he is mentioned as
the father of his daughter, who was getting married. There his name is
spelled "Sarrach," but I wouldn't have expected the registrar to spell
such an unusual name correctly, especially in the absence of the person
who bore it.

Once again, thanks to all who responded.

Roger Lustig
Princeton, NJ USA
research coordinator, GerSIG