My other's name was Maril sometimes spelled with two Ls. The origin of the Maril family was Brody in Galica and we know this from family records. Alfred Marill's (my grandfather) memoir describes the origin of the name as follows:
Now a word about our name. I recall that I saw old documents, where the name was written M A H R I L. This corroborates the family tradition that we are descendants of the famous Rabbi M A H A R I L, who died in Worms on the Rhine in 1425. He held also a German name Jakob Moellin. His works are preserved. He was the founder of the liturgical order of prayers as they are used in the synagogues til today. His tombstone is still in the cemetery in Worms and is kept as a shrine. We owned some pictures and postcards of the tombstone. I have heard that the stone and some memorabilia of his were saved during the Nazi regime and can still be seen in Worms. His descendants obviously moved to Poland, when the big migration of the Jews from the Rhineland started in the 15th and 16th century.
Once I discussed the history of the family with Hofrat S. Frankfurter, Director of the University Library of Vienna (by the way, the uncle of the associate justice of the Supreme Court in the U. S., F. Frankfurter). He was very familiar with the subject and told me that Maharil's father was also a rabbi in the Rhineland and that the Jews came to this part of the world at the time of the Romans. Quite an ancestry!
The name Maril (l) is very rare. It is not a common Jewish name at all. And it is not a common non-Jewish name either.
My questions are:
Does this narrative make sense? Can a name like this be maintained for centuries: 15th Century to 19th Century?
How likely is it that the family choose this name when Jews got surnames under the Habsburg regime, perhaps because a family member was a devotee of the MAHARIL's liturgical innovations?
Might there be some evidence in the Habsburg records of the surname assignment that might be helpful? And how would one find these records?
I think one key is to note ALfred Maril's statement "
I recall that I saw old documents, where the name was written M A H R I L" So the proper inquiry may well be for the Mahril name.
I appreciate the efforts of any respondent. This matter has always been a puzzle.--
Richard Marill Kobayashi
Belmont, MA
USA
