Sholem

This interesting Ashkenazic name is of Germanic origins although it also appears in Poland and the Baltic States under various spellings. In its original form as Scholm, it is like Salomon, a direct derivative of the ancient hebrew "Shalom" meaning "peace". The variant spellings include Sholem, Shulem, Shalom and the patronymics Shulimson, Sholemoff and Shalomoff. The early recordings would seem to be all in Germany, these include Christina Scholm who married one Georgius Naumann at Peterswalde, Heilsberg, Ostpreussen on November 21st 1649, whilst on January 9th 1694, Anna, the daughter of Thomas and Anna Scholm was baptised also at Rossel, Ostpreussen, which would seem to be the area from which the name originated. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Matthaeus Schlom, which was dated February 24th 1647, baptised at Rossel, Ostpreussen, during the reign of Emperor Ferdinand 111, of the Holy Roman Empire, 1637 - 1657. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.