The surnames Chajes (
Ashkenazic Hebrew), Chayes, Hayyot, Hayyut, and Hiyyut are written in Hebrew characters as . The family name originated in the Jewish community of sixteenth-century Prague, one of many such matronymic names adopted by the community in the period.
It means "Chaya's
hild/children" The use of the Hebrew, rather than a Yiddish spelling, thus produced a double entendre seemingly intended to suggest "vitality".
means
animals
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...
; means
vitality
Vitality (, , ) is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. Vitality is also the characteristic that distinguishes life, living from non-living things. To experience vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a comp ...
.
People with this surname
*
Abram Chayes (1922–2000), American legal scholar
*
Benno Chajes (1880–1938), German physician and politician
*
Isaac Hayyut (died 1726), Polish rabbi
*
Jennifer Tour Chayes (born 1956), mathematical physicist
*
Menahem Manesh Hayyut (died 1636), Polish rabbi
*
Oscar Chajes (1873–1928), Austrian-American chess player
*
Sarah Chayes (born 1962), American journalist
*
Zvi Hirsch Chajes (1805–1855), Galician rabbi
*
Zwi Perez Chajes (1876–1927), Austrian rabbi
*
J. H. Chajes (born 1965), Israeli-American professor of Jewish thought
See also
*
Chai (symbol)
Chai or Hai ( "living" ') is a symbol that figures prominently in modern Jewish culture; the Hebrew letters of the word are often used as a visual symbol.
History
According to '' The Jewish Daily Forward'', its use as an amulet originates in 18 ...
*
Chayyim (''Haim'') (pl.)
* ''Chayyey'' (); e.g.
Chayei Sarah
* Surnamed people
Chaitin, (Galith) Chayyat',
Chayat are from ''Chayyat /
Khayat /
Chait, a tailor (cf.Schneider/Shreyder)
References
{{surname, Chajes, Chayes, etc.
Hebrew-language names
Jewish matronymic surnames