Meaning of "Zaidins": Here are the various possibilities offered thus far: (1) Alexander Beider, in his book, “Jewish Surnames in the Russian Empire,” suggests it means "kindhearted" or "gentle"-- ed. note: in a discussion with Yiddish scholar Salo Enis, he explains that Beider viewed the name as descriptive of an attribute, as in the expression "Zaidiner Mentch" (Zaidiner, meaning fine or gentle like silk). It's analogous to someone taking the name, Glickman, which means 'lucky man". He further explained that the 's ending' in Zaidins is in the genative case, to show possession, in this case "son of" Zaidin (See, for example, Harkavy's Yiddish-English Dictionary); (2) "silken" or "silky"  from the German seiden; (3) unlikely but possible is "olive", from the Turkish zeytin; (4) also unlikely but possible is from the Arabic, Zaydan, meaning "one who knows the law well."; (5) just as unlikely but possible, is that the family came from the village of Zaidín, in Aragón, Spain.

The mystery behind the intended meaning of the family name is ostensibly lost to history. If you think you've got a lead, let us know.

History: The family's origins after the Roman destruction of the Second Temple, like that of most Jewish families, are obscured by time. There is some oral history that helps to trace our more recent wanderings. In 1955, Nathan Zaidens explained  that he was told by his family that sometime during the 18th century, his ancestors came from an area that is today, Georgia, historically part of the Ottoman Empire. This may have been borne out by a newly commissioned Y-DNA study. A Zaidins family member is participating in Family Tree DNA's Iberian Ashkenaz Y-DNA project. The results reveal with a high degree of certainty that our family lived in Spain prior to the Spanish Inquisition.

So, it looks like Spain to Ottoman Empire to Georgia, and from there north, possibly to Kiev. In the late 18th, or early-19th century, the family split up. Part traveled to what was then Lithuania, part went northwest to the area known today as Poland, and part stayed behind in Kiev. In 1902, the first exodus from the Pale of Settlement started when Yitzchok Zaidins, then 76 years old, departed Lepel for America. Four of his adult children and their families either traveled with him or soon followed. Other parts of the family left later, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Today, members of the extended family live all over the world.

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Zaidins family tree as of March 3, 2009. 651 members and growing!