Ronald F Hock

Katz is a common German and Ashkenazi Jewish surname. Germans with the last name Katz may originate in the Rhine River region of Germany, where the Katz Castle is located. (The name of the castle does not derive from Katze, "cat", but from Katzenelnbogen, going back to Latin Cattimelibocus, consisting of the ancient Germanic tribal names of the Chatti and Melibokus.) Where it is a Jewish surname, Katz is almost always a Hebrew abbreviation (Hebrew: כּ״ץ, Kaf (a) Tzaddi, or Ka-Tz) formed from the…