[heartwood]

Why do so many people think that Zimmerman is a Jewish name, or think that other people think that? It means “carpenter” in German, not a traditional Jewish occupation.

And honestly, I think if Zimmerman were Jewish, he might be seen as belonging to a victim class and not be facing this prosecution.

[wideminded]

It means “carpenter” in German, not a traditional Jewish occupation.

It's a 2000 year-old tradition. :)

[jjotto]

There are a number of Jewish Zimmermans (Bob Dylan comes to mind), but the Jews named Zimmerman are less common than Jews surnamed Miller, Green, Snyder and others. Yet people don’t jump to a Jewish conclusion about those surnames.

A lot of those Germanic Jewish surnames became traditional because official surnames were required by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

You can’t really tell from a surname. Songwriter George M. Cohan, for example, was 100% Irish Catholic!

[ronniesgal]

I was raised in Cleveland Heights Ohio, and every Zimmerman I knew was Jewish.
I married a Jewish man, and our last name is not particularly ethnic, either. BUT some folks automatically assume we are Jews.

[Verginius Rufus]

I had a classmate in high school whose name was Zimmerman, and he was a Catholic.

Maybe the idea that Zimmerman is Jewish comes from it being Bob Dylan's real name.