While many matzevot display the surnames in Hebrew letters only, rules of transcription used by the stonecutters were very incoherent and based mainly on a simplified Yiddish notation; furthermore, the deceased bore surnames of German, Polish, Russian and Hebrew origin. We had to create our own system of transcribing Hebrew letters back into Latin script, that would meet those circumstances, and we were aided by matzevot with surnames written both in Hebrew and Latin letters. We have produced a system that in our opinion fully renders methods of transcription used by the Warsaw Jews, trying at the same time to understand every name and to find its origin. In consequence, we have noted German surnames accordingly to the rules of German language, while Polish and scarce Russian and Hebrew surnames, as well as those of unsolved origin were written accordingly to the rules of Polish language. All variants are taken into account in our browser.

Authors of the transcription system: Witek Wrzosiński, Magda Braniewska, Remek Sosnowski