Court Decree, issued by the government of Emperor Joseph II, for Bohemia [Present-day Czech Republic]: “Since the taking of the name of the father or grandfather as a middle name is merely a Jewish custom, and only serves to keep the name of the father or grandfather alive, keeping a middle name, the result of a useless habit, cannot be permitted. If the offspring were allowed to keep the first names of their father or grandfather as a middle name, it could not be prevented that they maintained completely Hebrew, Jewish, or other names unknown in the German language, which would run counter to the purpose of existing law.”
Moesle, Johann Georg (pub.). Handbuch aller unter der Regierung des Kaisers Joseph des II. für die K.K. Erbländer ergangenen Verordnungen und Gesetze in einer Sistematischer Verbindung: enthält die Verordnungen und Gesetze vom Jahre 1787. Vierzehnter Band (Handbook of all ordinances and laws issued under the government of Emperor Joseph II for the royal-imperial hereditary lands, in a systematic connection: contains the ordinances and laws of the year 1787. Volume 14.)Moesle: Vienna, 1789. Page 539. Researched by Dominik Jacobs 5/4/2020