This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Broyles, Briles Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/IOG.2ACIB/273.4 Message Board Post: Hello Victoria: Those given names are not "Jewish"! They are "Bibical"! Our German ancestors used given names from the Bible to name their children. One must be very, very careful in genealogy research not to make "assumptions" based on such things as surnames. As far as that goes, one must be careful not to make ANY assumptions. Assumptions lead us astray -- facts keep us on the straight and narrow. While I'm on assumptions, let's add "guesses", "family lore", and "word of mouth hand-me-downs" to things NOT to be relied on in genealogy research: "My mother told me her great-great-aunt so-and-so always said our father's family was from Holland." "My grandmother had coal-black, straight hair, and was of dark complexion; someone in her ancestry MUST have been an Indian." "We were always told our ancestor was one of seven (or five, or three, etc.), who came over from England." "My emigrant ancestor arrived on the ship "Good Hope", which sailed from Portsmouth, England; he must have been English." And so on and so on. Regards, George W. Durman