Finkelstein

Finkelstein (Hebrew: פֿינק(ע)לשׁטײַן or פינקלשׁט(י)ין, Russian: Финкельштейн) is a German and Yiddish surname originating from Old High German funko (spark) and stein (stone).¹

Fünkelstein meant pyrite (George J. Adler, A Dictionary of the German and English Languages, 1848).

Notable people with the surname include:

• Abraham Finkelstein alias Arthur Fields (1884–1953), American singer and songwriter
• Amy Finkelstein (born 1973), American professor of economics
• Anthony Finkelstein (born 1959), British software engineer
• Arthur J. Finkelstein (1945–2017), American political strategist
• Avram Finkelstein, American gay rights activist
• Ben-Ami Finkelstein (1910–1975), Swiss psychiatrist
• Bernie Finkelstein (born 1944), Canadian music executive and talent manager
• Beatrice Finkelstein, American nutritionist
• Claire Finkelstein, American legal scholar
• Clive Finkelstein (c. 1939–2021), Australian computer scientist
• Daniel Finkelstein (born 1962), British journalist and politician
• David Finkelstein (1929–2016), American physicist
• Eric Finkelstein (born 1970), American health economist
• Gabriel Finkelstein (born 1963), American professor of history
• Hans Finkelstein (1885–1938), German chemist
• Heinrich Finkelstein (1865–1942), German pediatrician
• Israel Finkelstein (born 1949), Israeli archaeologist
• Jacob Finkelstein alias Jackie Fields (1908–1987), American boxer
• Jerry Finkelstein (1916–2012), American publisher, businessman and political power broker
• Levana Finkelstein (born 1947), Israeli actress
• Louis Finkelstein (1895–1991), American Talmud scholar
• Louis Finkelstein (artist) (1923–2000), American painter and academic
• Max Finkelstein (1884–1940), American policeman from New York
• Meir Finkelstein, Israeli-American cantor and composer of Jewish liturgical music
• Mel Finkelstein, American photojournalist
• Menachem Finkelstein (born 1951), Israeli judge
• Mendel Finkelstein (c.1878–1949), Australian cinema entrepreneur, founder of the Greater Wondergraph Company
• Nat Finkelstein (1933–2009), American photographer and photojournalist
• Norman Finkelstein (born 1953), American political scientist and writer
• Norman H. Finkelstein (1941–2024), American author and educator
• Norman Finkelstein (poet) (born 1954), poet and writer
• Peter Max Finkelstein alias Peter Max (born 1937), American artist
• Raymond Finkelstein (born 1946), Australian lawyer and judge
• Salo Finkelstein (1896/7–unknown), Russian-American mental calculator
• Samuel Finkelstein (1895–1942), Polish painter
• Shimcha Finkelstein (1917–1987), Polish-Israeli table tennis player
• Sidney Finkelstein (1909–1974), American writer
• Tamara Finkelstein (born 1967), British civil servant
• Vic Finkelstein (1938–2011), South African-British disabled activist and writer
• William Zorach alias Finkelstein (1889–1966), Lithuanian-American sculptor, painter, printmaker and writer