History Main / AmbiguouslyJewish

* The Pines family in ''GravityFalls''. Mabel mentions mazel tov, and Grunkle Stan acts like a typical [[AllJewsAreCheapskates cheapskate]].

Note that having YiddishAsASecondLanguage is a clue but is not conclusive. As Creator/LennyBruce said, all New Yorkers are at least a little Jewish. Having a "Jewish" name ending in -berg, -stein or the like is also evidence but not proof. These names are actually just German[[labelnote:*]] (names ending in -berg can also be Scandinavian in origin)[[/labelnote]] names that many [[AllJewsAreAshkenazi Ashkenazi Jews]] took when required to adopt some type of surname. Authentically Hebrew names will often begin with "Bar" or "Ben," so they're a good tip-off. For Sephardic Jews, a common name is "Garcia", but again that is such a common Hispanic name that by itself it doesn't prove anything.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' features a number of characters who fit:
** Cohen the Barbarian. Besides his Jewish surname, there's that "wholesale destruction" joke. However, the stereotype wasn’t played up very often, and his name mainly serves as a pun.
** The entire dwarfish species is ambiguously Jewish, although the author says that this really wasn't his intention (so are the golems, and that almost certainly ''was''). ''Thud!'' added a clear, also probably unintended parallel between the Dwarvish minority in Ankh-Morpork and ''Muslims'' in the western world. It's a shame Ambiguously Semitic isn't a trope, really.
** More problematic is ubiquitously recurring character (who actually has a number of diverse counterparts in other cultures of the Discworld) "Cut-My-Own-Throat" Dibbler. This unethical sausage-dealer/poli-genius entrepreneur might only seem Jewish by anti-Semitic stereotype, but in the novel ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' he pretty much becomes David O. Selznick . . .
* In another odd case where the character is Jewish or Irish (or arguably both), the CorruptCorporateExecutive Melmotte in ''The Way We Live Now'' is a {{Fauxreigner}} who has likely altered his name to sound French. His wife is explicitly Jewish, and his name could be interpreted as a clever adaptation of the Jewish name Malamud, and there is a lot of prejudice by the author and characters which relies on the assumption that he is Jewish. David Suchet, who played him in the ''Masterpiece Theatre'' series, has Jewish ancestry. On the other hand, the author's notes during writing peg him at one point as an Irish-American originally named Malmedy. So, Melmotte's background basically depends on what Creator/AnthonyTrollope was thinking about at any given point while writing.

* Irene Adler, from the Literature/SherlockHolmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia," and many other Holmes stories by writers other than Doyle. Certainly, her name sounds Jewish, and it has been theorized that she was inspired, at least in part, by Sarah Bernhardt.

* The character of Lawrence Garfield from ''[[Film/OtherPeoplesMoney Other People's Money]]'' had the very Jewish-sounding name of Lawrence Garfinkle in the original stage play. Changing it for the film may have been to avoid UnfortunateImplications.

** Hatred of the Nazis was pretty much universal among Americans during the war years. Judaism really had nothing to do with it; the Nazis were enemies of democracy, and that was enough. Of course, most Americans still harbored negative stereotypes of Germans that were holdovers from WorldWarI or even earlier.
*** "Universal" might be over the top, as there was plenty of sympathy for the Nazis in the US--even some who thought the US should enter the war on the side of Germany--right up until Germany declared war on the US in the wake of Pearl Harbor, when such attitudes suddenly became impolitic even if people still held them.
* Dr. King Schultz from ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' is a German immigrant in the mid-19th century, when the first Jews came to America from Germany with the stereotypically Jewish profession of dentist. He clearly has a strong German identity due to his fascination with German folklore, but Jews were much more assimilated in Germany than any other European country (prior to Hitler, of course). The surname Schultz is occasionally Jewish.
** Most German immigrants to the United States were either Lutheran or Roman Catholic, so it's less than likely.
* Cher from ''Film/{{Clueless}}'' lives in Beverly Hills, has the last name Horowitz, and has a New York-accented litigator for a father, yet no explicit mention is made of her Jewishness. Incidentally, the actress who played Cher and the actor who played her father are both Jewish.

* Harley Quinn, the [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Joker's]] moll on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', always seemed vaguely Jewish with her quirky personality and [[MostAnnoyingSound "fingernails-on-a-chalkboard" screechy voice]]. Then the beans were spilled when Harley was asked why she liked Christmas trees so much if she was Jewish. Later in that same story, Harley shouted "Happy Hanukkah, chump!" when attacking Batman. The Joker himself spouts the odd Yiddish phrase, but this is probably either by association with Harley or due to his background in show business - or maybe, once again, it's just Big Applesauce.
** It was recently revealed that Harley is half-Jewish and half-Catholic.

** Sherlock Holmes himself sometimes gets hit with this, as his physical appearance contains two stereotypically "Jewish" features--black hair and a large hawk-like nose. There is actually an [[http://www.hansomwheels.com/holmesethni_1.htm]] that theorizes the possibility of Holmes having Jewish ancestry, and author Shane Peacock's Young Adult series, The Boy Sherlock Holmes, portrays the young Sherlock as a boy of Anglo-Jewish descent (the product of an English woman and Jewish man).

** Sherlock Holmes himself sometimes gets hit with this, as his physical appearance contains two stereotypically "Jewish" features--black hair and a large hawk-like nose. There is actually an [[http://www.capnbilly.com/holmesethni_1.htm essay]] that theorizes the possibility of Holmes having Jewish ancestry, and author Shane Peacock's Young Adult series, The Boy Sherlock Holmes, portrays the young Sherlock as a boy of Anglo-Jewish descent (the product of an English woman and Jewish man).

* Some characters from "Anime/Baccano" likely qualify as well, especially some of the Immortals, most notably [[CreepyChild Czeslaw]] [[OlderThanTheyLook Meyer]].

** [[PsychoLesbian Nina]] [[GadgeteerGenius Einstein]] takes this trope [[Uptoeleven]]. Just look at her last name.

* Some characters from "Anime/Baccano!" likely qualify as well, especially some of the Immortals, most notably [[Creepy Child Czeslaw]] [[Olderthantheylook Meyer]].

* Batman's enemy The Penguin started out vaguely [[BuffySpeak Jewish-y]] and has only gotten more and more so over the course of several decades and across multiple media. Aside from the obvious clues, namely his real name of Oswald Cobblepot sounding vaguely like the Yiddish greeting ''mazel tov''; long nose, short stature, and pot belly (all stereotypical Jewish traits in old cartoons); and his fondness for [[GreedyJew stealing priceless works of art]], he also had an archetypal JewishMother who made him carry around an umbrella at all times to shield himself from the sun, causing him to be bullied at school and [[StartOfDarkness sending him inexorably down the road to villainy]]. More Jewish traits were suggested in the 1992 film ''Film/BatmanReturns'', with the Penguin's parents played by Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger (both actors with Jewish ancestry, although their characters have a tree at Christmas and are buried in a Christian cemetery, but they could have converted) and the Penguin himself portrayed by Danny [=DeVito=] with pale makeup, an even ''longer'' nose, and long, wavy dark hair reminiscent of that seen on Hasidic Jews, plus a costume that makes him look a lot like Fagin (the Jewish gang leader from ''Literature/OliverTwist'') and a fondness for eating herrings. Soon afterward, the portrayal of the Penguin on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' included the name, long nose, shortness, pot belly, umbrella, long dark hair, and love of eating fish and added to that a suggestion in one episode ("Birds of a Feather") that the Penguin aspires to join high society but is viewed with contempt by all, even by the rich Anglo woman who dates him, and certainly by her UpperClassTwit friend, who tells her that Oswald is "not our kind."

Also pay attention that having a 'Jewish-sounding name' is not enough, especially if the character in question shows no other traits that could hint at his cultural heritage, or, even worse, is almost blatantly a member of different culture. Many if not most Ashkenazi Jews bear typical German and Austrian last names. Like, you know, actual Germans, Austrians and many Scandinavians with absolutely no Semitic background.

A character who fits "Jewish" stereotypes, possibly played by an actor who is Jewish in real life, but who is never (or cryptically) actually stated to be a Jew on the show. In some cases, the show might present contradictory evidence on both sides. Often this is because it's difficult to establish a character as Jewish without depicting them as walking stereotype, particularly when there's no omniscient narrator to simply [[InformedAbility say so]] or when they don't fit the stereotype.

Note that having YiddishAsASecondLanguage is a clue but is not conclusive. As Creator/LennyBruce said, all New Yorkers are at least a little Jewish. Having a "Jewish" name ending in -berg, -stein or the like is also evidence but not proof. These names are actually just German names that many [[AllJewsAreAshkenazi Ashkenazi Jews]] took when required to adopt some type of surname. Authentically Hebrew names will often begin with "Bar" or "Ben," so they're a good tip-off. For Sephardic Jews, a common name is "Garcia", but again that is such a common Hispanic name that by itself it doesn't prove anything.

* Artie Nielsen, born Arthur Weisfelt, of ''{{Warehouse 13}}'' has numerous hints dropped throught the first two seasons, but is placed firmly in this category by the [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas episode]] of Season 2 which reunites him with his father, played by Judd Hirsch. As a sort of retro lampshade to this sudden Judaism, his [[TeamDad de facto daughter]], Claudia, when invited to say grace at the (gentile) Christmas dinner table, intones "Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech...", although she is rapidly put right by the two older gentlemen.

* [=McCoy=] from ''Manga/{{Area 88}}'' has a large nose, olive-toned skin, and cares only about money, thereby fitting the stereotype.

** In some circles of Gundam fandom, hero Amuro Ray and Captain Bright may or may not be Jewish.
*** It doesn't help anything that Amuro looks really like a Jewish Lesbian woman in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Chars Counterattack]]''.

* In ''Hollywood Sins'', top Hollywood agent Donna Silverstein is played by Kim Dawson (a blue eyed blonde who speaks with a [[SweetHomeAlabama Southern accent]]).

* In the American version of ''[[HouseOfCardsRemake House of Cards]]'', produced by Netflix, the prostitute that Francis Underhill uses to manipulate Congressman Russo into falling off the wagon, thereby sabotaging Russo's campaign for the governorship of Pennsylvania, had the very Jewish-sounding name of Rachel Posner.

** Speaking of Gundam, presumably Louise Halevy of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' has Jewish ancestry, as Halevy (from ''ha-Levi'', [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levite "Levite"]]) is a generally Sephardic Jewish surname and Louise's family is from Spain.

* In ''Hollywood Sins'', top Hollywood agent Donna Silverstein is played by Kim Dawson (a blue eyed blonde who speaks with a [[DeepSouth Southern accent]]).

* Telltale's ''VideoGame/{{Sam And Max|Freelance Police}}'' games have mentioned Jewish things like "Matzah" and "Seder" before, and they live in New York. The existence of hell and the devil in the series makes this ambiguous, however.

* Harley Quinn, the [[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker Joker's]] moll on ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', always seemed vaguely Jewish with her quirky personality and [[MostAnnoyingSound "fingernails-on-a-chalkboard" screechy voice]]. Then the beans were spilled when Harley was asked why she liked Christmas trees so much if she was Jewish. Later in that same story, Harley shouted "Happy Hanukkah, chump!" when attacking Batman.

** It should be noted, that when facing Apollo, who was really an advanced Alien, who had posed as god in ancient Greece. When Apollo demands he bow before the "gods" Kirk replies he has "No need for the gods, I find one enough."