Why is Google keeping a list of Jewish names?

Google has a new feature – “Something different” – that, according to their description returns “queries that may be in the same category as your original search”.

Well, yesterday I entered a colleague’s name – “goldstein” – in to google, and got the following:

Hmm. So I tried another search, this time for “Friedman”:

So I tried another, “Greenbaum”:

Then I tried a fairly obscure one “Freudenthal”:

And finally I tried “Brin”:

So what’s going on? I find it hard to believe the structure of the internet really clusters Jewish names together, but maybe it does (an Israeli phonebook?). Or has someone at google compiled a list of Jewish names, and, if so, why?

This entry was posted in misc stuff. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

10 Comments