Chertoff
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From all the information gathered until now, the Chertoff surname is based in one of two possible Russian roots:
Draftsman (industrial drawer) Census taker (in the times of the Tsars)
It seems impossible that the name would be linked with the similar sounding Russian for "devil," "Chort" because it would be blasphemous for a believing Christian to name anything or anyone after the devil.
In most likelihood, the surname was given to Chertoff ancestors by the authorities who needed to differentiate between various members of a community. This was to organize records that were used for tax collection or inscription of the first sons into the Tsars' armies. Until then, Jews' surnames were linked to their fathers (Ben Yitzchak—son of Isaac, Ben Moshe—son of Moshe, and the like). Using the Jewish surnames either caused elongated strings of parentage in names, or limited names in their history to one generation.
Another interesting, yet unlikely, source for the surname is in the mineral, chert. Chert at Answers.com
1. A variety of silica that contains microcrystalline quartz. 2. A siliceous rock of chalcedonic or opaline silica occurring in limestone.
All Transliterations from Original Cyrillic (Transliterations are ways of spelling a word or name in a language other than the original.)
The Chertoffs are rooted in Minsk, Belarus and are searching the missing link(s) that will eventually connect the branches of the family. If one's Chertoff heritage also stems from the Minsk area, it is almost surely a fact that the differences in the spellings of transliterations were created when Chertoff ancestors came to America, France, or to wherever they emigrated.
In French, for instance, "ch" is a soft sound (similar to "sh"), so our name is spelled "Tchertoff" there (pronounced as in the English word "chair"). "Chertov" and "Chertoff" are the American transliterations from the Cyrillic, probably a result of the changes that occurred at Ellis Island. "Chertow" is the Polish rendition of the same surname.
So, to understand why one branch is spelled one way, and another spelled another way, we must take into consideration both from where the emigrants came, and where they first settled. For instance, the Tchertoffs, whose transliteration was first created in France, now have family in England. One branch of the family in Germany transliterated their name as "Tschertov," according to the German pronunciation.
Considering that there are various ways to spell the beginning of our surname ("Ch," "Tch" and "Tsch") and various ways to spell the suffixes (endings—"ov," "ova," "off" and "ow"), we now have the following similar spellings of the same name.
Chertov Chertova Chertoff Chertow Chartoff Chartow Tchertov Tchertova Tchertoff Tchertow Tschertov
and possibly
Chertovich
The fact that we all are one family came from a researcher at the Minsk Genealogy Group (MGG) who performed research there. He came to the following conclusion (with no corrections to his English).
"All Chertovs, who lived in Minsk in the late XIX - early XX century were from the same family. No any Chertov else was found."
The Chertoffs are not the same family as Chertok (from Pinsk origin), Chortkof, Chernoff or other families whose surname sounds or appears similar.
The only Chertoff branch that does NOT originate in Minsk are the Chertoffs from Argentina. They originate in Romania and are not originally Chertoffs.
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