segal
{{other uses}}
Segal, and its variants including Sagal, Segel, Sigal or Siegel, is a family name which is primarily Ashkenazi Jewish.
The name is said to be derived from Hebrew segan leviyyah (assistant to the Levites)The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion ed. Adele Berlin - 2011-p3 "Various family names are derived from abbreviations; for example, Katz (kohen tsedeq [righteous priest]) and Segal (segan leviyyah [Levitical aide]). Abbreviations or acronyms were commonly employed in Talmudic literature as an exegetical ..."Jewish Budapest: Monuments, Rites, History ed. Kinga Frojimovics, Géza Komoróczy - 1999 p190 "Siegel / Segal / Segall / Chagall, etc.: segan levayya, leader of the Levites (sagan is a loanword from Ancient Mesopotamia, Sumerian and Akkadian, originally denoting a dignity).Ladies' Home Journal Vol.90 page liii ed. Newell Convers Wyeth - 1973 "Thus levi Segal is a descendents of Ben Rabbi Judah Lowe became Brill; Segan Leviyyah became the surname Segal or Segel." although a minority of sources claim that "Segal" is instead a Hebrew abbreviation for segan le-kehunah (assistant to the Cohen – assistant to the priest).Precious possessions: treasures from the Library of the Sharon Liberman Mintz, Elka Deitsch, Havva Charm - 2001 p38 "... pouring water from a pitcher into a laver. This illustration is a visual reference to the Levitical ancestry of the family of the bridegroom whose surname (Segal) is a standard Hebrew abbreviation for segan le-kehunah (assistant to the priest)."Sidney Steiman, Custom And Survival, A Study Of The Life Of Rabbi Jacob Molin, the Maharil, 1963, p.4
People
Notable people with the surname include:
- Abe Segal (1930–2016), South African tennis player
- Alan F. Segal (1945–2011), American Professor of Jewish Studies
- Allan Segal (1941–2012), British documentary filmmaker
- Alvin Segal (1933–2022), American-Canadian businessman and philanthropist
- Anna Segal (born 1986), Australian Olympic freestyle skier and 2-time world champion
- Anthony Segal (born 1944), British physician/scientist
- Brandon Segal (born 1983), Canadian ice hockey player
- Charles Segal (1936–2002), American historian and classicist
- D. Segal, pen name of Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Dan Segal (born 1947), British mathematician
- David HaLevi Segal (1586–1667), Polish rabbi and Halakhist
- David Segal (politician), Member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and candidate for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district
- Erich Segal (1937–2010), American author, screenwriter, and educator
- Ester H. Segal, Israeli nanotechnologist and educator
- Francesca Segal (born 1980), British author and journalist
- Gabriel Segal (philosopher) (born 1959), British professor, philosopher and author
- George Segal (artist) (1924–2000), American sculptor and painter
- George Segal (1934–2021), American actor
- Gloria Segal (1928–1993), American politician
- Graeme Segal (born 1941), Australian mathematician
- Hugh Segal (1950–2023), Canadian Senator and co-chair of the Conservative Party of Canada campaign in the 2006 Federal Election
- Irving Segal (1918–1998), American mathematician
- Jack Segal (1918–2005), American composer
- Jakob Segal (1911–1995), biology professor at the Humboldt University of Berlin
- Jason Segal (born 1980), American actor
- Jeffrey Segal (1920–2015), British actor
- Jérôme Segal (born 1970), French-Austrian essayist, historian, and journalist
- Joel Segal, American sports agent
- Jonathan Segal (actor), (1953–1999), American television actor
- Judah Segal (1912–2003), British professor of Semitics
- Kate Segal (born 1975), Member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 62nd district
- Katey Sagal (born 1953), American actress and singer-songwriter
- Lore Segal (1928–2024), Austrian-American novelist and Pulitzer Prize finalist
- Marilyn Segal, American psychologist
- Mike Segal, (1922-1982) American politician
- Michael Segal (born 1972), Israeli scholar of computer science
- Moshe Zvi Segal (1875–1968), Israeli rabbi
- Nachum Segal, Jewish American DJ
- Nancy L. Segal (born 1951), American evolutionary psychologist and behavioral geneticist
- Ned Segal (born {{Circa|1974}}), American business executive
- Peter Sagal (born 1965), American radio host
- Peter Segal (born 1962), American film director
- Philip Segal (born 1958), English-born television producer
- Richard D. Segal, American businessman and art collector
- Ronald Segal (1932–2008), South African writer and activist
- Samuel Segal (1902–1985), British doctor and politician
- Sandra Segal Ikuta, United States circuit judge
- Sara Segal, later Sophia Karp (1861–1904), the first professional Yiddish theatre actress
- Sharmin Segal (born 1995), Indian actress in Hindi films
- Steve Segal, American animator
- Steven Seagal (born 1952), American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician
- Stephen H. Segal, American science fiction writer and editor
- Sydney Segal, American female contestant on reality show Survivor 41#
- Tobias Segal, American actor
- Yehiel Segal, (1924 –1996), Israeli painter
- Yuval Segal (born 1971), Israeli actor and comedian
- Walter Segal (1907–1985), German-born Romanian architect working in England, who developed a system of self-build housing
- Zindel Segal (born 1956), Ukrainian-Canadian cognitive psychologist, one of the founders of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
See also
- {{intitle|Segal}}
- Chagall (disambiguation)
- Siegel
- Segel
- Sigel (disambiguation)