In Christian [[iconography]], the [[eagle]] is the symbol of [[Four Evangelists#Evangelists' symbols|John the Evangelist]], and as such a stylized eagle was commonly used as a house sign/totem in German speaking areas. From the tenement the term easily moved to its inhabitants, particularly to those having only one name. This phenomenon can be easily seen in German and Austrian censuses from the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=adler |title=Adler Surname Meaning and Distribution |publisher=ancestry.co.uk}} Retrieved 25 January 2014</ref> The term might have been assigned also as a name descriptive of character or outward characteristics. It is also a common Jewish surname among the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] community, where it may have derived from a reference to Psalm 103:5.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishjournal.com/culture/religion/126091/|title=The origins and meaning of Ashkenazic last names|last=Currents|first=Jewish|date=2014-01-14|website=Jewish Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref> Many notable people with the surname Adler are of Jewish origin, such as [[Alfred Adler]]. Adler is also sometimes used to denote the Jewish origins of fictional characters, such as in [[Mordecai Richler|Mordechai Richler]]'s ''[[Son of a Smaller Hero]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eoN1DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA63&ots=vesaiHbcUB&dq=yiddish%20surname%20adler&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q=yiddish%20surname%20adler&f=false|title=Kanade, di Goldene Medine?: Perspectives on Canadian-Jewish Literature and Culture / Perspectives sur la littérature et la culture juives canadiennes|date=2018-10-25|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-37941-1|language=en}}</ref> |
In Christian [[iconography]], the [[eagle]] is the symbol of [[Four Evangelists#Evangelists' symbols|John the Evangelist]], and as such a stylized eagle was commonly used as a house sign/totem in German speaking areas. From the tenement the term easily moved to its inhabitants, particularly to those having only one name. This phenomenon can be easily seen in German and Austrian censuses from the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=adler |title=Adler Surname Meaning and Distribution |publisher=ancestry.co.uk}} Retrieved 25 January 2014</ref> The term might have been assigned also as a name descriptive of character or outward characteristics. It is also a common Jewish surname among the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] community, where it may have derived from a reference to Psalm 103:5.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishjournal.com/culture/religion/126091/|title=The origins and meaning of Ashkenazic last names|last=Currents|first=Jewish|date=2014-01-14|website=Jewish Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref> Many notable people with the surname Adler are of Jewish origin, such as [[Alfred Adler]]. Adler is also sometimes used to denote the Jewish origins of fictional characters, such as in [[Mordecai Richler|Mordechai Richler]]'s ''[[Son of a Smaller Hero]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=eoN1DwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA63&ots=vesaiHbcUB&dq=yiddish%20surname%20adler&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q=yiddish%20surname%20adler&f=false|title=Kanade, di Goldene Medine?: Perspectives on Canadian-Jewish Literature and Culture / Perspectives sur la littérature et la culture juives canadiennes|date=2018-10-25|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-37941-1|language=en}}</ref> |