Moses Mendelssohn was born in Dessau. His father's name was Mendel, but Moses and his brother Saul were the first to adopt the surname Mendelssohn ("Mendel's son"). Moses's son Abraham Mendelssohn wrote in 1829 (to Felix), "My father felt that the name Moses Ben Mendel Dessau would handicap him in gaining the needed access to those who had the better education at their disposal. Without any fear that his own father would take offense, my father assumed the name Mendelssohn. The change, though a small one, was decisive."Michael P. Steinberg, "Mendelssohn and Judaism," in The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn, ed. Peter Mercer-Taylor, p. 34, Cambridge University Press, 2004); translation by Eric Werner, corrected by Michael Steinberg
