The name Mayer, or Meyer, was originally just a Jewish first name, only becoming a family name in Frankfurt at the end of the 17th century. Those bearing it were descendants of the famous Schiff family. On his death, Moses Mayer, a son of the Schiffs, left a fortune of 285,000 guilders, which was very substantial by contemporary standards. There were other Jewish families with the name Mayer in Frankfurt at a later period: these either came from outside or were branches which had split off from local families, such as the Kulps.