Rappaport Family History

Jewish (Ashkenazic): most people bearing this name are descended from Avrom-Menakhem Ben-Yankev Hakoyen Rapa, who lived in Porto, Italy, at the beginning of the 16th century. The etymology of his name is uncertain but possibly from German Rappe ‘raven’. Compare Rapp. According to one explanation his descendants added the name of their city, Porto, in order to distinguish themselves from unrelated Jews surnamed Rapa; according to another, there was a marriage between the Rapa and Porto families, and the issue of this union took the compound name.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press