Yerki is a village in Zvenigorodka District, Ukraine.  It is 125km (25 walking hours) from Kanev.  Could the Yaroker family name mean, ‘that fellow from Yerki‘?

Beiber’s surname dictionary uses the Duma Voter List as a source.  The 1906 Duma List lists three Yaroker voters in Kanev.  There are many Yarokers in Kanev.  The citation of Kherson is interesting and may come from a census.  This deserves further investigation.

Cyrillic Spelling: Ярокер

The Yaroker family name is spelled Ярокер in Russian and Ярокеръ in the old style. In the 1906 Duma voter list for Kanev, there were three Yaroker voters.

1906 Duma Election Yaroker Residents from Kanev Permitted to Vote

Hebrew Spelling: ירוקר

The Yaroker name is spelled in Hebrew as: ירוקר. “Yarok”, the root of the name, is spelled יָר֫ק which means greenery, vegetable, verdu.  Perhaps the Yaroker family name is derived from forestry or farming activities.

Phonetics

The Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex code are:

• 195900 197590, for Hebrew name ירוקר
• 195900, for ‘Yaroker’
• 195900 495900, for ‘Jaroker’

The streets of Kaniv were cobblestoneded so the boys rode their bicycles on the sidewalk. They were stopped by militsiya. Lacking the Soviet internal passport, they were arrested and jailed for three days until their identities could be established.

While in jail a guard told Mihail, “there are many Yarokers in Kaniv.”