Is the name Zavala a Jewish name?

Answer 1

YES, although archaic and rare, it is toponimic of the first Jewish settlements in the Balkans from before the middle ages.

It is believed to derive from the Hebrew ZAHAV-LA (lit. gold for her)

It appears to derive from a small sect of mystics, probably Essenes fleeing from the Romans, circa 66 AD.

Such proto-monastic or isolated mystic communities where dedicated to perfectioning prostration before the Shekinah

(thus, turning themselves into gold to adorn her crown)

Bosnia and Middle Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic coast, hold some of the earliest Jewish settlements in Eastern Europe.

Remnants of two such refugee settlements are still found south of Sarajevo

and the island of Hvar, in areas still named Zavala.

Dubrovnik holds one of the most ancient synagogues in the region