Most Jewish communities with long histories in Europe are Ashkenazi, except for those in Mediterranean countries which are usually Sephardi. In 1931, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for 92% of the Jewish population of the world and account for 80% of it today. The majority of the United States 5.3 million Jews are Ashkenazi. The name is derived from Ashkenaz, a Hebrew word for Germany which was often used in medieval rabbinic literature. In theTanakh Ashkenaz appears in Genesis 10.1, as the name of a grandson of Japheth, the son of Noah. Ashkenaz was taken to be an ancestor of the German people.