Derenburg’s son Joseph Naphtali Derenmbourg (1811–1895) was an Orientalist. Joseph lived as domestic tutor in Amsterdam (1835–38), and then settled in Paris, where he continued his Oriental studies, while maintaining, under the influence of A. Geiger , his interest in Jewish studies. In 1843 he became a French citizen and added an "O" to the second part of his name. He taught German at the Lycée Henri IV in 1851, became corrector at the Imprimerie Nationale in 1852, and also cataloged the Hebrew manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Nationale. In 1857 he founded a Jewish high school for boys which he headed until 1864. Derenbourg was awarded the Légion d'Honneur in 1869 and in 1871 was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres. In 1877 a chair for rabbinic-Hebrew language and literature was created for him at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. He succeeded R. Solomon Munk on the central committee of the Alliance Israélite Universelle and served later as its vice president. From 1869 to 1872 he also served as member of the Paris Consistoire.