My grandfather’s family, upon arriving from Denmark, apparently decided that “Hansen” was too ethnic to succeed in the US, so they adopted an entirely different, English last name.
Both oral history and documents. The Ellis Island register has the shortened form of the name. His paperwork from Italy has the long version of the name. He maintained it was shortened when he came over. It wasn’t Anglecized (my mother’s German name was Anglecized shortly after WWII by the family), it just had the last three (of five) syllables dropped.
It was apparently some matter of consternation to the family that he left it Italy that they shortened the family name - and there were letters to that effect at one time (though, if they still exist, they are in the hands of second cousins).
I can’t say for certain that it happened at Ellis Island, unless that was the only processing location in New York in 1887. My surname is one bestowed upon us by some unknown official. I’m unaware of any documentation supporting or disproving the actual timing or agent of the name change. The family legend has it that nobody had a clue how to spell the family name; English skills in our family of Russian Jews were sorely lacking. When they finally understood that the official was changing the family name, their reaction was, “Cool…that means they’re letting us in.” My name has three syllables, our original name had one. They both start with the same consonant sound, though. We have some correspondence with a branch of the family that remained behind showing our original name. (As I recall, that part of the family disappeared around WWI.)
My last name is from a common German noun. And inexplicably it is spelled with one less letter - one that would seem superfluous to most native English speakers. There are a lot more people in the US with the full version of my last name, than the abbreviated one I have. My father’s uncle claimed that it was shorted at Ellis Island, and just for one group of us coming through on one boat.
My mother’s father paid for a first class ticket to the US, precisely to avoid Ellis Island. (Even though his brother made it through without any random name changes.)
AFAIK none of my antecedents came to the USA via Ellis Island. Which is ironic, given my last name.
My great grandfather’s name ended up being the name of the small town in Alsace-Lorraine where he came from, according to my grandfather. He wasn’t sure if it was the original name or if for some reason they changed it at Ellis Island to reflect where he came from. When I was in Europe I went to that town but they said that all of their records had been destroyed during WW II so I never did find out.
My dad’s family name - when they arrived from Germany the letter “R” suddenly attached to their last name. My dad and his little brother officially had the homeland version, but went by the American version.
My mom’s paternal family - I have my great grandpa’s immigration papers. The Czech last name was crossed out with a minimally shortened version (but it sounds much different)
My mom’s maternal side - some still had the Polish surnames they crossed with. My great uncle, however, lost numerous Cs, Zs, and Ys. Mom said his original last name was very difficult to pronounce, went from over a dozen letters to 5.
My great-grandparents on my dad’s side came to the US in the 1930s. They somehow managed to keep our last name, even kept it spelled the same, but both of their first names were changed. I can’t even remember how to spell the original names (they were Dutch, and sounded like “Shoo-it” and “Shoo-eetie”. Roughly.). They came out with Charles and Angie.
My Italian great-grandfather had his name changed to Totts and I have no idea what it was originally, possibly Tottsi? We haven’t been able to get much information on that side of the family.
My mother’s antecedent came to Ellis Island with the name Siftar. It was pronounced Sefter. And that’s how it was registered. My father’s antecedent preserved the spelling of his name, but he’d taken care to learn English before setting sail.
Would it be a hijack if I brought up the matter of freed slaves having to choose a last name? If so, what I’ve pieced together is that there were three basic sources of surnames.
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Registrar chose the name. “Jackson…next. Johnson…next. Jackson…next…”
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They chose the name of a Founding Father. Washington, Jefferson, Franklin.
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They chose the name of a former owner or overseer. Mary McLeod Bethune said her father was one such. The phrase “stick it to the Man” was a long way off, but that was the general idea.
Of course, I may have been fed a lot of propaganda, but that’s what I’ve been told, and it does sound plausible.
My GGgrandfather had his name changed from Thorstensen to something much simpler and more common when he arrived in 1888.
My father’s father came through Ellis Island. His name was not changed. He was Austrian and spoke German, and there were enough German speakers working at Ellis Island by that time that he probably had no language problems that day.
My mother’s grandmother came through Castle Garden, which served as the immigration depot in New York City until Ellis Island opened. Their names may have been slightly mangled, but it’s hard to tell. The last name was spelled several different ways in Germany, so does the fact that their name appeared differently in their immigration records than in census records a few years later indicate mangling (either at CG or by the census taker) or simply a casual attitude towards spelling? Did the immigration agent choose to anglicize their eldest daughter’s name to Mary or did they do that themselves?
I’m still working on finding other relatives. One branch in particular, I suspect, chose a spelling for a potentially Polish-sounding name that would make it clear to all and sundry that they were Germans, not Poles!
My Russian Jewish last name was shortened when my great-grandfather Isidore Opolinski arrived in New York, and although family says it happened at Ellis Island, I suppose he could have done it later.
My ancestors came across a few years before Ellis Island opened, but it was the same deal. I know my name got slightly Anglicized, the ending changing from sohn to son. Another ancestor got the name “Sherman.” I don’t know what it was originally, but that isn’t a Russian Jewish name for sure. I knew another Jewish Sherman in my high school class - maybe there were immigration guys who were fans of civil war generals?
It’s hard to say. My Ukrainian great-grandparents came through, and their last name was … written down as best they could phonetically. They had never used the English alphabet before (and I think they had only the most basic literacy in Ukrainian to begin with). So it’s not quite the same as the original … but on the other hand, it wasn’t a situation where an immigrations official said “okay, your name is now Smith!” which I’ve seen in the movies and stuff.
I heard this directly from my great-grandmother, who was alive during my childhood.
I’m pretty sure the freed slaves chose their own last name. #2 seems very likely, but #3 does not – the names of the major slaveholders in the South are not well represented in the Black community. If you think about it, why would it be?
Here’s an interesting list of slaveholders and the names of African-Americans in one county in Alabama.
I suspect that “Johnson” was so popular because Andrew Johnson was president at the time (remember, no slaves were emancipated by the Emancipation Proclamation – it only applied to slaves in the Confederacy, which wasn’t about to pay attention – so by the time people were really free, Lincoln was dead).
Hi Opol! I’m pretty sure most Japanese surnames are just the Romanji version without alteration, even the dreaded Takeshita. Of course, almost none of us came through Ellis Island, and most likely came through Angel Island.
Ditto this, to the letter. Although for the longest time we thought it must have been changed there, since we could find no information about anyone with our same Ukrainian last name prior to my Great Grandfather (although I have since found tons of information).
Our last name was changed from either “Horowitz” or “Hurwitz” in about 1870. It was shortened to what is now, unfortunately, a sports term.
I know that somewhere along the way in his flight to America (He had killed a soldier of the Tsar in self defense during a pogrom), Israel Kallchinski got his last name shortened to Kall. Whether he passed through Ellis Island or not, I’ll have to ask my mother. We do have a wedding invitation and I think the original ketuba (the Jewish wedding certificate) giving the last name as Kallchinski.
On other relatives- The Rubinsteins apparently came through, name intact. My father’s family (short, common, German name) not surprisingly made it through with no changes.