So, I’m working on the orgins of the cheeseburger. We’re back to the early 1920’s(perhaps). And a brother of the supposed inventor is named, at birth Morris. I have nothing to suggest that he was Jewish. Rather the opposite. He died a Catholic. But somewhere in his early life he changed his name to “Van.”
That’s all I can give you. Why would he change his name to “Van” and what kind of a name is “Van?” They lived in Los Angeles, and he would have changed his name in or about the period of 1920-1935. Was he perhaps trying to get away from a name that “sounded” Jewish? Or am I reading too much into the name “Morris?” If “Morris” is a common first name, in the period of 1900-1930, outside of Jewish families, I’m ready to be enlightened and chagrinned.
According to the Baby Name Wizard, “Van” was one of the top 500 names during that period, so it wasn’t all that uncommon. It’s from the Dutch, meaning “from”
“Morris” was even more common at the time. It wasn’t particularly a Jewish name; as a surname, it appears to be British.
“Van” could be a shortening for Evan. It was a somewhat popular name in the 30s, due to the actors Van Johnson and Van Heflin. There were also several Vans in music, pianist Van Cliburn and singer Van Morrison, for example.
Also interesting is the charts on the Think Baby Names pages for Morris and Van.
The peak of popularity of Morris seems to have happened at the turn of the century. The peak of popularity of Van came in the 1930s. It fits your time frames.
To stretch it a bit: Morris, as referred to here, means Dark, “Moorish” and Van ,“of”, as in Van Gogh, but also Van-illa. Yeah, a stretch…
I think jayjay has it right. Van was a nice clean sounding name for someone who wanted to start anew then, and that was what LA was all about at that time. Name changes, as exemplified by Hollywood folks, were quite acceptable in 30’s California culture, so factor that in.
To give some more context, the father’s name was Herman, mother Minnie, brothers Lionel and Morris, and sister Theresa. Can’t supply original heritage, but pretty sure not Jewish.
Then of course there were the twin brothers, both named Van. As time went by and the boys went off to college, one of them, to distinguish himself from his brother, began to wear increasingly outrageous clothes, and affected an effeminate voice and mincing gait.
I can’t figure out “Von” either (as in Von Hayes, 80’s Phillies outfielder). When I first heard it,
I wondered what his first name was (“Vladimir” von Hayes a la “Wolfgang von Richthoven”?).
As a dutchman, my last name starts with van der … My mother’s maiden name goes van … my desire to assimilate in the North American culture led me to wish I could drom the “der” part. Lets face it. Van Halen, VanDam, VanDyke and Vancouver sounds cool even to English ears.
Sometimes American males of Dutch descent with Van in their surnames came to be known as “Van” by their friends and families. There was a Van Swearingen at my high school who said that the family name had once been Van Swearingen, but then they decided to drop the Van. Van was his first name.
Among actual German names with “von”, it’s not unusual to encounter non-German sounding elements. When I did my junior year abroad in Goettingen I know I saw a Prof. von Simpson on a faculty roster somewhere.
