jerseyjack said:
This is one of the myths which is dismissed if you visit Ellis and get the tour. First of all, your name was entered in the ship's registry when you left England or the continent. It was spelled correctly there. Before you reached Ellis, the ship's arrival was anticipated by telegram through the transAtlantic cable. Immigration officials who spoke your language would be on hand to record your name, in your language as it had been entered on the ship's registry.
After this, you left the island. Upon reaching the mainland, the immigrant would decide to or be encouraged to change the family name. Since there were no records on the level of today's Social Security, tax id and so forth, it was easy to assume a new identity. ...but this did not happen on Ellis Island.
bobk said:
Her husband whose name is Jiuliani swears all the variations including the famous Rudy Giuliani are all Ellis Island (or maybe steamship company ) spellings of the same name.
lizziecat said:
My great grandfather changed his family name from Bulgar to something that he was told was "American." He changed it to Goldberg.
marylago said:
jerseyjack said:
This is one of the myths which is dismissed if you visit Ellis and get the tour. First of all, your name was entered in the ship's registry when you left England or the continent. It was spelled correctly there. Before you reached Ellis, the ship's arrival was anticipated by telegram through the transAtlantic cable. Immigration officials who spoke your language would be on hand to record your name, in your language as it had been entered on the ship's registry.
After this, you left the island. Upon reaching the mainland, the immigrant would decide to or be encouraged to change the family name. Since there were no records on the level of today's Social Security, tax id and so forth, it was easy to assume a new identity. ...but this did not happen on Ellis Island.
But what if there were no letters for how your name was spelled?
eta: translation of certain Cyrillic letters can vary somewhat...
perfectly_cromulent said:
our family had dropped the ski as well
scully said:
Mine was changed at some point in the old country from Ó Scolaidhe to O'Scully to Scully. From what I understand names were pretty fluid in the day and often got changed for a variety of reasons.
But I agree, not on Ellis Island.
jerseyjack said:
marylago said:
jerseyjack said:
This is one of the myths which is dismissed if you visit Ellis and get the tour. First of all, your name was entered in the ship's registry when you left England or the continent. It was spelled correctly there. Before you reached Ellis, the ship's arrival was anticipated by telegram through the transAtlantic cable. Immigration officials who spoke your language would be on hand to record your name, in your language as it had been entered on the ship's registry.
After this, you left the island. Upon reaching the mainland, the immigrant would decide to or be encouraged to change the family name. Since there were no records on the level of today's Social Security, tax id and so forth, it was easy to assume a new identity. ...but this did not happen on Ellis Island.
But what if there were no letters for how your name was spelled?
eta: translation of certain Cyrillic letters can vary somewhat...
Then your name would have been entered using the characters of the native language. Again, there were interviewers who knew the language.
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After this, you left the island. Upon reaching the mainland, the immigrant would decide to or be encouraged to change the family name. Since there were no records on the level of today's Social Security, tax id and so forth, it was easy to assume a new identity. ...but this did not happen on Ellis Island.