My fourth grandfather came from Germany and changed his name to an British name. Anyone have this happen to them.

[MMS02760]

My family name was anglicized upon entry. Do not know whether my ancestor consciously did this or it was an immigration official and my ancestor just went with it.

[MTSilvertip]

Country of origin records can be spotty too. One of my great++++g-grandfathers came to Massachusetts colony in 1632. I know when he got here, the name of the ship, where it originally embarked from in England, it didn't stop at any other ports on the way.
His name is on the passenger manifest, but I can't find anything about him in any English records prior to his emigration.

In those days, people coming to the new world were usually associated with a group, like the Pilgrims, or a specific Noble like Sir Walter Raleigh, or as a soldier or man at arm's, so you think it shouldn't be hard to find something.

It could be his real name, I can't find anything to prove anything either way.
It is possible he changed his name when he boarded the ship in England, he was between 17 and 25 years old, so the only record that existed could have been a baptismal record in some small country church that could have been lost in one of the wars back then. I don't know, but it is frustrating when you hit a dead end like that.

[pastramisandwich]

Although it doesn't apply to this case, name changes from German to English-looking last names were extremely common, mostly because many of the names were so similar to begin with (and also because Germans started arriving in large numbers much earlier than most other major non-Anglo immigrants).

Fischer=Fisher, Neuman=Newman, Gutmann=Goodman, Kohlmann=Coleman, Busch=Bush, Braun=Brown, Gruen=Green, Silber=Silver, Weiss=White, Mueller=Miller, Thomas=Thomas, Schmitt=Smith, Walker=Walker etc.