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I don't know where or exactly when my son's paternal grandparents' names changed, but due to the change, there are only 9 people with their surname in the entire world, according to forebears dot io. They are all his relatives. The site even maps the occurrences and picked up the one uncle who lives in Australia now (the rest are in the US). I believe his aunt was still able to do a fair amount of genealogical research because she was able to find out from a birth certificate in the family what the original name was, and it wasn't common, either.
It's not fiction. One of my grandfathers and his brother changed their name for that exact reason. My grandfather's brother (which would be my great-uncle) tried to get a job at a NYC law firm and was rejected. Then he (as well as my grandfather) changed his family name to a non-Jewish one and reapplied at the same law firm and he was offered a job (which he then decided to reject!).
They’re referring to the short story they mentioned, not your family’s story, as being fiction.
Immigrants often changed their name, or had them changed, during processing at Ellis Island or elsewhere.
Without a central data base like we have today for various things, someone could move fifty or a hundred miles away and call themselves anything they wanted.
Incorrect. Ellis Island never changed the names. People came over with documents and either the documents were wrongly spelled because the person was illiterate and someone else wrote the name or they were spelled correctly. https://ancestralfindings.com/change...-ellis-island/
Census information is often wrong because the person may not speak English and someone else gave the information or the census taker wrote it down how they thought it was spelled. Birth certificates may have been the same if written by a nurse or doctor who wrote it as they thought it was spelled. As to later changing the names, people did do that when everyone mispronounced or couldn't spell the name. They might have more Angelized it. For example Müller became Miller because Müller's pronunciation sounds like Miller.
Don't count on Census to be completely accurate as far as spelling or ages or even first names to be accurate, they often aren't. Birth records and even death records could also be inaccurate depending on who is giving the information or who is writing it down. While a death record might state the person was 80 when they died, later descendants might find they were really 85. Even headstones have errors. We corrected one made on my grandfather's as my grandmother was distraught when she gave the information and put his birth date off a year.
Your legal name is what's on yr birth or wedding certificate. Requires a court order to change it. But if you wanted to be called Mickey Mouse, go right ahead. For various reasons, some ancestors had 10 or more names (mostly spelling differences). What burns my britches is the custom of calling married woman, Mrs. John Smith. Ugh!
Not so until around the 90's. People could use whatever name they wanted to.
When I applied for my social security card at 15 in 1980, I put my name as Sue middle initial, at some point it created a problem because my license was in my correct birth 1st name so I had to go to the social security office to change it. It may have been in 2001 (after 9/11) when I tried to change my name after getting married that I changed from the Sue social
I have a missing person I advocate for who managed to fly under the radar. She had a social in her birth name, at some point she decided to change her 1st name, her social history shows that 1st name change, then at one point she drops her last name, uses another. Some how our nation missing person's database NamUs missed this when they looked for a social in her birth name. It was found on ancestry, she passed away as an adult after running away as a young tween in the 70's. I believe there are 4 different versions of names she used with her social security number. She died in the early 90's
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Originally Posted by PA2UK
Yes, there was a legal process: https://blog.genealogybank.com/how-t...me-change.html - In Massachusetts in particular, a legal name change was required to be published in the paper, so look for newspapers that might have published it.
However, it was also possible for people to go by a nickname or variant name - it didn't change their legal name, but it wasn't illegal to go by something else. They would still have to use their legal name when applying for naturalization, for example. But on documentation like census records, which aren't taken for identification purposes, they may have used their assumed named. Censuses aren't good indications of one's real name or spelling.
Not so either. My MIL's name was different on all sorts of legal documents such as marriage license in Austria, naturalization, 2nd marriage license, drivers license and I'm not sure what her social showed. At some point it caught up with her in the last 5 years, she had to go to court to legally change her first name to that nick name she had been using since her mother gave it to her at age 4 in Germany.
She was switching names around between that birth first and nick name, using nick first, then first second or using initials. I don't recall what caught up to her that she had to legally change it to that nickname she used.
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Originally Posted by MMS02760
I would imagine there may have been a real legal process for doing so but would doubt the bulk of new immigrants adhered to it. My Polish grandfather came to Massachusetts around 1910. He eventually anglicized his surname by choice. I however have come across records and other documents where it appears he was using both surnames at the same time for some 15 years. His Cambridge 1916 marriage register record and the 1917 birth register for my Dad have the Polish surname as I think it may have been used for official business. The 1917 Cambridge Street listing however has the anglicized surname for the family. My grandfather's 1922 and 1924 naturalization papers have the anglicized version. A 1925 RI census record however has the Polish name. It appears that only the anglicized version was used after 1925. Making matters even worse for genealogy research, the Polish surname was often spelled very differently when it was used on documents. Spelling and transcribing errors for difficult non-Anglo ethnic names was common back then. The fact that my father has passed away and the are no known relatives on his side of the family has also hindered trying to make sense of things.
Honestly, there was no legal process in most of the US. People started using what they wanted where ever they wanted. No one cared like they do now, ever since social security was tied to our names and DOB's. Very easy to reinvent yourself in the 80's even.
Back when my son was born in 85, we applied for the social security card if we wanted to but when my daughter was born in 93, that had to be done with the birth certificate at the hospital before we left. That is the first time they started tracking babies born in hospitals with a social security number and birth certificate, between 86 and 93.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthofHere
Incorrect. Ellis Island never changed the names. People came over with documents and either the documents were wrongly spelled because the person was illiterate and someone else wrote the name or they were spelled correctly. https://ancestralfindings.com/change...-ellis-island/
Census information is often wrong because the person may not speak English and someone else gave the information or the census taker wrote it down how they thought it was spelled. Birth certificates may have been the same if written by a nurse or doctor who wrote it as they thought it was spelled. As to later changing the names, people did do that when everyone mispronounced or couldn't spell the name. They might have more Angelized it. For example Müller became Miller because Müller's pronunciation sounds like Miller.
Don't count on Census to be completely accurate as far as spelling or ages or even first names to be accurate, they often aren't. Birth records and even death records could also be inaccurate depending on who is giving the information or who is writing it down. While a death record might state the person was 80 when they died, later descendants might find they were really 85. Even headstones have errors. We corrected one made on my grandfather's as my grandmother was distraught when she gave the information and put his birth date off a year.
Agree. People didn't know how to spell until the last 75 or so years.
No one has really cared about records until recently. Some elderly people living may not even have a birth certificate, it may be written in a church record.
People were going by memory.
I have a cousin who's father had our great grandparents last name. At some point after he came here, he changed it to an Americanized version after serving in the military. His marriage license is wrong. His "father" listed is our great grandfather, with this Americanized last name; his mothers last name is our great grandmothers maiden name because no one wanted anyone to know his father was unknown. Now my cousin and his descendants have a made up last name. Even my cousin's grandmothers name was changed to start with a W because American's couldn't understand her name starting with a V. There is no W in the Hungarian alphabet. My cousins sister was named this American version of her Hungarian name. My cousin never knew his grandmothers name didn't start with a W until he met me. His sister is in her late 50's or early 60's, thinking she's named after her grandmother, now knowing she has an Americanized Hungarian first name.
Not so either. My MIL's name was different on all sorts of legal documents such as marriage license in Austria, naturalization, 2nd marriage license, drivers license and I'm not sure what her social showed. At some point it caught up with her in the last 5 years, she had to go to court to legally change her first name to that nick name she had been using since her mother gave it to her at age 4 in Germany.
Yeah, that's sort of the point - it DID catch up to her and she had to sort it out eventually. According to the USCIS: "When an immigrant's new name no longer matched that shown on their official immigration record (ship passenger list), he or she might face difficulties voting, in legal proceedings, or naturalization."
Additionally, since 1906, Congress has required official documentation of a change name:
"The documentation of name changes during US naturalization procedure has only been required since 1906. Prior to that time, only those immigrants who went to court and had their name officially changed and recorded left us any record. Congress wrote the requirement in 1906 because of the well-known fact that immigrants DID change their names, and tended to do so within the first 5 years after arrival."
Quote:
Honestly, there was no legal process in most of the US.
There was a legal process, it just wasn't necessarily required before a certain point.
They’re referring to the short story they mentioned, not your family’s story, as being fiction.
I understood that their story was fiction. But I thought their meaning was that idea in general was fiction and not realistic. That is why I mentioned my family's story showing these type of situations happened in reality.
Yeah, that's sort of the point - it DID catch up to her and she had to sort it out eventually. According to the USCIS: "When an immigrant's new name no longer matched that shown on their official immigration record (ship passenger list), he or she might face difficulties voting, in legal proceedings, or naturalization."
Additionally, since 1906, Congress has required official documentation of a change name:
"The documentation of name changes during US naturalization procedure has only been required since 1906. Prior to that time, only those immigrants who went to court and had their name officially changed and recorded left us any record. Congress wrote the requirement in 1906 because of the well-known fact that immigrants DID change their names, and tended to do so within the first 5 years after arrival."
There was a legal process, it just wasn't necessarily required before a certain point.
Thanks for the link. The ones I know of that started using different names, never did it legally. They just started using the name. One of my daughters few times great grandparents changed their name from a very Polish one to something easier to pronounce. They're the only ones that did it, their kids kept the Polish last name.
I wish I could remember what happened with MIL that she did go to court to change her name. You'd think it would have happened some time after 911, but it didn't until recently.
It was also amazing to see the missing girls social security record showing the various names she used when having her kids, getting welfare back in the 80's.
"The documentation of name changes during US naturalization procedure has only been required since 1906. Prior to that time, only those immigrants who went to court and had their name officially changed and recorded left us any record. Congress wrote the requirement in 1906 because of the well-known fact that immigrants DID change their names, and tended to do so within the first 5 years after arrival."
There was a legal process, it just wasn't necessarily required before a certain point.
I think the key in your link is "during US naturalization procedure". In my instance, and the reason for my original question, I believe the name was changed after naturalization.
The names are nothing like each other so it wasn't like a simple spelling issue, and I wonder why the "new" name was chosen. All I can go on is the 1920 census lists the name as "Moniz", similar to my current last name, yet four years after the census in 1924 he purchased land under his given name of "Cordeiro". I know with 100% certainty that the census was him and that the land purchase was him (I have the documentation from when my grandfather sold the land). Unfortunately, anyone who would have known any other information is no longer living. So frustrating to make some progress then hit a roadblock.
I think the key in your link is "during US naturalization procedure". In my instance, and the reason for my original question, I believe the name was changed after naturalization.
The names are nothing like each other so it wasn't like a simple spelling issue, and I wonder why the "new" name was chosen. All I can go on is the 1920 census lists the name as "Moniz", similar to my current last name, yet four years after the census in 1924 he purchased land under his given name of "Cordeiro". I know with 100% certainty that the census was him and that the land purchase was him (I have the documentation from when my grandfather sold the land). Unfortunately, anyone who would have known any other information is no longer living. So frustrating to make some progress then hit a roadblock.
Just a thought. Could be that when buying or selling land, one needed some type of "official" ID such as a birth certificate, naturalization papers, etc. But for the census, nobody really cared what names were used. Could have been Aunt Sissy's maiden name if the aunt lived with them (for example).
I wonder if there were any phonebooks or similar types of city directories available for the time. Might help with your research.
I wonder if there were any phonebooks or similar types of city directories available for the time. Might help with your research.
Appreciate it. I've nailed down his given name and the assumed family name but I'm just trying to find more information. Maybe a middle name could help, I don't know (I'm still new to this).
I think the frustrating thing is that there are 2 pieces of information that are stumping me. One, I'd like to find my grandfather's birth record. No particular reason, just something I'd like to see. But I don't know if he was born as his father's original name (Cordeiro) or the family name (Moniz or some version therof). From what I've seen in the records that I've confirmed belong to the family, the family name is spelled 5 different ways but could be pronounced similarly. I guess when there is a language barrier the official spelling of the spoken name is at the discretion of the person writing (i.e. the census taker).
Second, I'd like to find the information of my great-grandfather and/or my great grand-mother to actually find their point of origin. He came first (according to the census) but I don't know when they were married, etc. The major roadblock I'm facing is actually finding the records that are definitively him. He came from the Azores but his name was Manuel (Manoel) Cordeiro, which I'm finding is an extremely common name.
Very frustrating!
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