Quote:
Originally Posted by BraveHeart01
I know of a few [mail order] brides from Ukraine or Russia that changed their names upon immigrating to US. In these cases, they did not take on the US husband's last name, but did change an "i" in their name to "y". For instance, Irina is now Iryna. I thought that was odd.
It could be a coincidence, or perhaps a method of avoiding a match on a name search, or a code that they're now in US, or [I know, too many mystery movies...  ].
Anyone have any insight? |
It's a translating issue. It's phonetically the same name, and whoever translated it thought that it would be better spelled with an American "i". People come to the US and have their documents corrected.
In their passport it's spelled with a Y, but on their birth certificate it's with an I. Depending which agency they are getting their US documents from, will usually determine how their name is spelled. The Department of State will recognize the spelling in their passport, but USCIS only recognizes their birth certificate translation.
It's very common and not at all shady.
Getting the US to recognize your true name can be a real headache for new immigrants from around the world because naming convention rules are unique to each country, then to each territory within that country, then religion in that territory in that country, and then clan in that religion in that territory in that country.
The Indian surname "Gill" is so common to Northern India that they don't even use it as a family name anymore. That's resulted in most Americans not even knowing that "Gill" is an Indian name. When really, it's the "family" name of something crazy like 20% or more of Punjabis. Same with Koreans, Vietnamese and all those countries that formed from one great leader upon which everyone is named after because they're the descendants.
That's part one.
Part two.
Ukrainian and Russian women don't usually take the married man's name. And it's not uncommon for the man to take the female's family name. It's not a big deal there like it is in the states.
Nothing shady about that either.
Here's another tid bit about Ukrainian and Russian women... their middle name is the female version of their father's first name even if they don't know it or use it.
Aleksandr = Alexandrovna = Alexis = Lexa
It's all the same.
For example, an German, who by all accounts is German, has Austrian ancestry from back in the day. Sounds simple enough to determine the correct spelling. But oddly enough, they come from that niblet that was Poland at one time, Ukrainian another time, Russian at one point, Romanian at another time and is now Austrian.
Each one of those country occupations will have an effect on their name. How it's spelled, who translates, what languages the translator is fluent in, the first language of the person who taught the translator their second language, and even the age of the translator.
Translating is an interesting topic...
But this is why a good one makes so much money.
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Immigration Name Change: Coincidence or Clandestine
