Quote:
Originally Posted by LaneSig
Quick History Lesson:
There were actually few cases at Ellis Island where new immigrants were forced to change their names. In most cases, many immigrants were unable to give the proper spelling of their names (due to lack of education, not stupidity). The officials at Ellis Island had to spell names phonetically or as close as they could to the original name. So, while some "Wallachinsky" families becames "Wallace" (as what happened to the ancestors of the author Irving Wallace), most name changes occured due to misunderstandings, not force.
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From what I was told by my grandmother (her parents came to the US through Ellis Island) it wasn't misunderstandings or people not knowing how to properly spell their names, the workers just simply couldn't understand them because they spoke a different language. I don't think it had anything to do with education level unless you were talking about their lack of education in English.
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