North Texas Republican asks Asian-Americans to change their names

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

Actually it was still happening in the 20th century when immigrants were come over. Officials at Ellis Island forced them to. It wasn't a matter of "Do you want to change it?" My family didn't have to change their names which surprises me, but my mother did change hers to the American version of her original name. A friend of mine, who's family also came from Italy, were forced to change their last name. The original was Romano... for some reason they thought that was too Italian so they changed it to something that still sounded Italian. That's how a lot of families had different last names from each other.

Obviously America (in general) is more accepting of different cultures moreso now than they were back then so yes a comment about Asians changing their names is ridiculous.

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.

[OtterXO]

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.

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.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by OtterXO

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.

That is what happened with my grandparents, Vincenzo and Ignazia. My grandfather stated his name as Vincenzo and could sign his name, but they said "We'll call you Jim". His name is correct on the ship's manifest. They made my grandmother "Nancy" and her first name is also correct on the ship's manifest. Her last name is the really crazy part though. Half the family is Tirrito and half is Tirrita. So, for family reunions, they made it Tirrit@. On the manifest from the ship, it's Eirrita so it took us a long time to find them. My uncle did some research with the Sons & Daughters of Sicily out of Chicago and settled the last name issue one and for all. It is Tiritto. There were no surnames of Tirrita in Sicily. I think it's a stretch to call it a lack of education when it is truly a language barrier. They didn't know how to spell in English when they first came, but they certainly knew how to spell in Italian. They are understandable errors but both of grandparents could write their names so I don't understand why they didn't just have people do that.

[OtterXO]

Originally Posted by AGDee

That is what happened with my grandparents, Vincenzo and Ignazia. My grandfather stated his name as Vincenzo and could sign his name, but they said "We'll call you Jim". His name is correct on the ship's manifest. They made my grandmother "Nancy" and her first name is also correct on the ship's manifest. Her last name is the really crazy part though. Half the family is Tirrito and half is Tirrita. So, for family reunions, they made it Tirrit@. On the manifest from the ship, it's Eirrita so it took us a long time to find them. My uncle did some research with the Sons & Daughters of Sicily out of Chicago and settled the last name issue one and for all. It is Tiritto. There were no surnames of Tirrita in Sicily. I think it's a stretch to call it a lack of education when it is truly a language barrier. They didn't know how to spell in English when they first came, but they certainly knew how to spell in Italian. They are understandable errors but both of grandparents could write their names so I don't understand why they didn't just have people do that.

I don't know why either. My family is from Italy too and they decided to change the spelling of my great grandparents' last name for the same reason. For some reason the "lack of education" comment irked me when I know it had nothing to do with that. Although I've noticed that people generally think those who are from other countries and can't speak english perfectly aren't intelligent so I guess it's not too surprising.