As I get older, I hear more and more about people I know who changed their names to sound more American.
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[name_f]My[/name_f] grandma and her sisters were first-generation Americans [name_f][/name_f]- originally from [name_f]Italy[/name_f] [name_f][/name_f]- and were bullied for their heritage as children. Because of that, they made efforts to entirely drop their Italian heritage, forgetting the language and [name_f][/name_f]- for 2 of them [name_f][/name_f]- changing their names: [name_f][/name_f][name_f]Mariangela[/name_f], [name_f]Vincenza[/name_f], and [name_f]Anna[/name_f] → [name_f]Marie[/name_f], [name_f]Jean[/name_f], and [name_f]Anna[/name_f]
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I also learned recently that my grandfather [name_f][/name_f]- also a first-generation American [name_f][/name_f]- was not originally [name_m]John[/name_m] as I always thought but Giovanno.
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It makes me sad that they were so ashamed of their heritage that they felt they needed to change these beautiful names. I’m also curious [name_f][/name_f]- who are some people you know who have Americanized or completely changed their names to fit in?
Discussions about names and culture are always so [name_f][/name_f] interesting to me. Your grandma and her sisters have some beautiful names!!
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Most of my family was very secretive about their Yiddish names so I don’t have too much information, but I do know that my great-grandparents on one side were [name_f]Yetta[/name_f] → [name_f]Joan[/name_f] and [name_m]Hershel[/name_m] → [name_m]Herbert[/name_m]. I also know that many of my family members went by their names’ English-friendly variants, such as Yoysef → [name_m]Joseph[/name_m] and [name_m]Avrum[/name_m] → [name_m]Abram[/name_m]!
[name_f]My[/name_f] maternal grandmother was born in [name_f]Bergen[/name_f], Norway, and all of her family – including her parents – emigrated through [name_m]Ellis[/name_m] [name_m]Island[/name_m], NY. [name_f][/name_f] [name_f][/name_f] [name_f][/name_f] While my grandmother never changed her first name (Gerd), she dropped part of her last name to become just [name_m]Gerd[/name_m] Motzveldt (and changed the spelling). [name_f][/name_f] A number of uncles dropped the “Motzveldt” and kept Eide as their surname. [name_f][/name_f] [name_f]My[/name_f] great-uncle [name_m]Kjetil[/name_m] became [name_m]Ketil[/name_m] Eide.
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The other thing the Norwegians did was give their kids very American names. [name_f][/name_f] [name_f]My[/name_f] grandmother named her three daughters after Hollywood actresses: [name_f]Elaine[/name_f] (Barrymore), [name_f]Geraldine[/name_f] (Chaplin), and [name_f]Susan[/name_f] (Hayward). [name_f][/name_f] Her son was [name_m]Thomas[/name_m], [name_m]Jr[/name_m]. [name_f][/name_f] [name_f]My[/name_f] great-uncle [name_m]Ketil[/name_m] and his wife [name_f]Karoline[/name_f] (Kari) named their sons [name_m]Lee[/name_m] and [name_m]Kenneth[/name_m].
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The Calabrian side of the family Americanized their names too. [name_f][/name_f] [name_f]My[/name_f] great-grandfather [name_m]Rocco[/name_m] became Rocky; his brothers went from [name_m]Alberto[/name_m] to [name_m]Albert[/name_m], [name_m]Antonio[/name_m] to [name_m]Anthony[/name_m], [name_m]Giuseppe[/name_m] to [name_m]Joseph[/name_m], etc. [name_f][/name_f] And they all had American nicknames: [name_m]Al[/name_m], [name_m]Tony[/name_m], [name_m]Joey[/name_m], [name_m]Frankie[/name_m], [name_m]Johnny[/name_m], [name_m]Bobby[/name_m], and [name_m]Rocky[/name_m].
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Two of my cousins have Norwegian names, [name_f]Kirsten[/name_f] and [name_f]Ellin[/name_f]. [name_f][/name_f] No one else in the family does. [name_f][/name_f] I often call my daughter her Italian nickname because it’s from a Neapolitan song her father used to sing: Catari.
[name_f]My[/name_f] grandfather changed his name from [name_m]Giovanni[/name_m] to [name_m]John[/name_m] and my grandmother changed hers from [name_f]Luisa[/name_f] to [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] (although now she uses Luisa)
[name_f]My[/name_f] grandfather changed his name from Michail to [name_m]Michael[/name_m] when he moved to the US! [name_f][/name_f] [name_f]My[/name_f] dad lived with him for a few years and didn’t make any legal changes, but he socially went by [name_m]Christopher[/name_m] (instead of Christoforos) while in the States. His brother kept his name and just went by a nickname, but his daughter has a very typical American name.
Not in [name_f]America[/name_f] (I’m in the UK), but I have I met a number of people who’ve used alternative forms, nicknames, or completely changed their name to something more anglicized over the years. I don’t know everyone’s reasons, but I know one didn’t like the fact people always asked about their name, another was bored of explaining the pronunciation, and another had just always gone by the other name while in school/work.
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A few examples (not the exact real names of the people, but of a similar style/sound/same origin):
This reminds me of my grandma’s sister!! She was born in the states not too long after my great-grandma’s immigration, and was named [name_f]Margherita[/name_f][name_f][/name_f] but always called [name_f]Marge[/name_f].
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When she grew up, she legally changed her name to [name_f]Margaret[/name_f][name_f][/name_f], which saddens me as [name_f]Margherita[/name_f] is so unique and pretty!!
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[name_f]My[/name_f] grandma was given a much more “normal American” name by comparison
Sorry if this sounds very droll and unattached… trust me, I am very attached. I took over being the family genealogist after the death of my grandma (in earnest as I was dabbling in it before). My work in doing the family history led me to look up some of the more unusual or unheard of names (the first being Vɛᴀnnɛ Αrdyth). That led me here to Nameberry where I have latched onto and enjoyed learning about more names… as well as developed my own future naming style.
On my Dad’s side, my great-great-grandfather went from [name_m]Wilhelm[/name_m] to [name_m]William[/name_m] (Prussian), [name_m]Johann[/name_m] became [name_m]John[/name_m] (German) and the last name [name_f]Farrelly[/name_f] became [name_m]Farley[/name_m] (although I think they were still in Ireland at that point and looking at moving to the US). We didn’t have any traditional spellings of Irish names, so it wasn’t necessary to “change them to fit in”.
My Mom’s side of the family either kept their names as is, used their middle names or used a preferred name without actually changing it legally. One-quarter of the family came over from Denmark and nearby areas and their names running through the line were fairly intuitive. As for the rest of the family, they came over in the 1600s so the names used evolved as the American culture developed.
We also had some from France on both Dad’s and Mom’s sides whose names were understood in English when they came over, so no need to change them there.
My step-mom-in-reverse’s side of the family I don’t have a lot of information on as to when they came to the US.
My honorary grandma’s side of the family came from Germany, but their names fit well into the area they moved into so no known changes there. I do know they continued using names often used in Germany, but they were “normal” by US standards so no changes for anyone in that particular group.
For the most part, my family held onto the names, first and last, they came over with. And many gave names from their homeland to their children after coming here (German names were big in our family until my paternal grandparents’ generation named their children).
my grandpa’s dad was abraham cohen, who changed his name to alan kane to get into med school. coincidentally, my grandpa would later go into his own[name_f][/name_f] medical practice with an abe cohen.
