Emigrated with different name

crossman47

I hope this is the right place for this. A great grand aunt emigrated to US in 1897. She married and had a family there but did not seek naturalisation until 1935. I have now got her declaration for that and she states she emigrated under an entirely different name. Any idea why that might be? Did she delay seeking naturalisation in case that came to light?

pinkypinky

/split from other thread.

Can you give us the 2 different names, just in case something occurs?

crossman47

Sorry, I'd better not but the names are totally different and unrelated.

Vetch

I think that anyone reading this can really only speculate and research resources would have to be searched for clues. Perhaps she thought she would have difficulty leaving Ireland under her real name or didn't want to be tracked after reaching the US.

Possible police trouble / conviction / some sort of personal or family trouble that she wished to leave behind.

pinkypinky

Agree with Vetch.

You should also check whether the surnames are variants of each other - there are some which are wildly different.

KildareFan

It happens that people's names were changed for them on arrival in the US by the emigration officials who recorded what they thought they heard. I have one couple in my tree who emigrated to the US in the 1850s; their marriage was announced in the newspaper, which stated that the happy couple were off to Chicago. That was a lucky break as they arrived on the other side of the Atlantic with a totally different surname which they retained.

Hermy

KildareFan wrote: »

It happens that people's names were changed for them on arrival in the US by the emigration officials who recorded what they thought they heard.

I don't have a link but I seem to remember some time ago reading an article that dispelled this as a myth.

Deja Boo

A few interesting articles on the topic of name changes...

Did Ellis Island Officials Really Change the Names of Immigrants? (scroll down a few paragraphs)
Immigrant Name Changes (click on letters)

crossman47

Deja Boo wrote: »

A few interesting articles on the topic of name changes...

Did Ellis Island Officials Really Change the Names of Immigrants? (scroll down a few paragraphs)
Immigrant Name Changes (click on letters)

Thanks for those.

pinkypinky

Yep, sorry to dispell, but it's not true. People did anglicise names after they arrived to fit in better though.

This article is particularly good.
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07/02/name-changes-ellis-island

Hermy

pinkypinky wrote: »

Yep, sorry to dispell, but it's not true. People did anglicise names after they arrived to fit in better though.

This article is particularly good.
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/07/02/name-changes-ellis-island

That may be the article I had in mind - the photos ring a bell.

CassieManson

crossman47 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this. A great grand aunt emigrated to US in 1897. She married and had a family there but did not seek naturalisation until 1935. I have now got her declaration for that and she states she emigrated under an entirely different name. Any idea why that might be? Did she delay seeking naturalisation in case that came to light?

Did she change her christian name or surname? I have come across alot of relations who changed from Bridget to Delia. Bridget was "too Irish " for some. Many also changed their ages as it was easy to do that. One gr gr aunt put 35 on her marriage certificate but was actually 45. I wonder did her husband know her real age or was he surprised that she only had one child!

spurious

I have a Bridget Anne who called herself Anna once they got to the US, leading other family trees to list her as a second wife, until I found her in the same grave as her (only) husband and son.

KildareFan

It is a fact that many Irish emigrants to the US arrived with a different name - it could have been the Emigration officials, or other officials, or the individuals that changed the name. In the case I mentioned, the new surname sounds a bit like the old one, but doesn't show up when using the 'sounds like' search function.

Most people would not have had any identification papers & those who were illiterate wouldn't have been able to spell their name. My family name has multiple variations in spelling in the church records so even if someone brought their baptismal certificate, the name on the certificate might not be the correct name

Another possibility is that someone travelled on an assumed name, either to use someone else's ticket I think that's how Leonardo de Caprio got his ticket for the Titanic] or to travel on a child's fare.

Hermy

There's no doubt that names changed but what's at issue is how and where those changes took place. I think it had long been incorrectly assumed that the name changes occurred upon arrival in the States but now it is generally accepted that this wasn't so.

Vetch

KildareFan wrote: »

It is a fact that many Irish emigrants to the US arrived with a different name - it could have been the Emigration officials, or other officials, or the individuals that changed the name. In the case I mentioned, the new surname sounds a bit like the old one, but doesn't show up when using the 'sounds like' search function.

Most people would not have had any identification papers & those who were illiterate wouldn't have been able to spell their name. My family name has multiple variations in spelling in the church records so even if someone brought their baptismal certificate, the name on the certificate might not be the correct name

Another possibility is that someone travelled on an assumed name, either to use someone else's ticket I think that's how Leonardo de Caprio got his ticket for the Titanic] or to travel on a child's fare.

Out of interest, do you have any examples you can share of Irish names that were changed please?

Vetch

CassieManson wrote: »

Did she change her christian name or surname? I have come across alot of relations who changed from Bridget to Delia. Bridget was "too Irish " for some. Many also changed their ages as it was easy to do that. One gr gr aunt put 35 on her marriage certificate but was actually 45. I wonder did her husband know her real age or was he surprised that she only had one child!

Delia is a common pet name for Bridget though so someone could be Bridget on all their formal documentation but be known as Delia.

crossman47

CassieManson wrote: »

Did she change her christian name or surname?

Both names are different. I think the suggestion she used someone elses ticket may be a good one. Alternatively maybe there was a mix up on the shipping list and she didn't raise a fuss.

crossman47

CassieManson wrote: »

Did she change her christian name or surname? I have come across alot of relations who changed from Bridget to Delia. Bridget was "too Irish " for some. Many also changed their ages as it was easy to do that. One gr gr aunt put 35 on her marriage certificate but was actually 45. I wonder did her husband know her real age or was he surprised that she only had one child!

On the age issue, I think you'll find that in many places. I have seen Census records where people aged twenty years in ten. I know Census takers now ask for date of birth to make it more accurate but I have seen examples in US censuses where that didn't work well either.

VirginiaB

This 'name changed by officials in the US' is one of the longest persisting myths of genealogy. No matter how detailed the proofs dispelling the myth are, many people still believe it. And it just isn't true. Dick Eastman writes a great, free genealogy blog and he addressed this--yet again--just the other day, 21 May 2020. Here's a quote but there is much more in the post if you're interested:

"Myth #1: Our name was changed at Ellis Island.

Fact: No evidence whatsoever exists to suggest this ever occurred. In fact, Ellis Island had rigid documentation requirements. Anyone who arrived at Ellis Island without proper documents from "the old country" proving the person's name and providing other required information was sent back at the shipping company's expense. In fact, the shipping companies obviously knew this and always checked for proper documentation before allowing any passengers to board the ship in Europe or the British Isles."

Even before Ellis Island, immigrants had to supply their own information before they boarded the ship. And that's what the records reflect.