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May 29, 2018

The Myth of the Ellis Island Name Change

Jews, and others, changed their names voluntarily.

According to numerous jokes, family legends, and even the movie The Godfather, Part II, officials at Ellis Island frequently Anglicized immigrants’ exotic or difficult-to-pronounce names, sometimes deliberately, sometimes inadvertently. These stories loom particularly large in American Jewish cultural memory. But Kirsten Fermaglich cites ample evidence that this was not the case; rather, newcomers to U.S. usually took the initiative, changing their names voluntarily after their arrival:

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