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From: Steven Dhuey <>
Subject: Ellis Island name change myth
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 11:26:28 -0600


One of the more common myths in family history is the Ellis Island
name change story. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
has a very interesting essay I just found, that describes this story:

"American name change stories tend to be apocryphal, that is, they
developed later to explain events shrouded in the mist of time. Given
the facts of US immigration procedure at Ellis Island, the above
story becomes suspect. In the story, the immigrant arrives at Ellis
Island and a record is then created by someone who cannot communicate
with the immigrant, and so assigns the immigrant a descriptive name.
In fact, passenger lists were not created at Ellis Island. They were
created abroad, beginning close to the immigrant's home, when the
immigrant purchased his ticket. It is unlikely that anyone at the
local steamship office was unable to communicate with this man. His
name was most likely recorded with a high degree of accuracy at that
time."

Ellis Island, in fact, employed immigration processing clerks who
were fluent in the languages of the passengers that they processed.
Often they were immigrants themselves, or the children of immigrants.
Passengers were queued to the appropriate clerk according to the
language they spoke.

For more on this interesting topic, see:

http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/articles/NameEssay.html

Keep it in mind the next time you hear someone say, "My family's name
was changed at Ellis Island."

-Steve

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