December 2024
Kaye Prince Hollenberg

In September, I spoke at the Norfolk County Genealogy Symposium. While discussing Jewish Genealogy in Canada, I mentioned the myth  —  the persistent bubbe meise  —  that names were changed at ports of entry. I explained to attendees that there is no evidence that names were ever changed at any port, be it Ellis Island or Pier 21, or any other. 

A collective gasp filled the room. I laughed to myself a bit at that as the gasp or the scoff are the two most common reactions I get. I went on to explain that ship manifests were actually prepared at the port of departure and went aboard the ship to its destination. 

Surviving artifacts and official documents show that at times, immigrants had a tag pinned to their clothing that denoted their page and line number on the manifest. In fact, the manifests themselves included instructions for reference; Canadian arrival manifests from the 1910s state “Instructions to Pursers: Each passenger should be given a card indicating the number of sheet and line on sheet on which name is to be found. Column 3, 29 and 30 are to be filled in by the Immigration Agent at the Port of Landing.” These columns (which denote money the immigrant travelled with, how they were travelling inland, and the inspector’s initials) and sometimes ticking off the names as he went were generally the extent of the inspector’s contributions.  

The immigrants lined up, presented that page and line information, and went on their way (of course there are other reasons they might be held for longer such as sickness). Can you imagine how long this entire process would have taken if these inspectors were actually filling in full information for each of the thousands of immigrants who arrived on ships every day? 

There was no place, chance, or reason for an inspector to change or dole out random new names. A good percentage of inspectors were immigrants themselves or first generation, and many spoke multiple languages. Spelling variations happen, especially when a name is being transliterated from one language to another, but wholesale name changes were just not a thing.

Interesting research has been done about the persistence of this myth and how these stories have been passed down as truth. Many immigrants did adopt new names themselves, sometimes simply choosing an Anglicized first name, and most did so within five years of immigrating. 

Those new names would be used in everyday life, on paperwork, and during the naturalization process. One common theory is that “my name was changed at Ellis Island” was really a euphemism for this entire process – immigration, assimilation, and naturalization. Another theory is that as time went on, some immigrants and their descendants were ashamed or embarrassed about feeling the need to adopt a new name and so blaming the change on an unnamed official helped to explain the change to others without explanation. This was bolstered of course by this myth infiltrating popular media such as The Godfather Part II or An American Tail. 

All of this doesn’t make finding an immigrant’s original name any easier of course. Look for naturalization papers (which in Canada can be obtained by filing a FOI request, although there are complications here – maybe we’ll discuss that in a future column?) and check all of the important life events – I’ve seen parents recorded on marriage records with their original surname and a baby born years after her father immigrated and changed his name recorded with his original surname. If your immigrant ancestor had siblings or other family who immigrated, check their records as well. You might just get lucky!

In January, I’ll be speaking to the London Jewish Federation about Jewish Genealogy in Canada, and in March I’ll be speaking at RootsTech about online Holocaust resources. Registration to attend RootsTech online is free, so I hope a few of you will sign up! 

To submit a question or if you have some Hamilton Jewish history to share, please email wschneider@jewishhamilton.org.