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Comment by INTPenis | Hacker News Reader

My dad didn't arrive at Ellis island, he arrived somewhere in Sweden. But he did change his name to get a new start and for the Swedes to be able to spell it easier. It was his own choice and after escaping a communist regime in the 60s nobody could really argue with him.

So you're telling me none of the immigrants arriving at Ellis Island over the years had a similar idea?

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They could have changed their names, but they would have recorded the changed name on the passenger manifest before setting sail, or after arriving and being processed. Ellis Island, the facility and staff, didn't determine anyone's names, it only cross-checked the names on the passenger manifests. Ellis Island didn't change anyone's names.

If you had read the article, you would know it makes this point exactly. Ellis officials merely had lists (written at the port of embarkation) they checked off and the name changes later blamed on them were actually conducted by the immigrants after arriving (or when they bought their ticket in the home country).

No. The false urban legend is that "the changes were done at the entry point [by immigration officials] and that the immigrants were unwilling participants in the modifications" or more specifically that these officials "carelessly or maliciously altered an immigrant’s name because it was too difficult to spell or sounded too foreign".

The link is clear that "Many names did get changed as immigrants settled into their new American lives, but those changes were made several years after arrival and were done by choice of someone in the family." and "immigrants changed their own names, usually during the citizenship process".

All quotes from the text.

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