Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What if your surname was Hoar, Fuchs, Roach, Peed, Fink (these are all actual surmames in America). There is a beautician in NJ named Monica Lewinsky.
Many Jewish people shorted their surnames to avoid discrimination in show-business or the professions:
Greenberg, Greenspan = Green
Loewenthal, Loewenstein = Lowe
Rabinowitz = Robbins
Levine, Levin = Lewis
Bernstein, Birnbaum = Burns
Goldberg, Goldstein = Gold, Gould, Gordon
Herschel, Herschkowitz, Horowitz = Howard, Harris
Weiss = White
Davidovich = Davis
Martin Sheen and his son Charlie Sheen. Know any Latinos with the Sheen surname? Then again how many Latino stars can you name from the 60's and 70's? Must have worked well as Emilio is not worth half what Charlie is worth. Maybe he should have changed his name as well. LOLGeorge Burns and Gracie Allen were stage names. They changed their names often during the Vaudville era.
I ask this because I’m quite possessive about my name, and strangely enough, everyone in the world with my Surname should be a blood relation of mine. I see name changing as fraud, and that people should keep the Surname they are born with (other than by marriage), and that if someone were to use an assumed name, this could sully the name. I don’t think names should be given out as freely as gold stars.
I know people that have changed their names for less than honourable reasons, and some that would like to, to get away from their family name.
It does cause problems, I have an acquaintance that just can’t be located anymore, (he and his family have changed their family name multiple times, and changed address), it seems like they just vanished.
I don’t know what system you have in the US, but here in the UK it is quite easily done.
So, how do you feel about people changing their name?
Wow, this is a mind blower and I am going to lose sleep over what someone else does with their life and their choice of name.....NOT
There is a real estate guy in my market whose last name is Boner.
And there was a guy whose name in the phone book was Vesuvius J. Bobo.
And, finally, no lie, there was Richard Head. And everybody called him Dick. The funny thing is that his wife was named Mimi, and she is the president of Ram Tool Corporation. You just can't make this stuff up.
Through a very circuitous route, I found one cousin branch where the kids took the name of their mother's second husband (or perhaps he adopted them). Turns out the first husband was in jail for murder. A different cousin - the father of the kids died, the wife remarried, but her kids went to stay with their aunt and uncle, taking that family name. Why? *shrug* Who knows? Did the second husband not want the kids around? Did the kids want to disassociate themselves from their father's branch? I dunno.
Another branch I lost track of entirely. In one decade, the guy had a wife named Louise and a couple of kids, but the next census showed him with a different wife, younger kid and the first family not to be found. However, looking at old newspapers, and noting the number of times the man had been charged with beating his wife, I suspect she fled with her kids and made sure she stayed lost (at least I hope that's why she and the kids disappeared and not as the result of a more tragic cause).
Without knowing the circumstances of these peoples' lives, I'm not going to judge. They may have changed their names for vanity, shame, or safety. I might squawk at the aggravation, but I won't condemn.
If you have a name that is hard to pronunce or is funny , by all means change it so your children and family will not go through life with teasing etc. Example Pro Football player Woodhead !
Changing surnames was much more common during earlier America than it is today, and they did it for various reasons. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with it. I used to hate the spelling of my maiden name because one single letter caused everyone to pronounce it wrong, and I couldn't stand the way people said it. But whenever I mentioned changing that one letter to improve it phonetically, my parents reacted as though I'd made the most offensive suggestion they'd ever heard of.
I happily took my husbands' names when I got married, so dealing with the maiden name is no issue anymore. But whenever I think of it's mispronounciation I STILL cringe! If I ever had a reason to want to return to my original name, I think I would change that one letter. We have no children to pass it on down, anyway.
I ask this because I’m quite possessive about my name, and strangely enough, everyone in the world with my Surname should be a blood relation of mine. I see name changing as fraud, and that people should keep the Surname they are born with (other than by marriage), and that if someone were to use an assumed name, this could sully the name. I don’t think names should be given out as freely as gold stars.
I know people that have changed their names for less than honourable reasons, and some that would like to, to get away from their family name.
It does cause problems, I have an acquaintance that just can’t be located anymore, (he and his family have changed their family name multiple times, and changed address), it seems like they just vanished.
I don’t know what system you have in the US, but here in the UK it is quite easily done.
So, how do you feel about people changing their name?
I feel the same way as the government does - as long as there is no attempt to defraud anyone, it's a personal choice.
Never felt the desire, but I can think of several good reason. Infamous relatives, or people who are roundly hated and bear that last name.
Not everyone is as fond of their family - or their name, as you may be.
I ask this because I’m quite possessive about my name, and strangely enough, everyone in the world with my Surname should be a blood relation of mine. I see name changing as fraud, and that people should keep the Surname they are born with (other than by marriage), and that if someone were to use an assumed name, this could sully the name. I don’t think names should be given out as freely as gold stars.
I know people that have changed their names for less than honourable reasons, and some that would like to, to get away from their family name.
It does cause problems, I have an acquaintance that just can’t be located anymore, (he and his family have changed their family name multiple times, and changed address), it seems like they just vanished.
I don’t know what system you have in the US, but here in the UK it is quite easily done.
So, how do you feel about people changing their name?
Also, sometimes people change their names because they don't WANT to be located. Did THAT ever occur to you?
When I married I took my husband's name. On facebook, I use my first name and my married name - no maiden name. Reason? I don't want to be tracked down by a random class mate from 20 years ago. If I still wanted to be in touch with them - I would.
Surnames used to change with each generation of Swede. Lars Johansson was the son of Johan [something] and Lars' children would be [something] Larsson (for a boy) and [something] Larsdotter (for a girl). Each generation's surname would be different.
Your surname can be sullied by the legitimate since-birth owner....then what are you going to do? Change your name? How many Mr & Mrs. Hitler's do you know of?
None and that's a great point. I am formerly from LI, and he has two living relatives in Patchogue! Is that weird? They are not Hitlers - they changed their names and decided not to procreate.
I've just run into some last names that I thought were really awful, and this was the closest thread to that topic.
If any of these had been my last name, I'd have changed it legally ASAP:
Lipschitz (go look in the mirror, you have a little Lipschitz on the corner of your mouth) Lipscumb (great, now that you wiped off the Lipschitz, you left a film of Lipscumb on your lip) Colon (Pretty funny especially if your first name is Aretha) Snodgrass (I don't know why, but it just sounds like a horrible name that would get you beaten up on the playground) Loser (My college actually named a building after a guy named "Loser"--it was Loser Hall; pretty sad) Kuntz (no explanation needed) Seimen (I just turn into Beavis and Butthead when I encounter someone with this name) Dickhouse (maybe a variation on that funky old Commodores' tune?) Hyman (Again, I turn into Beavis and Butthead and just snicker...) Glasscock (he's a very fragile, sensitive guy...) Clutterbuck (what a fustercluck that one is!)
there have to be more....
Sure there are and here are some -
Hooker - don't use that..
Annis - NO!
Buttafucco - this is so ugly
Doody - went to school with them
Looney- Another Irish name for St,Paddy's Day
Zitman, Zitz.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
