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Way back in the day, I used to do a lot of data entry, entering names and addresses for mailing lists. I'll never forget coming across the name 'Itchy Scratchy".
They Americanized their names when tney became citizens. You might be able to find your ancestors' citizenship applications on Ancestry or FamilySearch.org. You might find the ship manifest records too, which will show their original names.
Quote:
Originally Posted by michgc
Those who lived in the Russian Empire had to take last names right around the year 1804 by an edict of the czar. There was no mandate that they be Russian names, and I believe it wasn't common for them to be Russian names as most Jews lived in shtetls and spoke Yiddish. My family who lived what was then part of the Russian empire (now Ukraine) had names such as: Shochet, Rosenbaum, Berenbaum, Strom. Other common names in my grandparents' shtetl were Garber, Rosen, Lederman, Mehlman, etc.
My Shochet ancestors DID change their name once in the US, but I have the ship manifests for all of the ones who came over at various times over the years. All of them say Shochet (various spellings). Then in the first Census, my 2nd great-grandfather suddenly became Rosen as did every other family members. Also, there was no formal paperwork needed at the time (late 1800s to early 1900s) in the US to make a name change. Once in the US anyone could say their name was anything they wanted. Sometimes you do see it in their naturalization papers that they now go by "new name" but there were no paperwork necessary. And getting off at Ellis Island, the inspectors just checked off your name, there was no filing of papers or anything to give anyone a name change.
In the Austro-Hungarian empire, the names had to be "German" names, so their names aren't too different from the non-Jews in that area. My father's family is from there and my maiden name is a German-sounding one and used by both Jews and non-Jews.
My great, great grandfather was named Jesse James. This unusual name makes me wish i could have met my great, great, great grandparents! Who names their child after an outlaw? lol
Do any of your long ago relatives have interesting names?
I have a distant cousin who was named after Jesse James too. After doing some digging I have found some family connections to JJ that probably explains it:
First, I live in Clay County, Missouri, which was JJ's birthplace and his stomping ground. He is buried only 10 miles north of me in Kearney, MO. His family homestead is a few miles east of Kearney. Parts of my family have been here for about 180 years.
During the Civil War one branch of my family lived 2 counties below Clay in Cass County, Missouri. In the 1860's Cass County was at the epicenter of Missouri's Confederate movement. It was the home base of William Clarke Quantrill and the Bushwhackers, a renegade Confederate guerilla army. One of my cousins was a Bushwhacker, so there's a 99% chance that he knew the real Frank James, JJ's brother. Frank was a Bushwhacker during the War and spent a lot of time in Cass County; there were only about 150 Bushwhackers. After the Lawrence (KS) Massacre in 1862 all of Cass County was burnt to the ground by the Union Army to expell the Confederates (Ewings Order No. 11). My cousin had to flee the inferno and he ended up in south-central Iowa. He named his first son born in Iowa after Jesse James. --There's probably only a very slim chance that he met JJ, but there's a huge chance that my cousin knew Frank James from the War. Jesse was a 15-year-old boy when the War ended. Many people get that wrong, thinking that JJ was a Civil War vet. Not true.
No ancestors, but I have a hobby (?) of collecting surnames that are made up of two words. I have excluded anything with -son, -man, -ton, -town, or -land as too common. I am up to 750+ and still collecting. It all started with Turnipseed, which is actually a fairly common name in the US south. Then I ran into Beanblossom and Cabbagestalk. Not all of them are plant based though. A few others are Sisterhen, Spoonmore, and Pennybaker. I especially like Cadreact, because you can break it up two ways - Cad + React, or Cadre +Act. And some are 3 words, like Baillargeon.
No ancestors, but I have a hobby (?) of collecting surnames that are made up of two words. I have excluded anything with -son, -man, -ton, -town, or -land as too common. I am up to 750+ and still collecting. It all started with Turnipseed, which is actually a fairly common name in the US south. Then I ran into Beanblossom and Cabbagestalk. Not all of them are plant based though. A few others are Sisterhen, Spoonmore, and Pennybaker. I especially like Cadreact, because you can break it up two ways - Cad + React, or Cadre +Act. And some are 3 words, like Baillargeon.
My Italian great aunt was named "Levantina" because she had dark skin, like someone from the Levant. She died young, and my great grandparents recycled the name a few years later for my grandmother. At age 15, grandma used her deceased older sister's birth certificate to falsify her age so she could emigrate to America.
Other odd family names:
Elesio, who changed his name to Leslie, then Les; and Frutas, who changed to Fred
Speaking of Jesse James and unusual names, he married his first cousin, Zerelda Mimms. They both descended from a Shadrach Mims, one of those Old Testament names not in use much anymore. My great grandmother was a Mims, who were early Florida Panhandle settlers, also supposedly descended from a Shadrach or Shadrack Mims (a different one) but it is a very widespread Southern family where that forename appears multiple times. I think most Mims in the North are African Americans who descend from those who left the South in the Great Migration.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adjusterjack
A shochet is a person trained and licensed to slaughter animals. From the Hebrew meaning "ritual slaughterer."
Could explain the name change.
Apropos of nothing I once new a man named Arnold A. Arnold. I was afraid to ask what the middle initial stood for.
Yes, that is exactly what they did in the "old country." As a vegetarian, it wasn't my favorite finding about my ancestors. We're not quite sure how they adopted Rosen as their new name. We have two theories, but neither seems convincing.
As to the OP's question, I have an ancestor who was named Rose Rosenbaum and she married a Mr. Rosen becoming Rose Rosenbaum Rosen.
Yes, that is exactly what they did in the "old country." As a vegetarian, it wasn't my favorite finding about my ancestors. We're not quite sure how they adopted Rosen as their new name. We have two theories, but neither seems convincing.
As to the OP's question, I have an ancestor who was named Rose Rosenbaum and she married a Mr. Rosen becoming Rose Rosenbaum Rosen.
That's close to one of my mother's cousin's names. It was her married name. I don't want to say exactly because the woman's grandchildren who remember her are my age... still living.
Speaking of Jesse James and unusual names, he married his first cousin, Zerelda Mimms. They both descended from a Shadrach Mims, one of those Old Testament names not in use much anymore. My great grandmother was a Mims, who were early Florida Panhandle settlers, also supposedly descended from a Shadrach or Shadrack Mims (a different one) but it is a very widespread Southern family where that forename appears multiple times. I think most Mims in the North are African Americans who descend from those who left the South in the Great Migration.
When I lived in Florida I used to know some Mims. Louise, Teri, Jimmy and Benjamin.
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As a vegetarian, it wasn't my favorite finding about my ancestors. 
We're not quite sure how they adopted Rosen as their new name. We have two theories, but neither seems convincing.
