HUNGARY-L Archives

From: "ETM" <>
Subject: Re: [HUNGARY-L] change a name
Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 20:49:52 -0400
References: <d8.73ec558.284be0b0@aol.com>

Chris,

I think my grandfather walked off the boat and almost immediately changed
his given and surnames. He was known as Michael, rather than Matej, and
Chicken, rather than Slepicka (Czech names) and appears in city directories
that way as early as 1880. His obituary in 1935 indicates that he had
dropped the "k" from Slepicka and he was identified as Slepica. The
obituary mentions that he was Mike Chicken (although it refers to Slepica as
well) and makes no reference to Matej which appears in an early Chicago
(1879) church record. A midwife's certificate in the late 1800s indicates a
birth officially recorded as "Fredy Chicken" born to Michael and Anna
Slepica.

Names are what our ancestors wanted them to be. And they clearly did not
feel the need for the "correct" names that is so dominant in our
computerized- and databased-lives today. This type of name thread runs on
all ethnic lists. Even those researching colonial ancestry and Civil War
and Revolutionary War records discover that misspelling of given and
surnames is common, that brothers' and cousins' files are mingled. And
those files dealt heavily with English names.

With my own ancestors I tend to believe there was a great interest in
Americanizing the names. Slepicka (little hen) became Chicken.
Hruska/Hruskova literally became Pear/Peary.

Elaine
Czech-L Listowner
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~elainetmaddox/index.htm


----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 2:49 PM
Subject: [HUNGARY-L] change a name


>
> Hi List,
>
> This may sound silly...
>
> Could an immigrant "legally" change his name without being a citizen? Or
> does one have to be a citizen to do so?
>
> Thanks in advance
> Chris
>
>


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This thread:

• [HUNGARY-L] change a name by

  • Re: [HUNGARY-L] change a name by "ETM" <>

    • [HUNGARY-L] Midwife's Certificate by
      • Re: [HUNGARY-L] Midwife's Certificate by "ETM" <>
      • Re: [HUNGARY-L] Midwife's Certificate by
        • Re: [HUNGARY-L] Midwife's Certificate by "ETM" <>