Jennifer MendelsohnDec 4, 2022
Someone at adult Hebrew class this morning innocently repeated the Ellis Island name change myth. That was fun.
Show threadSharon Gibson MorganDec 4, 2022

@jmendelsohn

My husband is a rabbi who teaches Bible and Jewish ethics.

He has repeated the story about Ellis Island officials--for some reason, they're Irish-- changing the names of immigrants whose names were hard to pronounce. Consequently, there are a lot of Cohens who aren't kohanim at all.

We're going to have quite the discussion. 🙂

Show threadJennifer MendelsohnDec 4, 2022
@SharonGibson3 always Irish! Never true.
Show threadJennifer MendelsohnDec 4, 2022
@SharonGibson3 Unfortunately I locked down my Twitter so it's not searchable any more but I did a couple threads where people blamed the Irish officer...but the documents completely contradicted that.
Show threadSharon Gibson MorganDec 4, 2022

@jmendelsohn

I wonder how such a story grew legs and took off like that.

I guess the Ellis Island name-change story is one of those great American myths.

Another is the inordinate number of non-native Americans with Native American ancestry--and the antecedent is never just an ordinary member of some tribe. She's always a princess.

Show threadJennifer MendelsohnDec 4, 2022
@SharonGibson3 There's much scholarship on this.
Show threadJennifer MendelsohnDec 4, 2022
@SharonGibson3 My own attempt: https://youtu.be/e3cLduE5aWI
No Names Were Changed at Ellis Island: Debunking a Persistent Myth

YouTube
Show threadSharon Gibson Morgan

@jmendelsohn

I just finished listening to your YouTube presentation on this matter.

It's really interesting, especially the graph that shows the escalation of this claim decades after Ellis Island closed.

I am definitely sending this to my husband. 😀

Dec 4, 2022 at 6:27pmWeb
Show threadKatmaDec 22, 2022
@SharonGibson3 @jmendelsohn
I also just listened to the YouTube presentation. Previously, I 💯 bought into the myth. It the story my stepfather was told about his family’s name change after immigrating here from Estonia. I might do some digging now