American Language Supplement 2 (88 page)

The statement of Schele de Vere
⁵
quoted in AL4,
⁶
that
Peabody
is an Americanized form of
Pibaudière
appears to have been no more than a rash surmise picked up from Captain Frederick Marryat.
⁷
I am informed by various members of the
Peabody
family of New England that their
Stammvater
was actually an English immigrant named
Pay body
, who landed about 1636. The name later changed to
Pabody, Pabodie
and
Peabody
.
⁸
Many Americans who have retained the French spelling of their names have been forced to suffer changes in the pronunciation. Among those of the Charleston, S. C., region
Huger
is pronounced
Hewgée; Legare, Legrée; Gaillard, Guilyard
, with a hard
g
and the accent on the first syllable;
Gourdin, Guddine
, rhyming with
divine; de Saussure, Déssosore; Girardeau, Jírrardo;
⁹
and
Des Portes, Déssports
.
¹⁰
The tendency of the accent to go forward will be noted. Many familiar British names, of course, are of French origin, though their present forms often conceal the fact. According to Bardsley,
Sidney
was originally
St
.
Denis, Sinclair
was
St. Clair, Seymour
was
St. Maur
, and
Garnett
was
Guarinot
. Black lists many Irish names as of Norman-French origin, and Woulfe adds some Irish names.

The changes in Italian surnames in the United States have been studied by Joseph G. Fucilla.
¹
He finds all the familiar processes at work. Those Italian names that present no difficulties to the native American are commonly retained intact, though usually with some change in pronunciation,
e.g., La Guardia, Di Georgio, Marcantonio, D’Alesandro, Martini, Russo, Pizzi, Papini, Moneta, Valentino, Moretti, Zucca
and
Serra
, but those that baffle him have to yield. Sometimes the change effected amounts to no more than the dropping of vowels, so that
Olivieri
becomes
Oliver
, and
Bonifazio
becomes
Boniface;
sometimes the final vowel is changed to an American equivalent, as when
Spellaci
becomes
Spellacy
and
Conte
becomes
Contey;
sometimes Italian consonant-sounds are saved by changes in spelling, as when
Amici
becomes
Ameche, Cecco
becomes
Checko, Paglia
becomes
Palia, Mazzola
becomes
Matzola
, and
Sciortino
becomes
Shortino
. Translations are by no means infrequent,
e.g., Bianco
to
White, Vinciguerra
to
Winwar
,
²
Barbieri
to
Barber, Molinari
to
Miller, Chiesa
to
Church
, and
Casalegni
to
Woodhouse
. And it is not uncommon for Italian names to acquire the favorite American
s
as a suffix, as when
Alberti
becomes
Alberts; Giacobbe, Jacobs; De Clemente, Clements; Riccardi, Richards; De Pietro, Peters
and
Landi, Landis
.
³
Finally, there are the bold changes to purely British forms, as when
Cestaro
becomes
Chester; Canadeo, Kennedy; Melone, Malone; Zicaro, Seegar; Marino, Manning; Baratta, Barry; Rosellini
or
Rubba, Russell;
⁴
Scaccia, Scott; Marsala, Marshall
, and
Francescone, Frank
.
⁵
Sometimes, says Fucilla, the effort to Americanize Italian names leads to grotesque
results, as when
Arteri
is turned into
Artery
and
Speziale
or
Speciale
into
Special
. Some Italians discard the frequent prefixes to their names,
e.g., di, de, della, la, li
or
lo
, when they kiss the flag, but not many, though it is not uncommon for the particle to be incorporated, as when
La Rocca
becomes
Larocca
and
Di Matteo, Dimatteo
.
¹

Now and then an Italian-American, having worn an American-sounding name for years, reverts to his original Italian name – usually as a matter of reviving national pride but sometimes only because Americans seem to be gradually getting used to Italian surnames and finding many of them less difficult than aforetime. The same phenomenon has begun to show itself among Greek-Americans, though the latter reason is seldom operative in their case. In 1941 a Chicago Greek who had been known as
Harris
petitioned one of the local courts to let him go back to
Haralampo-poulas
. He kept a store, he explained, in a Greek neighborhood, and
Haralampopoulas
was easier to most of his customers than
Harris
.
²
But it is far more common for a Greek to try to get rid of his long name and substitute something shorter and easier,
e.g., Kar
for
Karamouzis
,
³
Caloyer
for
Calogeropoulus
,
⁴
Pappas
for
Pappadimitracoupoulos, Poulos
for
Gerasimopoulos
and
Chronos
for
Pappapolychronopoulos
.
⁵
The same route is followed by other immigrants from Eastern Europe. When a Hungarian’s name is
Feleky, Bertok, Bartus, Simko, Balassa, Kormos
or
Yartin
his new neighbors are able to pronounce it more or less correctly, but if it is
Mészöly, Hrivnyák, Skalička, Csokonai, Szécskay, Eötvös, Karácsonyi, Erdijhelyi, Gyongyosy, Csongradi, Csüry, Ujváry, Nyitray, Szigligeti, Czatkai
or
Görg
he has to change either the pronunciation or the spelling, and sometimes he changes both.
⁶
At home the surname goes first,
e.g., Hunyadi Janos
(John), but in this country he adopts the usual order. So with the Armenians, Syrians, Bulgarians and Rumanians.
⁷

The Arabic-speaking Syrians in the United States occasionally bear surnames that fit into the American pattern easily enough,
e.g., Kassab, Totah, Barsa, Azar, Saliba
and
Katibah
, but more often they have to make changes. Sometimes it is sufficient to substitute new spellings,
e.g., Arbeely
for
’Arbīli, Beetar
for
Bītār, Mallouk
for
Mallūk, Boutross for Butrūs, Lian
for
Liyān, Mouakad
for
Mu’aqqad, David
for
Dāwūd
or
Da’ud, Diab
for
Diyāb, Jemail
for
Jumayyil, Gibran
for
Jubrān
,
¹
Namora
for
Nammūrah
, and
Arout
for
’Ayrūt
, but more frequently there are more substantial changes,
e.g., Sleyman
for
Sulaymān, Moran
for
Mārūn, Corey
for
al-Khūri, Malooly
for
Ma’lūli, Bonahom
for
Bū-Na’ūm, Jacobs
for
Yaqūb, Kadane
for
Qa’zān, Bourjaily
for
Abu-Rujayli, Boujalad
for
Abu-Jalad, Beters
for
Butrūs, Abbott
for ’
Abbūd, De Bakey
for
Dabaghi
, and
McKaba
for
Muqabba’ah
.
²
The most distinguished of Armenian-Americans, William
Saroyan
, born in Fresno, California, has been able to keep his family name, but only at the expense of consenting to putting the accent on
roy
, where it does not belong in Armenian.
³
Many of his
Landsleute
have been less fortunate, for such names as
Megerditchian, Khatchadouryan, Soonkookian
and
Hovsepian
seem to be difficult to Americans.
⁴
As a result, the usual translations and transliterations are not infrequent.
Jermakian
, for example, becomes
White
(Arm.
jermak
, white),
Novsepian
becomes
Joseph
, and
Boghossian
becomes
Paul
. Fresno once had a citizen named
Paul Paul
whose original name was
Boghos Boghossian
. A Nazicide who made some stir during World War II under the name of John Roy
Carlson
came into the world as
Derounian
.
⁵
Many Armenians arrived in the United States bearing names imposed upon them by their Turkish overlords. These, in some cases, have been turned into true Armenian names, as when
Chilingirian
became
Darbinian
, both meaning
Smith
.
⁶

The Gypsies, who originated in Northern India but came to the United States by way of Europe, sometimes bear Slavic names, but these are usually converted in this country into what they call
nav gajikanes
, or Gentile names. Thus
Ivan Stefanovitch
becomes
John Stevenson
and all the
MiXails
become
Mitchells
. Gypsy names are often patronymics.
Giori
, the son of
Tsino
, becomes
O Giorgi de Tisasko
, and
Mary
, the daughter of
John
, becomes
Mary John
. Such grotesque forms as
Millie Mike
and
Rosie Pete
are not uncommon among the women.
¹
In England most of the Gypsies have taken British surnames,
e.g., Burton, Hughes, Jenkins, Taylor, Gray, Lewis, Lee, Lovel
and
Smith
. Many of these are translations or transliterations. Thus
Taylor
comes from
Chokamengro
, a tailor;
Gray
from
Gry
, a horse;
Lee
from
Purum
, a leek;
Lovel
from
Kamlo
or
Kamescro
, a lover;
Marshall
from
Makkado-tan-engree
, a dweller in a marsh; and
Smith
from
Petulengro
, a blacksmith. Some of these names are also common among the Gypsies in the United States, notably
Lee
.
²

The Chinese in the United States have only about sixty different family names, of which
Chan, Wong
and
Lee
(
Li
) are the most often encountered.
³
The number to be found in all China has been variously estimated at from 150 to 400. The Chinese seldom change their surnames, which are really clan-names, but the business of representing them in English presents serious phonetic difficulties, and as a result there are many variants. Thus the same name is encountered as
Lok, Look
and
Luke
, and another common one appears as
Hiu, Heu
and
Hew
.
⁴
Even worse difficulty is caused by the fact that the same ideograph is pronounced differently in different parts of China, so that a Northern man named
Tsur
may be called
Chow
in the South and
Jo
elsewhere.
¹
But though surnames, which are proud possessions, are almost always retained, the Chinese frequently and in fact even usually adopt American given-names when they come to this country, as we shall see in the next section of the present chapter. Also, they often change the order of their names, for at home the surname goes first, as with the Hungarians, and this causes misunderstanding and confusion among Western strangers. Thus
Lee Loy
, in order to avoid being called Mr.
Loy
, becomes
Loy Lee
.
²
In the early days of Chinese immigration Americans mistook the honorific
Ah
for a given name, and many Chinese became
Ah Fu, Ah Sing
, and so on. This preserved their surnames, but some of their descendants have since adopted such combined forms as
Asing
and
Afong
.
³
In Hawaii a few of the younger Chinese have taken Hawaiian names,
e.g., Akana
and
Ahuna
, for they carry a certain amount of social prestige in the islands. But very few have taken American names.
⁴

Japanese personal names follow the order of American names, with the surnames last, and most of the latter are easily pronounceable, so there is no motive for changing them. Says Reinecke of Japanese nomenclature in Hawaii: