What polish last name means shovel?

Question:my family name is kava, but my grandpa said our last name actually ment shovel and that my ancesters gave a different name to the people at ellis island.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: my family name is kava, but my grandpa said our last name actually ment shovel and that my ancesters gave a different name to the people at ellis island.

It's an old wives' tale that people were "given new names" at Ellis Island. Believe it or not, the immigrant didn't provide information to the clerks. Before they left, they had to get an exit visa and passport. Those documents were handed over to the shipping line when they bought passage. They were used to create the passenger manifest, which was subsequently handed over to the officials at Ellis Island when they landed. Each passport was returned with a small tag attached that listed the name of the ship and the line where teh individual was listed on the manifest. They were also given tags with their name, hometown, the ship and the date of arrival. Everyone was matched up to the manifest and that's how they were registered at Ellis Island.

Because of the rules in the Immigration Act, the individual not only had to list their information about their arrival at Ellis Island on their immigration papers, but also when they went to be naturalized. If they thought an error had been made and they wanted to correct it, they had several opportunities to do that.

The way to find the truth (and it is out there) is to send a request to the National Archives and Records Administration regional center handling the records for the state where your ancestors lived when they petitioned for naturalization. It's going to give you everything about them, particularly their names, parents' names, date of arrival, name of the ship, and every name they've ever been known by. You want the Declaration of Intent and the Naturalization Petition.

Just to be clear, though. No one was able to just "give a new name" at Ellis Island. If they didn't match up to a name that was on the passenger manifest, they got sent back to Poland.

Translation: SHOVEL
N F SZUFLA; F SZUFELKA; F ?OPATA; F SAPERKA
V SZUFLOWA?

there was a saperka in the 1910 census born in germany