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Question: Why did some people in history translate their names!?
For exemple of a certain nation, they translated their names when they migrated, or under other circumstances, like war!? Not to be recognized as being part of a group!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Take for example the immigrants who came to America!. Many had been persecuted in their old homelands and simply wanted to start a new life with a new name!. also Ellis Island for another example,you had the Immigration officers who would change your name due to the region you came from,or what type of work you did!.
For example,Chandler(keeper of ships' stores),Ritter(knight -(German),Thatcher(maker of fish nets),etc!.!. Look at the freed slaves after the American War between the States!. You had many slaves who were simply known by one name,now that they were free,they would add the name of their former owners!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A name identifies an individual but it is also something that is used more by others!. If other people cannot pronounce or recognize a name, it is useless!.

When people migrate to another nation whose inhabitants speak a different language, they must translate their names so they can actually use them in communication!.

It's not obsfucation but necessity!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Various reasons!. Sometimes a clerk at some immigration depot (like Ellis Island) , might, out of sheer laziness not record an immigrant's name accurately!. The newcomer, fearing prejudice, might change his name in order to"hide"!.

Then I think about some U!.S!. Presidents who were not known by their given names!. Examples include Stephen Grover Cleveland, John Calvin Coolidge, and Leslie King!. (The reason none of you has ever heard of Leslie King is that his parents divorced when he was young, and his mother remarried a man named Gerald Ford!. The elder Ford adopted young Leslie and renamed him Gerald Ford, Jr!. The younger Ford went on to become our nation's 38th President!.)Www@QuestionHome@Com

When they immigrated the names were often hard for others to spell and the level of education is not what it is now and the people who worked in the immigration centers just spelled them as best they could!.

If you were afraid of being killed because of your name, wouldn't you want to change it!?Www@QuestionHome@Com