Anglicisation of names

Anglicisation of names is the use of English names in the place of non-English names. During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants from Europe to the United States and United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries, the given names and surnames of many immigrants were changed.

The anglicisation of a personal name now usually depends on the preferences of the bearer. Name changes are less common today for Europeans emigrating to the United States than they are for people originating in East Asian countries.

There are three major ways names are anglicised: etymology, James for Jacques; phonetics, Joe for Giò (Giovanni or Giorgio); and abbreviation, Harry for Harilaos.

Surnames

French

French immigrants to the United States (both those of Huguenot and French Canadian background) often accommodated those unfamiliar with French pronunciations and spellings by altering their surnames in either of two ways: spellings were changed to fit the traditional pronunciation (Pariseau became Parizo, Boucher became Bushey, Mailloux became Mayhew), or pronunciations were changed to fit the spelling (Benoît, pronounced [bənwa], became /bɛnˈɔɪt/). In some cases, it could go either way (Gagné, pronounced [ɡaɲe], become /ˈɡæɡni/ or Gonyea), or something only slightly similar (Bourassa became Bersaw).

Irish

Most Irish surnames have been anglicised. Ó Briain has often become O'Brien, Ó Rothláin became Rowland, Ó Néill became O'Neill and some surnames like Ó Súilleabháin may be shortened to just O'Sullivan or Sullivan. Similarly, native Scottish names were altered such as Somhairle to Sorley, Mac Gill-Eain to MacLean, and Mac Aoidh to MacKay. Many Welsh names have also been altered, such as 'ap Hywell' to Powell, or 'ap Siôn' to Jones.

Given names

Greek

Besides simple abbreviation or anglicization of spelling, there are some conventional English versions of Greek names which were formerly widely used:^[1]

• Anestis: Ernest
• Athanasios: Thomas, Tom, Athan, Nathan
• Christos: Crist
• Demosthenes: Dick, Demos
• Dimitrios: James, Jim
• Haralambos: Harry
• Harilaos: Charles, Harry
• Ilias: Louie
• Konstantinos: Gus, Charles, Frank
• Panayiotis: Peter, Pete
• Stavros: Steve, Sam
• Vasilios: William, Bill

Ukrainian

Having immigrated to Canada and USA in the late 19th - early 20th centuries many Ukrainians looked for English equivalents to their given names. In some cases, Canadian or American-born children received two names: the English one (for official purposes) and a Ukrainian one (for family or ethnic community use only).

• Ivan : John
• Maria (Mariya) : Mary
• Mykhailo : Michael
• Orysya : Erna
• Petro : Peter
• Yaroslav (Jaroslaw) : Gerald

See also

• Anglicisation

Notes

1. ^ Mencken, all editions, passim

Bibliography

• H.L. Mencken, The American Language, 2nd edition, 1921, Chapter X, part 2. full text
• H.L. Mencken, The American Language, 4th edition, 1936, pp. 510-525.
• H.L. Mencken, The American Language, Supplement Two, 1948, pp. 516-525.

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