Yonah Paley has more than a decade of experience in genealogy. Through hard work, learning, and a strong knowledge of record-finding, he has managed to trace multiple lines back to the 1700s and excels at piecing together descendants and lost branches of families that were split up through emigration waves of the 1880s-1920s, as well as the Holocaust.
He specializes in researching Jews of Eastern Europe and the Baltic states and has localized specialties in parts of:
- Lithuania/Latvia
- Galicia (portions of modern-day Ukraine, Poland)
- Slovakia/Hungary
- Belarus
- The USA
In this video he explains five ways in which European Jews changed their names from long Jewish sounding names to shorter versions or versions that had a more American or generic sound.
He counters the often cited claim that the original name was changed by a clerk in Ellis Island at the completion of the journey to America. Some of the changes are easily understood as they retain the basis of the original name, but others are completely unrelated.
What was your original family name, and how was it changed by a parent or grandparent? If you're into genealogical research, you might find some surprises in your background.
Enjoy!
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