Question about surname changes during immigration

I haven't gotten the most welcoming responses on this site but Imma try again anyways cuz I don't like to judge a whole site on a few negative ppl....but here we go...

My grandma was born here but my great grandma was pregnant with her on the boat over lmao....they got here in 1920...

anyways, long story short. When they arrived at Ellis Island they made them change their surname to something more American....so my grandma's surname was changed to Vitek.

I am not aware of the original spelling of the name because my grandma has memory problems and don't remember exactly what is was...my question is this...is there any way I can find out? Or am I screwed?

I really would love to know more about her family that they left over there when they came to America...any help would be great, and plz enough with the stupid rude comments, its unnecessary.

Thank you to anyone who can help me in advance!

:)

It could be Witek... but that's just a thought... To be sure you would have to find their documents issued in Poland or something...

Did your great grandparents ever apply for US citizenship? Their Polish name could appear on those documents. If they had other children who were born in the US their Polish name might have been recorded in the Church Baptismal records.

Have you looked at any of the Ports of Entry with name variations? What year did they arrive and where did they come in?
Another surname variation could be Witkowski.
It's a search well worth doing. Who knows what you'll find.

Would'nt the passenger manifests which were filled out BEFORE the ship arrived in the US have the correct name and spelling? You'd need to know what day they arrived on and what ship though just to narrow the search range.

It also could be that the surname was mis-spelt on the arrival entries which has hampered my own searches.

The name could not have been Vitek, because there is no v in Polish. So somebody changed it -- either some Ellis Island official, an employer or the immigrant himself. Vitek would be a logical phoentic respelling retaining the original pronunciation.

There arer more thn 13,000 Witeks in Poladn mainly inhbaiting the country's southland. WItek is short fro Witold, a popular Polish first name adapted from the Lithuanian Vytautas.

But it could have also been shortened from Witkowski (42,000 users in Poland), probably a toponymic nick from one of the many localities in Poland containing that root (Witków, Witkowo, Witkowice, etc.). But that shortening presuposses that the name-changer knew something about Polish, namely that the rooit of Witkowski is Witek. An Irish or WASP US Immirgration official may not have known that.

FYI Every1LuvzAngie,

If you search on ancestry for "Witek" this is what you find.....

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they moved to Pennsylvania when they came here so maybe I can get records from there....

Check the ship's manifest for next-of-kin. The original name may show up there.

It may also lead to a new name (grandmother's maiden name, for example, through a brother) or nothing.

Port officials were known to get surnames misspelt. There are lots of Witek's in Poland.

Peter

Could you help me decifer an address on ellisisland.org - registration is free My great uncle Stefan Rybinski arrived in New York on Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm vessel January 16th 1910. The ship's manifiest provides an address which I'm finding difficult to decipher. 1008 Second Street - but cant read the rest. Or even if you decipher the surname that may help. We're trying to trace relatives, and for a long while have been searching in Chicago and just by sheer luck discovered Stefan came through New York.

I'll take a look at it over the weekend and see if I can make anything out.............I have the same problem myself.


I'm looking at the manifest and even when magnified it is practically impossible to read, the ink having blotted into the paper when it was written.

What little I can decipher is..........

----- -----islaw --li--wicz
1008 -ec---- & -- (St ??) ----- ---
brother il

In hindsight after playing around with the magnification........

1008 Second Street & St Louis ---

Thanks. I've made some progress (thanks to the help of folks on this website) and found a potential candidate in Baltimore. Now I just need to check that he is the one and only. My family have been looking to trace since the end of WW1. It's just a shame they're not around. See thread Stefan Rybinski. I'm really grateful for your input.