Genealogy /
Bernatowicz surname? (I am starting to wonder if anyone in my family was American?) [85]
Putting a smile on my face here, and trying to answer politely. I will try to enlighten.
Name changing is quite common. There are many reasons for doing it:
1. Political - Jews changed there names for obvious reasons.
2. Social - Some societies will reject folks who have names from other parts of the world. Names are changed to fit in. Germans and Italians did this in America regularly
3. Ignorance - The port of entry officer who documents an arrival can't spell or the immigrant simply changes it to something they like better at time of immigration. In some cases you can tell where a family arrived in the United States simply based on the spelling of their name.
4. Most immigrants are not rich and educated, in the past most were illiterate folks who can't read or write. Imagine an illiterate person spelling a name and dealing with different sounds and character sets (Russian or Chinese). Imagine immigrating to China (or a province of modern day) in 1800 and having an immigration officer who does not speak Polish try to write your name in a Chinese character set. The name changes.
5. Real World Example: Original Name
Matuzeziciene Turned into:
Mathews6. My neighbor told me his surename changed because his grandmother liked another name better.
My surname is Scottish, but my real surname and ancestry is Polish - Nothing alike, they only have a few characters in common.
I would love to compare DNA test with folks to learn more about my ancestry. The only way to prove relationships is through science and DNA. You can say it ain't so all you want, only a test will prove it.
Numbers don't matter, Robert De Bruce has over 40,000k descendants.
As mentioned in a previous post by OP - Bernot is at its root Polish without the wicz. Bernatowicz is just as much polish as Bernot.
In summary, names change and sometimes change dramatically.
I hope this helps.
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