In addition to these transliterations, there are constant translations of foreign proper names. "Many a Pennsylvania /Carpenter/," says Dr. Oliphant,[17] "bearing a surname that is English, from the French, from the Latin, and there a Celtic loan-word [Pg277] in origin, is neither English, nor French, nor Latin, nor Celt, but an original German /Zimmermann/."[18] A great many other such translations are under everyday observation. /Pfund/ becomes /Pound/; /Becker/, /Baker/; /Schumacher/, /Shoemaker/; /König/, /King/; /Weisberg/, /Whitehill/; /Koch/, /Cook/;[19] /Neuman/, /Newman/; /Schaefer/, /Shepherd/ or /Sheppard/; /Gutmann/, /Goodman/; /Goldschmidt/, /Goldsmith/; /Edelstein/, /Noblestone/; /Steiner/, /Stoner/; /Meister/, /Master(s)/; /Schwartz/, /Black/; /Weiss/, /White/; /Weber/, /Weaver/; /Bucher/, /Booker/; /Vogelgesang/, /Birdsong/; /Sontag/, /Sunday/, and so on. Partial translations are also encountered, /e. g./, /Studebaker/ from /Studebecker/, and /Reindollar/ from /Rheinthaler/. By the same process, among the newer immigrants, the Polish /Wilkiewicz/ becomes /Wilson/, the Bohemian /Bohumil/ becomes /Godfrey/, and the Bohemian /Kovár/ and the Russian /Kuznetzov/ become /Smith/. Some curious examples are occasionally encountered. Thus Henry /Woodhouse/, a gentleman prominent in aeronautical affairs, came to the United States from Italy as Mario Terenzio Enrico /Casalegno/; his new surname is simply a translation of his old one. And the /Belmonts/, the bankers, unable to find a euphonious English equivalent for their German-Jewish patronymic of /Schönberg/, chose a French one that Americans could pronounce.
In part, as I say, these changes in surname are enforced by the sheer inability of Americans to pronounce certain Continental consonants, and their disinclination to remember the Continental vowel sounds. Many an immigrant, finding his name constantly mispronounced, changes its vowels or drops some of its consonants; many another shortens it, or translates it, or changes it entirely for the same reason. Just as a well-known Graeco-French poet changed his Greek name of /Papadiamantopoulos/ to /Moréas/ because /Papadiamantopoulos/ was too much for Frenchmen, and as an eminent Polish-English novelist [Pg278] changed his Polish name of /Korzeniowski/ to /Conrad/ because few Englishmen could pronounce /owski/ correctly, so the Italian or Greek or Slav immigrant, coming up for naturalization, very often sheds his family name with his old allegiance, and emerges as /Taylor/, /Jackson/ or /Wilson/. I once encountered a firm of Polish Jews, showing the name of /Robinson & Jones/ on its sign-board, whose partners were born /Rubinowitz/ and /Jonas/. I lately heard of a German named /Knoche/--a name doubly difficult to Americans, what with the /kn/ and the /ch/--who changed it boldly to /Knox/ to avoid being called /Nokky/. A Greek named /Zoyiopoulous/, /Kolokotronis/, /Mavrokerdatos/ or /Constantinopolous/ would find it practically impossible to carry on amicable business with Americans; his name would arouse their mirth, if not their downright ire. And the same burden would lie upon a Hungarian named /Beniczkyné/ or /Gyalui/, or /Szilagyi/, or /Vezercsillagok/. Or a Finn named /Kyyhkysen/, or /Jääskelainen/, or /Tuulensuu/, or /Uotinen/,--all honorable Finnish patronymics. Or a Swede named /Sjogren/, or /Schjtt/, or /Leijonhufvud/. Or a Bohemian named /Srb/, or /Hrubka/. Or, for that matter, a German named /Kannengiesser/, or /Schnapaupf/, or /Pfannenbecker/.