I don't know how other families went about changing their names, but I can
tell you that my BRUCHANSKY family did it the legal way in 1920 in Camden,
New Jersey. I was lucky enough to get the legal papers to show this a few
years ago. Sure enough, just as family lore had said, my grandfather and
his brothers and sisters all changed their name to BROWN at the same time.

I am curious as to how unusual this was, as opposed to the "just waking up
and calling yourself something different" route.

--Harriet Brown
Madison, WI
hnbrown@...

Subject: Changing names - how was it done?
From: Aejordan@...

Has anyone looked into how someone changed their name at the turn of the
century in the United States? Did our ancestors wake up one morning and
say I want an American name and just start calling themselves by their new
name?

<snip>