Names were not changed at Ellis Island. The names were transcribed on the
manifests before the passengers boarded. You may notice some names crossed off
the manifest and/or NOB (not on board) written across them. That means the
passenger did not make the trip. The only spelling differences were >from the
transcriber not being able to understand the name or writing it incorrectly. The
passenger had to have exit documents or boarding passes to get on the ship. Any
name changes that were made were done by the immigrant not the people at the
dock. In some cases, such as my grandfather's, the immigrant did use a name that
was not his so that may be a reason that you can't find it. My grandfather's
name was Chaskel Cymes but he entered NY with the name Chaskel Munach which was
the surname of his best friend. Why, I don't know but his sister used the same
surname a year later. I only found out when I got his Natz. papers and he said
he entered using that name. I also was told, when I visited Ellis Island, that
the immigrant's names were not changed.
Meryl Rizzotti
Researching: CYMES/CIMES, POVLOTSKY, TEPEROWITZ, SLEPAK, SPECTER, BASS/BASOI,
KAHN/COHEN, LEIBOWITZ, KSHEVIN/KRZEWIN