I came across a great article, "They Changed Our Name at Ellis Island",
written by Donna Przecha, founding member of the Computer Genealogy
Society of San Diego (California, USA):

http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/88_donna.html

I highly recommend reading to understand the process of the names as they
came into Ellis Island (and other ports).

Jeanne Gold
California, USA

Hello Everybody,
The ongoing discussion about the reasons of name changes is interesting
and there might be many motives for it. On the official copies I got of
original acts about my ancestors in Krakow the family name is spelled
alternatively
MAHLER
MAKLER
MAHLERA
MAHLEROVA
MALLERA
MEKLERA
MALEROWNA
MAHLEROW
and MEKLER and nevertheless they all belong to the same family.
Differences in pronunciation and spelling might explain all these
variations on a common theme without any other ultimate intention or
purpose.
Best regards
Charles Mahler
Antwerp Belgium