Anglicisation of names


The anglicisation of personal names is the change of non-English-language personal names to spellings nearer English sounds, or substitution of equivalent or similar English personal names in the place of non-English personal names.

Anglicisation of personal names

Classical, medieval and Renaissance figures

A small number of figures, mainly very well-known classical and religious writers, appear under English names—or more typically under Latin names, in English texts. This practice became prevalent as early as in English-language translations of the New Testament, where translators typically renamed figures such as Yeshu and Simon bar-Jonah as Jesus and Peter, and treated most of the other figures in the New Testament similarly. Transatlantic explorers such as Zuan Caboto and Cristoforo Colombo became popularly known as John Cabot and Christopher Columbus; English-speakers anglicized and Latinized the name of the Polish astronomer Mikołaj Kopernik to Copernicus, and the English-speaking world typically knows the French-born theologian Jean Calvin as John Calvin. Such Anglicizations became less usual after the sixteenth century.

Non-English-language areas of the British Isles

Most Gaelic language surnames of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man have been anglicised at some time. The Gaels were among the first Europeans to adopt surnames during the Dark Ages. Originally, most Gaelic surnames were composed of the given name of a child's father, preceded by Mac or Nic depending on the sex. These surnames would not be passed down another generation, and a woman would keep her birth surname after marriage. The same was originally true of Germanic surnames which followed the pattern +son/daughter.
Over the centuries, under the influence of post-Medieval English practice, this type of surname has become static over generations, handed down the male lineage to all successive generations so that it is no longer indicates the given name of a holder's father any more than the suffix -son on a Germanic language surname does today. Among English-speaking peoples of Gaelic heritage, the use of Nic as a prefix for daughters has been replaced by Mac, regardless of sex. Wives also began to take on the surnames of their husbands.
Another common pattern of surname was similar to that preceded by Mac/Nic, but instead was preceded by Ó or Ui, signifying a grandchild or descendant. Not all Gaelic surnames signified relationship to a forebear, however. Some signified an ancestral people or homeland, such as MacDhubhghaill, MacFhionnghaill, MacLachlainn or MacLachlainneach. Others indicated the town or village of a family's origin, sometimes disguised as an ancestor's name as in Ó Creachmhaoil, which prefixes a toponym as though it was the name of a person. As with other culturo-linguistic groups, other types of surnames were often used as well, including trade-names such as MacGhobhainn, Mac a'Ghobhainn or Mac Gabhainn, and physical characteristics such as hair colour.
In Anglicising Gaelic names, the prefixes Mac, Nic, and Ó were frequently removed. Where they were retained, Mac was often rendered Mc, M', or Mag- and Ó/Ui became O'. MacGhobhainn, Mac a'Ghobhainn and Mac Gabhainn were anglicised as McGowan, Gowan, McGavin, and Gavin. In surnames which had been prefixed Mac, the final hard c sound remained when the Mac was removed. As Gaelic spelling rules required the first letter of a name preceded by Mac or Nic to be lenited with the addition of an h after, and for the last vowel to be slender if male, the Anglicised form of a Gaelic name could look quite different. By example, MacPhearais has been anglicised as Corish, and MacInnis has been anglicised as Guinness.
Gaelic names were also sometimes anglicised by translating the prefix Mac into the suffix son, as per the Germanic practice. MacPhearais, consequently, has been anglicised as Pearson, and MacAoidh has been anglicised as Hewson. The Gaelic MacSheain or MacSheathain has similarly been anglicised Johnson.
The other main changes made in Anglicisation from Gaelic are the removal of silent letters, and respelling according to English phonetics. ( Ó Briain has often become O'Brien, Ó Rothláin became Rowland, Ó Néill became O'Neill and some surnames like Ó Súilleabháin may be shortened to just O'Sullivan or Sullivan. Similarly, native Scottish names were altered such as Somhairle to Sorley, Mac Gill-Eain to MacLean, and Mac Aoidh to Mackay. Many Welsh names have also been altered, such as 'ap Hywell' to Powell, or 'ap Siôn' to Jones.

Immigration to English-speaking countries

Anglicisation of non-English-language names was common for immigrants, or even visitors, to English-speaking countries. An example is the German composer Johann Christian Bach, the "London Bach," who was known as "John Bach" after emigrating to England.
During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants from Europe to the United States and United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries, the given names and surnames of many immigrants were changed. This became known colloquially as the "Ellis Island Special," after the U.S. immigrant processing center on Ellis Island; contrary to popular myth, no names were ever legally changed at Ellis Island, and immigrants almost always changed them at their own discretion.
Traditionally common Christian given names could be substituted: such as James for the etymologically connected Jacques. Alternatively phonetical similarities, such as Joe for Giò ; or abbreviation, Harry for Harilaos.
The anglicisation of a personal name now usually depends on the preferences of the bearer. Name changes are less common today for Europeans emigrating to the United States than they are for people originating in, or descending from those who emigrated from, East Asian countries.

French surnames

immigrants to the United States often accommodated those unfamiliar with French pronunciations and spellings by altering their surnames in either of two ways: spellings were changed to fit the traditional pronunciation, or pronunciations were changed to fit the spelling. In some cases, it could go either way, or something only slightly similar.
Some anglicized French-Canadian surnames:
were often anglicized upon the immigrant's arrival into the United States.
Some Greek names are anglicized using the etymologically related name: Agni: Agnes; Alexandros/Alexis: Alexander/Alex; Alexandra: Alexandra/Alex; Andreas: Andrew; Christophoros: Christopher; Evgenios/Evgenis: Eugene/Gene; Eleni: Helen; Ioannis/Yannis: John; Irini: Irene; Georgios/Yorgos: George; Markos: Mark; Michail/Michalis: Michael; Nikolaos: Nicholas; Pavlos: Paul; Petros: Peter; Stephanos: Stephen; Theodoros: Theodore/Ted; and so on.
Besides simple abbreviation or anglicization of spelling, there are some conventional English versions of or nicknames for Greek names which were formerly widely used and are still encountered:
Having immigrated to Canada and United States in the late 19th - early 20th centuries many Ukrainians looked for English equivalents to their given names. In some cases, Canadian or American-born children received two names: the English one and a Ukrainian one.
Hundreds of Spiritual Christian Doukhobors who migrated from Russia to Canada from 1899 to 1930, changed their surnames. Genealogist Jonathan Kalmakoff posted comprehensive lists for
Many descendants of Spiritual Christians from Russia in California, whose parents immigrated to Los Angeles, hid their family surnames due to real and perceived ethnic discrimination during the Cold War.
Anglicization of family surnames occurred frequently among children of German citizens born in the anglosphere, notably to German immigrants in America. With the declaration of war on Germany by much of the English speaking world, many German families anglicized their names either voluntarily or by requirements of immigration policy due to the anti-German hysteria of the First and Second World Wars.
Italian surnames were often anglicised in the United States: for example, the i-ending of a number of Italian names becomes y, e, or ie.
When Dutch immigrants arrived in the United States, often their names got changed. This was either done on purpose, to make the name easier to write and remember, or by accident because the clerk didn't know how to spell the name and wrote it down phonetically.

North America

Coastal Salish
people were often given "Boston Names" by early European settlers. These English names often had similar sounds to original Lushootseed names.
When Lushootseed names were integrated into English, they were often recorded and pronounced very differently. An example of this is Chief Seattle. The name Seattle is an Anglicisation of the modern Duwamish conventional spelling Si'ahl, equivalent to the modern Lushootseed spelling siʔaɫ. He is also known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth.