When I was growing up in Newark's old Third Ward in the 20s and 30s, it was a melting pot for thousands of immigrants from Eastern European countries, facing a daily struggle to keep their families fed and clothed.

        Limited in earning power by their lack of work and language skills, they saw their hopes for advancement and upward mobility would be through their children and monitored their school attendance and urged good scholarship.

        As a rule, most of their children completed high school.  Afterward, some went to normal school and became teachers, or attended college and found employment in business and commerce.  Others became doctors, lawyers and accountants ¹.  A scant few became involved in political affairs, and one even made it as a two-term mayor of Newark.  A small handful eventually made it in the Hollywood film industry as actors, writers, directors, and producers.  One even became head of MGM Studios.

        As their children -- the generation between the two World Wars -- my generation, began to succeed, I became aware of an interesting phenomenon" quite a few began Americanizing their ethnic-sounding family names².

        I have made no attempt to formally catalog these family-name changes, but in consultation with others from the old neighborhood have been able to come up with this selection of examples:

        If any of you reading this are from my old Newark neighborhood and know of any other family name changes among friends, neighbors, or relatives, let me know and I will revise this list accordingly.

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