Why Immigrants Change Their Name
A common problem in genealogy is tracing people who have changed their name. This occurs most often when someone immigrates to another country. The general assumption in genealogy is that immigrants change their name to help them become more assimilated into their new homeland. There are, however, a variety of other reasons why immigrants may change their name.
A new study just published in the Journal of Labor Economics provides valuable proof to the field of genealogy that money can be a major driver for immigrants that change their name. The study by Mahmood Arai and Peter Skogman Thoursie of Stockholm University studied recent immigrants to Sweden. In Sweden, there are only two ways for a person to change their name: by marriage and by legal application to the government. The researchers looked at immigrants who changed their name by legal application, a process that takes from one to two years to complete.
The study focused on immigrants who changed their name to make it more Swedish sounding or more ethnically neutral sounding. The researchers looked at the pay of this group of immigrants before and after the name change. What they found was that an immigrant could increase their earnings by an astonishing 141% by adopting a more local-sounding name. In other words, an immigrant could more than double their earnings potential simply by changing their name! And, interestingly enough, the impact of a name change was more pronounced for women than men. The general assumption by the local populace is that the name change is due to marriage to a local husband. According to the authors, this provides further proof “than individuals are treated differently depending on their name”.
The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all examples of countries founded by immigrants. Most immigrants were motivated by a desire to lead a better life for themselves and their families. A cornerstone of living a good life is to have a good job. For genealogy, this study validates the notion that immigrants will change their name to help them improve their life prospects.
Categories: [March 2009] [migration] [family issues] [US] [Canada] [Asia/Oceania]