Immigration Records and "Real" Names

[KathMc]

I am not sure where to start with this. I am trying to determine the original name of one of my branches. They were Russian Jews and spent a few years in England around the mid 1890s before coming to America. By the time they hit England, they were Stahl. My husband recalls someone saying it was very very different than Stahl, and his brother thinks he heard Stahl is a shortened version of what it could have been.

I was wondering if there are immigration records that might state what their real name was and what they changed to. I really have no idea where to start with this, and no living relative seems to remember what it could possibly have been.

Kath

[Berlin-Bob]

Sorry, no immigration records for Britain.  Best chance is nationalisation papers, but if they were only here for a few years they probably didn't bother.

How about in America, did they get nationalised there ??
The nat. papers might say a bit more about previous names.

STAHL (fairly common name in Germany) is german for steel, if that's any help

Bob

[murphy60]

Kath,  have you been to this site ??   Go to "Jewish Names" header


http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/faq.html

Only quickly looked at this site --  so dont know how good it really is  ---  will look some more

[KathMc]

Bob,

Thanks. That's what I was afraid of. By the time they hit America, they were firmly Stahls. I have their immigration records and naturalization for Harris Stahl. And there is no original name. And we did know the origins of Stahl. We do know the family was originally from Odessa, or that is the rumor, and aren't sure why they went with a German name. I honestly haven't delved much into this branch yet, mainly because I've been a bit intimidated with the whole name change stuff.

Kath

[KathMc]

Thanks Lissa. I hadn't seen that site. I will have to take a look around it and see what I come up with. I also think I need to do some research on Odessa. The rumor was that Harris's family were in the shipping business. I wonder if I can do research on Russian Jewish shipping companies in the late 1800s. Hmmm.

Kath

[aghadowey]

Kath- many German families moved to Russia from the time of Catherine the Great (or perhaps earlier). Some of my relatives were what is known as Volga Germans (Germans that moved to that area of Russia) and they kept their German names and their German language.

Maybe the Stahls were originally German and went to Odessa for economic reasons.

Here's a bit of reading to start with. A bit later than you're looking for but will give you an idea of how important Odessa was:
www.rootschat.com/links/03xq

[KathMc]

Thanks Lissa. I'll have to take a look at that. I now recall hearing that a couple years ago also. In fact, I think we have one of my husband's branches that we know did that. So maybe the Stahls, also. It might make it easier to find them in Odessa if that is the case.

OK, now I really am going to help my daughter pack. 

[aghadowey]

My Volga German connection stayed in Russia for many years and then started leaving for the U.S. (not sure why) in 1890s, settling mainly in the midwest.
Aghadowey (not Lissa)

[murphy60]

Aghadowey,  I'm sure Kath was just in a rush to respond