Isn't Matt technically wrong about his name?

Khodro

It was common to change a foreign name to something Native speakers would more easily understand.

Or sometimes the person checking in people that came in from another country jost wrote something down without caring because they just did not care and they had to precess a lot of people.


Also: His name is not even German. His name comes from a Dutch city called Groningen. Not far from the German border.

MrJuanMata

Khodro

eliansukke180 wrote:

It was common to change a foreign name to something Native speakers would more easily understand.

Or sometimes the person checking in people that came in from another country jost wrote something down without caring because they just did not care and they had to precess a lot of people.


Also: His name is not even German. His name comes from a Dutch city called Groningen. Not far from the German border.

I did a Google search for Gröning and there seems to have been many Germans with that name.

mr_skeltal_80

Khodro wrote:

eliansukke180 wrote:

It was common to change a foreign name to something Native speakers would more easily understand.

Or sometimes the person checking in people that came in from another country jost wrote something down without caring because they just did not care and they had to precess a lot of people.


Also: His name is not even German. His name comes from a Dutch city called Groningen. Not far from the German border.

I did a Google search for Gröning and there seems to have been many Germans with that name.

Just like many Germans have polish or French names. And many Dutch people have German names.
Europe has not always looked like it did now and people have spoken many different languages.
Trust me, Matt is German but his name comes from the Dutch city of Groningen.

annettemarc

eliansukke180 wrote:

Or sometimes the person checking in people that came in from another country jost wrote something down without caring because they just did not care and they had to precess a lot of people.

You're DEFINITELY right --
As she walked into the Ellis Island intake area, Joe's grandmother's name was Angelina Vincetta Frattarola Siclare. When she came out the other end of the building, she was Mary Wells.

We don't ask.

As for the number of people coming through -- the top number was on April 17, 1907 ... 11,747 people came through on that one day. 1.25 million people were processed that year. That's an average of 3,424 per day. I don't know if that's the year she came over, but it was sometime right in that zone. She's probably lucky she got a name AT ALL.

Just sayin'

Khodro

eliansukke180 wrote:

Khodro wrote:

eliansukke180 wrote:

It was common to change a foreign name to something Native speakers would more easily understand.

Or sometimes the person checking in people that came in from another country jost wrote something down without caring because they just did not care and they had to precess a lot of people.


Also: His name is not even German. His name comes from a Dutch city called Groningen. Not far from the German border.

I did a Google search for Gröning and there seems to have been many Germans with that name.

Just like many Germans have polish or French names. And many Dutch people have German names.
Europe has not always looked like it did now and people have spoken many different languages.
Trust me, Matt is German but his name comes from the Dutch city of Groningen.

I see. Well then the Germans must have adopted it from the Dutch and added the ö themselves. Since Matt's heritage is German then I guess
It's safe to assume that:

Groening (USA) -> Gröning (German) -> Groening (Dutch)

So from a German viewpoint, he is pronouncing his name wrong.

mr_skeltal_80

Khodro wrote:

eliansukke180 wrote:

Khodro wrote:

eliansukke180 wrote:

It was common to change a foreign name to something Native speakers would more easily understand.

Or sometimes the person checking in people that came in from another country jost wrote something down without caring because they just did not care and they had to precess a lot of people.


Also: His name is not even German. His name comes from a Dutch city called Groningen. Not far from the German border.

I did a Google search for Gröning and there seems to have been many Germans with that name.

Just like many Germans have polish or French names. And many Dutch people have German names.
Europe has not always looked like it did now and people have spoken many different languages.
Trust me, Matt is German but his name comes from the Dutch city of Groningen.

I see. Well then the Germans must have adopted it from the Dutch and added the ö themselves. Since Matt's heritage is German then I guess
It's safe to assume that:

Groening (USA) -> Gröning (German) -> Groening (Dutch)

So from a German viewpoint, he is pronouncing his name wrong.

Yep. And from a Dutch viewpoint ( we started the whole name :P ) the Germans are pronouncing it wrong!

mr_skeltal_80

annettemarc wrote:

eliansukke180 wrote:

Or sometimes the person checking in people that came in from another country jost wrote something down without caring because they just did not care and they had to precess a lot of people.

You're DEFINITELY right --
As she walked into the Ellis Island intake area, Joe's grandmother's name was Angelina Vincetta Frattarola Siclare. When she came out the other end of the building, she was Mary Wells.

We don't ask.

As for the number of people coming through -- the top number was on April 17, 1907 ... 11,747 people came through on that one day. 1.25 million people were processed that year. That's an average of 3,424 per day. I don't know if that's the year she came over, but it was sometime right in that zone. She's probably lucky she got a name AT ALL.

Just sayin'

Exactly. Those are a lot of people. :shock:

And consider that there were people coming in that already had names that had been adapted to another language. We have a lot of people with lastnames that are Ducth but can be traced back to France, Spain, Germany etc. etc.

urlaub694

Khodro wrote:

So Matt's dad is German American, so his surname Groening is a German name, and the "oe" is a transliteration of the umlaut letter "ö" so the root is "Gröning".

Anybody who has taken German classes before would know that the "ö" sounds nothing like "GRAY-ning".

Yeah, Groening, Gröning, Grayning. Don't care. It's funny when people try to pronoumce Ä and Ö XD They just don't know how to :P