Follow
Some immigrants who come through Ellis Island in the 1920s arrived with ethnic surnames that were difficult to pronounce and spell in America. Some of these names were dropped at immigration registration and a very different and more pronounceable surname was either chosen or assigned. Saporchnik -- 'shoemaker' in Polish -- became "Rosenfeld" for my grandfather and "Rosenfield" in 1922 for my grandmother and father, who was 10.