Immigration Law
Few Immigrants Change Their Names Nowadays, Lawyer Says
In the 19th and 20th centuries, immigrants often changed their names after arriving in America.
No more. The New York Times checked out more than 500 applications for name changes filed in June at New York’s civil court, and only about a half dozen appeared to be an attempt to adopt American-sounding names. Several people dropped the name Mohammed, however, and one couple changed their last name from Islam to Khan.
Cheryl David, former chair of the New York chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, noted the trend. “For the most part, nobody changes to American names any more at all,” she told the Times.
