Someone once told my aunt that people with my last name were Jews chased out of Spain, and then forced to convert to Catholicism when they entered France, and given the name of the town as the surname.

Mom's grandmother's last name remained intact, but they decided on the way over from Ireland that Bridget was far too Irish immigrant sounding or something so they changed it to the much more American sounding Delia. Huh.

None of my ancestors' names got changed at Ellis Island, since they came before that, but I think the Hoovers used to be Hubers and the Fanchers used to be something like Faucher (I'm a distant cousin of the Fanchers who were massacred at the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which is about the best I can do for interesting ancestry). And for some reason some of DH's ancestors decided to change Templeton to Timperley, or maybe it was the other way around.

I can actually look them up at ellisisland.org and view a scan of the manifests.

Isn't that cool? I found a remarkable number of relatives that way, including ancestors who were just visiting.

I think then that his brains decayed after he left the rarefied air of Oakland. Because, he is universally regarded as a joke in Boston.

I dunno about that. The one time I saw Canseco play live in Fenway, he hit three home runs and a double for Texas. The Sox fans weren't laughing at him then.

I think then that his brains decayed after he left the rarefied air of Oakland. Because, he is universally regarded as a joke in Boston.

I think Canseco's (baseball speed and defense) skills decayed sharply in his later career, leading to incidents like the home run bonk. He was a helluva player in his younger days before all the roids and coke and whatever else. I have no real comment on his brains. Maybe he bought into the Bash Brothers hype a bit too much.

My grandmother gave Canseco driving directions once when he was lost in her neighborhood. She said he was a nice young man.

My grandmother gave Canseco driving directions once when he was lost in her neighborhood. She said he was a nice young man.

He offered to hit me. He seemed nice.

I can actually look them up at ellisisland.org and view a scan of the manifests.

I found my great-grandmother that way! My mom has a printout of it, somewhere.

(All four of my maternal great-grandparents were Polish immigrants, but as far as I know their names weren't changed during immigration, either by a clerk or of their own volition.)

I have no idea about any of those things. J's must not pay too much mind to history.