Hi Jan, The short answer is yes, anyone can/could call themselves anything as long as it wasn't to defraud. The longer answer is your case is a little bit strange in that they seem to have gone back to using MAGINSKY in 1911 census. Usually a family would change their name and stick with it (often to try to fit in especially in times of conflict if your name sounded particularly foreign). I have looked at the 1891 census (MAGINSKI), the 1901 census (Joseph) and the 1911 census (MAGINSKY). From this I conclude that Rachel Annie always went by the name Annie. I think the most likely thing in 1901 was that the name was confused by the enumerator. With Joseph being both a first name and surname I suspect Joseph Isaac MAGINSKI/Y was given as the name but when it came to copying up either the MAGINSKY or was not clear/forgotten etc and that the enumerator just wrote Isaac Joseph and then gave everyone else a ditto for Joseph making it the family name. I think these are definitely yours BTW-much too close and with no other possible matches it must be your family. So, simply put I think it is more enumerator error than a case of them deliberately using another surname/changing their name. The name MAGINSKY/I continued to be used into the 30s and beyond-even during WW2 I have no proof they stopped using it. HTH Best wishes, Sherry Landa (23170 Viersat, France) On 07/08/2012, Jan <jangro@pacbell.net> wrote: > >> According to information I have, Joseph Isaac MAGINSKY was married to >> Rachel Annie JOSEPH and they had several children. When working with a >> major online genealogy website I keep coming across an 1901 English >> census >> showing Isaac Joseph and Annie Joseph having children named Sara, >> Barnard, >> Dora, Morris, Rubin ... the same names (or close enough) as Joseph and >> Rachel Maginsky's children. Do you know if it is possible that at some >> point, for some reason, the family chose to go by the mother's maiden >> name >> and the mother and father (Joseph and Rachel) chose to use their middle >> names? > > Jan Groshan > USA - California > > Our website is at > www.british-jewry.org.uk > We update regularly. Let us know if you have ideas to offer. > > British-Jewry-admin@rootsweb.com is the address to use for help. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRITISH-JEWRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

I love these tales of "administrative error"....this is a very real possibility that we often forget to take into account, when looking for information that's sometimes so hard to find. A MISTAKE! I actually have one of those in my family, where someone naturalizing on the same date that my grandfather naturalized wanted to change his name. Part of this information crept onto my grandfather's papers and puzzled me mightily until quite recently, when it turned out that indeed it WAS "a big judicial OOPS". Martha Schecter Forsyth Newtion, MA USA Jewish Admin <Jewish@slanda.fsnet.co.uk> 8/7/2012 4:08 AM: > Hi Jan, > > < snip! > So, simply put I think > it is more enumerator error than a case of them deliberately using > another surname/changing their name. The name MAGINSKY/I continued to > be used into the 30s and beyond-even during WW2 I have no proof they > stopped using it. > > HTH > > Best wishes, > > Sherry Landa (23170 Viersat, France) > > On 07/08/2012, Jan <jangro@pacbell.net> wrote: >>> According to information I have, Joseph Isaac MAGINSKY was married to >>> Rachel Annie JOSEPH and they had several children. When working with a >>> major online genealogy website I keep coming across an 1901 English >>> census showing Isaac Joseph and Annie Joseph having children named Sara, >>> Barnard, Dora, Morris, Rubin ... the same names (or close enough) as Joseph and >>> Rachel Maginsky's children. Do you know if it is possible that at some >>> point, for some reason, the family chose to go by the mother's maiden >>> name and the mother and father (Joseph and Rachel) chose to use their middle >>> names? >> Jan Groshan >> USA - California >>