I suspect it is the old handwriting more than the pronunciations making transcription difficult. There have been numerous suggestions that the stories we fondly believe about changes of names at the receiving stations are actually not true. An example of reading old writing is illustrated by the fact that one entry for my family indicates Aruba (great place, but Curacao is nicer) rather than Austria for my family's country of origin <smile>. I am well aware that by 1870 my family already had adopted an Americanization of their Bohemian surnames (incredibly, my paternal and maternal lines BOTH changed their names to American versions/translations of the Czech "words"). Those names stuck but it was strictly their own doing. Elaine Researching Slepicka a/k/a Chicken and Hruska a/k/a Pear Hello Mrbkdb112 On Tuesday, March 30, 2004, you wrote > Woody, the biggest reason for information being wrong on the passenger lists > is that our ancestors did not speak English, so even if they were asked to > spell the name it didn't help. Also, the pronunciation would sound different, so > I can understand why there were mistakes. I'm amazed that the surname stayed > the same in my case. > Millie