Sarah, I've found that all three of the reasons you give are true according to the various circumstances that are ancestors had to live with or conform to. I live in a largely polish neighborhood in a New York State community. Our City Tax Collector uses both his Polish name and the English work that the name means in translation. In this case the English translation is "Cherry." I have ancestors whose name in some records is the correct "Durbin", other records where it was spelled phonetically such as "Derbin." I've seen names changed because otherwise the name was difficult for English speaking people to prounounce. And we all know what heartaches discrimination because of national or racial backgrounds can cause a family or individual. Ed Durbin Sarah Sall wrote: > > Can any one tell me what the sole purpose was for our ancestors to > always > change there last names? > Was it because of ethnic discrimination? > Or to make the spelling easier? Or was it the people filling out the > forms that just spelled them the way it sounded? > Or all of the above? > > Thanks > Sarah