Upon arrival in America, Jews frequently had their names changed. Since many immigration officials were Irish, these Jews often ended up with Irish names. In Russia, Joseph Baum’s brother was called “Elchanan.” He was a small man, less than five feet tall. The immigration official re-named him John L. after John L. Sullivan, a famous Irish prize fighter of the 1800’s. John L. Baum never knew what the L. stood for, but he kept the initial all his life.
Other Jews found it convenient to change their own names. Once, Charlotte noticed an ad for a job much better than the one she had. But she was afraid that if she applied for the new job, her present employer would find out. So she changed her name from Cecilia Roth to Charlotte Rich—she had cousins named Rich—and got the new job. For the rest of her life she kept the name Charlotte, with Rich as her maiden name. But after her death, a great-granddaughter was given her former Russian name, Klara, which had been changed to Cecilia by a first-grade teacher.
A cousin of theirs changed his name from Israel Baum to Iago Burns. Iago became one of New York’s leading physicians, a gastroenterologist. Breaking with Ashkenazi tradition, he named his first-born son after himself, and the boy often had to explain to classmates how to pronounce “Iago.” Everyone in the medical profession knew the name Iago Burns, which was one reason Iago couldn’t understand why his son Iago changed his name to George when he grew up. Iago, Sr. was hurt and dismayed that Iago, Jr. would abandon the name he’d assumed would be passed down from generation to generation.
Later, one of John L.’s sons, Andrew, followed Iago and changed his last name to Burns. Andrew was an academic, a PhD in psychology. Since there were quotas restricting the numbers of Jews who could enter universities or teach in them, he thought he’d have an easier time getting a job as Dr. Burns.
As luck would have it, Andrew’s first interview was with Yeshiva University. The interviewers said, “We don’t care if you’re not Jewish, but if you have any Jewish background, we’d like to know about it.” Andrew proudly told them that his former name was Baum; that his uncle, Joseph Baum, was a founder of HIAS and his father, John L. Baum, was president of HIAS during the war. The interviewers were aghast: “With a family like that, you’d change your name?!” Andrew did not get the job.
Copyright © Leora Freedman 2014
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