Why Did Our Ancestors Change Their Names

When we think of tracing our family tree, we often envision following our family surname back thousands of years to the first bearer of the name. In our neat and tidy scenario, each successive generation bears the same surname - spelled exactly the same way in each and every record - until we reach the dawn of man. In reality, however, the last name we bear today may have existed in its present form for only a few generations. For the majority of human existence, people were identified only by a single name. Hereditary surnames (a surname passed down from a father to his children) were not in common use in the British Isles prior to about the fourteenth century. Patronymic naming practices, in which a childs surname was formed from the given name of his father, were in use throughout much of Scandinavia well into the 19th century—resulting in each generation of a family bearing a different last name. Why Did Our Ancestors Change Their Names? Tracing our ancestors back to the point where they first acquired surnames can also be a challenge as a names spelling and pronunciation may have evolved over centuries. This makes it unlikely that our present family surname is the same as the original surname bestowed on our long distant ancestor. The current family surname may be a slight spelling variation of the original name, an anglicized version, or even a completely different surname.   Illiteracy  - The further back we take our research, the more likely we are to encounter ancestors who couldnt read and write. Many didnt even know how their own names were spelled, only how to pronounce them. When they gave their names to clerks, census enumerators, clergymen, or other officials, that person wrote the name the way that it sounded to him. Even if our ancestor did have the spelling memorized, the person recording the information may not have bothered to ask how it should be spelled. Example:  The German HEYER has become HYER, HIER, HIRE, HIRES, HIERS, etc. Simplification  - Immigrants, upon arrival in a new country, often found that their name was difficult for others to spell or pronounce. In order to better fit in, many chose to simplify the spelling or otherwise alter their name to relate it more closely to the language and pronunciations of their new country. Example:  Yhe German ALBRECHT becomes ALBRIGHT, or the Swedish JONSSON becomes JOHNSON. Necessity - Immigrants from countries with alphabets other than Latin had to transliterate them, producing many variations on the same name. Example:  The Ukranian surname ZHADKOWSKYI became ZADKOWSKI. Mispronunciation  - Letters within a surname were often confused due to verbal miscommunication or heavy accents. Example: Depending upon the accents of both the person speaking the name and the person writing it down, KROEBER could become GROVER or CROWER. Desire to Fit In - Many immigrants changed their names in some way to assimilate into their new country and culture. A common choice was to translate the meaning of their surname into the new language. Example:  The Irish surname BREHONY became JUDGE. Desire to Break with the Past - Emigration was sometimes prompted in one way or another by a desire to break with or escape the past. For some immigrants, this included ridding themselves of anything, including their name, which reminded them of an unhappy life in the old country. Example: Mexicans fleeing to America to escape the revolution often changed their name. Dislike of Surname - People forced by governments to adopt surnames which were not a part of their culture or were not of their choosing would often shed themselves of such names at the first opportunity. Example: Armenians forced by the Turkish government to give up their traditional surnames and adopt new Turkish surnames would revert back to their original surnames, or some variation, upon emigration/escape from Turkey. Fear of Discrimination - Surname changes and modifications can sometimes be attributed to a desire to conceal nationality or religious orientation in fear of reprisal or discrimination. This motive constantly appears among the Jews, who often faced anti-Semitism. Example: The Jewish surname COHEN was often changed to COHN or KAHN, or the name WOLFSHEIMER shortened to WOLF. Could the Name Have Been Changed at Ellis Island? Stories of immigrants fresh off the boat having their names changed by overzealous immigration officials at Ellis Island are prevalent in many families. This is almost certainly no more than a story, however. Despite the long-standing myth, names were not actually changed at Ellis Island. Immigration officials only checked the people passing through the island against the records of the ship on which they arrived—records which were created at the time of departure, not arrival.

Different Ways Nonverbal Communication Is Expressed,...

Communication is defined as the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to exchange information or to express ideas, thoughts, or feelings, to someone else (Mehrabian, 1977). According to this definition, communication is not limited to verbal exchanges. Each participant of a conversation is presented with verbal responses as well as the unspoken gestures and expressions of the respondent. There are many different ways nonverbal communication is expressed, examples are: facial expression, eye contact, and body language (Weitz). Each type of nonverbal communication is shown through visible aspects which allow the recipient to interpret or decode the message. Nonverbal communication is conveyed in various ways depending on†¦show more content†¦At this stage in a child’s life, communication must be conveyed nonverbally through behavioral synchrony, gentle touch, soft voice, gazing, and smiling (Schachner, Shaver, Mikulincer). Infants are able to expre ss feelings, attitudes, and needs through nonverbal communication. The amount of positive attachment a caregiver gives to the child will directly affect the child’s ability to convey their emotions nonverbally as adults. The child seeks physical contact and moderate amounts of proximity, and in turn the caregiver’s gestures and expressions are impressed upon the child. When a child is punished, they learn through nonverbal reprimanding that they have done wrong. In the future, to avoid such scolding, the child will refrain from recommitting the offense. Learned childhood traits are not the only effective factor of nonverbal communication. As mentioned earlier, â€Å"one person’s emotion security, or expression, depends on another person’s responsive support and caregiving† (Schachner, Shaver, Mikulincer). For someone to effectively express their emotions, the recipient must understand, or decode, the message. The person expressing their emotions, the encoder, must correcting emit and accurate nonverbal message in such a way that the receiver may perceive the message in order to understand and respond appropriately (Bugental). Relationships partners become more

How to Write a Lab Report free essay sample

How to write a lab report Let’s take as an example a free-fall experiment. You drop a small steel ball from various heights and use an electronic timer to measure how long it takes the ball to hit the ground. From this you calculate the final speed of the ball using v = 2x/t. You believe that the ball will have a constant acceleration of â€Å"g,† 9. 8 m/s2. This will be seen if you graph velocity vs. time and get a straight line with a slope of 9. 8. You end up with a table of data giving distances and fall times and a graph of v(t). Audience Before you start writing, you have to know what audience you’re writing for. You are writing for a fellow student who has not done this lab. You will assume he has about the same knowledge of physics as you do. You need to give him enough information to do the following: †¢Understand what you are trying to accomplish and how. †¢Evaluate how accurate and reliable your measurements are. †¢Evaluate the results of the experiment. †¢Reproduce the experiment himself. Format Now you have to write the report. The report will always have the same format with four sections (for physics 111 and physics 120/125) or five sections (for physics 185/280/285). Each section should be labeled exactly as shown below. A lab report should be as brief as possible without leaving out anything important. Use complete sentences and the best spelling and grammar you can. Section 1: Theory Describe the purpose of the lab. This may be one or more of three things: †¢You are trying to prove a theory. In our case we’re trying to show that the acceleration of a body in free-fall is constant. †¢You are examining a relationship. This is what you do if you don’t have a theory. For example if you measure the time it takes a pendulum to make one swing as you vary the size of the swing, but without having a theory or formula that allows you to make a prediction in advance. You are measuring a quantity, for example the acceleration of gravity. Also give the following: †¢Describe any simplifying assumptions you are making, such as no air resistance or no friction. †¢Give the equations you are using to analyze the data. For our experiment, we are measuring distance x and time t. From kinematics we derive the equation , from which we will get a. This section will usually be brief. Section 2: Procedure You will describe three things in this section: †¢Any equipment you used to make measurements (meter sticks, stopwatches, etc. ). This is important so the reader can get an idea of how accurate your experiment is. For our experiment we used an electronic timer and a meter stick. †¢The procedures you used. Don’t go into too much detail. This section should be brief. A drawing may be useful here. †¢Any numbers you determine before starting. This could include weights, dimensions, temperature or any other fixed quantity. Here we might write that we used a steel ball about 1cm in diameter. †¢The range of any independent variables. These are quantities you select yourself. For example, for our experiment, you might say â€Å"The height ranged from 10 cm to 40 cm. Don’t put any values for the time or speed here, since these are quantities you measured experimentally: you didn’t know them in advance. Section 3: Results There are three things that are commonly found in this section: †¢The range of measured values. From our example of dropping a ball, you would list the range of times speeds you measured in this section: â€Å"The fall time ranged from 0. 14s to 0. 27s. The calculated speeds ranged from 1. 4 m/s to 3. 0 m/s. † †¢Descriptions of any trends in the data. Did the data fit a straight line, or some other kind of curve? Give the equations for any computer fit lines. If the data is supposed to be linear, use your eye to judge whether it really fits a straight line or if it curves. (Note: If the data fits a straight line and the line passes near the origin, you can say the quantities being graphed appear to be directly proportional. ) †¢Comparisons of measured values with expectations or theoretical values. For example â€Å"Our measured value for â€Å"a† was 7. 7 m/s2, compared with the book value g = 9. 8 m/s2, a 22% difference. † There shouldn’t be anything controversial in this section. Anything that involves an interpretation or speculation should go in the next section. Section 4: Conclusions If you were trying to prove something, did you? How well does your data support the theory? There are three common answers responses to these questions: If your data matched the theory, the answer is yes. This means that you results matched the expected results within the limits of uncertainty of the experiment. It means that any trends you observed were as expected. Sometimes the data does not support the theory. If this is the case, be clear about how. For example, â€Å"The data showed a direct proportion between speed and time, but the acceleration value we obtained was 22% below the theoretical value. † Finally, you may get data that supports your theory within a certain range of values but deviates from it outside this range. For example, â€Å"The graph of v vs. t was a straight line up to a speed of 250 cm/s but curved downwards for higher speeds. † If your theory is not supported by your data, you may speculate on why not. Keep in mind, though, that â€Å"human error† is usually a bad explanation unless you know specifically of something you did incorrectly that you couldn’t fix. Discuss any weaknesses in the experiment and how they might be improved. Section 5: Error Analysis (Physics 185 Only) In this section you discuss the accuracy and validity of your experiment. You will include the handout, which will be different for each set of labs. You need to list any significant sources of uncertainty in the values you measured directly (the raw data). You need to give uncertainty values on the final results. You need to discuss how you might reduce your uncertainties or improve the experiment. For physics 120, there will be no section 5. List any significant sources of experimental uncertainty in section 4.