8 comments on “Dugongs and Manatees”

    2. Having a commonly misspelled surname, I can relate. In the case of my surname, it was a mistake on Ellis Island which saddled me with a patronymic surname that most people simply cannot spell, or more correctly, that most people pay inadequate attention to, and misspell.

      Upon research, I found my great grandfather’s actual name (which sounds like a super-villain from a James Bond movie) but as it turns out, no one would be able to spell that name either.

    3. My grandfather had his name changed by whoever was filing out the papers. That individual changed the first letter of his last name to a Y from an I, saying it would be easier for Americans. Many people thought my grandfather was Polish, not Italian because of that.

    4. In my case, my grandfather was apparently asked his name and he answered with the common Scandinavian practice of identifying himself as being the son his father’s given name. It’s a shame, because the actual family name was somewhat known and respected in his homeland, so we lost that continuity. As I said, my great grandfather’s name sounded like a supervillain in a Bond flick and reverting to that would actually make matters worse. But, in the meantime, I’ve had business cards I had to have corrected and had to put my foot down when usernames were created at jobs with my name misspelled. It happens with sickening regularity. Apparently, some people think that they are doing me a favor by “correcting” the spelling.

      It’s somewhat lost, in the melting pot of the US, but names have meaning. Years ago, I visited a doctor Parseghian. He explained that it was Armenian, and that it meant “son of Parsegh”. More interestingly, it turned out that he was not the son of Parsegh, but the son of Ara, as in Ara Parseghianm the famed football coach at Notre Dame. Talk about a name with meaning.

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