Destruction of Ukrainian names on arrival to Canada

[JetSet]

Ukrainetz, Kozak, the list goes on...

When the first waves of immigrants arrived in Canada, the immigration board was very unprepared in the way of understanding Ukrainian language. Therefore a lot of surnames were lost. People legally became Ukrainetz, or Kozak (the two more popular fillers).

My question is: are there any Ukrainians who had their original surname wiped out by the board, and if they have had nay luck finding their proper surnames?

[JetSet]

Check this out; my last name before my family came to Canada was most likely Oleszak!

Weird. It seems thought that there are Ukies that spell their last name Onischuk too. This is rather confusing!

[OpalBabe]

I have an Iwan Kozak who married Julianna. Anyone familiar? I'm in the USA. I've been told by my grandparents years ago that alot of names changed on purpose because they didn't want to be traced to America. They wanted to wipe out their own names actually. My grandfather had 3 brothers who all changed to slightly different last names. Yes, your right, it's very confusing!

[Hannia]

Many Eastern European Surnames had to be transliterated (sounds like) from Cyrillic to Latin Alphabet. The only correct spelling of these surnames is in the original language, using the original alphabet, CYRILLIC.

Why transliteration can be tricky. Using Ukrainian Cyrillic table as example.
Ukrainian Transliteration Table
http://pages.prodigy.net/l.hodges/translit.htm

I would also like to dispel the myth that all these transliterations took place at ports of entry. Most transliterations took place at ports of exit. Immigrants had documents from their homeland, but most were in Cyrillic. Before they boarded the ships in Germany or England, their surnames were transliterated to Latin Alphabet.

In some cases the immigrants themselves decided to change their names after immigration. These immigrants faced a great deal of discrimination and anglicizing their names was a form of self-protection.

PS>KOZAK was/is a very popular surname in Ukraine.

[mom_of_3]

Our family name currently is Kitchur. When my ancestors came here it got changed because it was misspelled or something. I was told our "real" name was Kachur, Kashur or something along those but no one remembers. How do I find out what is was. I would really love to find relatives cause on my dads side there is not much left.

[Hannia]

Surnames were not changed by the immigration authorities. They were transliterated, incorrectly in some cases. Read my previous post.

Did a quick Soundex (sounds like) check. The surname KITCHUR could have been transliterated in a variety of ways. Soundex shows Kitchur/Kirchur/Kitcher/Ketchure/Kirchor and the list goes on. Bare in mind that the only correct spelling of the surname is in it's original language, using the original alphabet.

Who was the first KITCHUR immigrant...approximately when and to what country? Where did he settle? What religion did he practice?

What is the oral tradition?

Start with your family elders. Ask them what they might remember or know about him. However trite the information might seem, make sure to keep all notes.

With a little patience and a lot of digging you can make the connection to surviving relatives that might be out there. Helping you make the connection would be my pleasure.

The very first thing you will need to establish is his place & date of birth. That is always the critical part of any genealogical puzzle.

Get back to me with whatever you can find out and I will provide you with appropriate links for your search.

[mom_of_3]

HI Hannia, i did read your post and i was told that it wasnt a mispronunciation but they just got a totally different name. our name now, KITCHUR is suppose to said "catch her" or "ki-cher". the name we use to have was somelike Kaiser(like the bun). so i dont think mispronunciation was the factor here. My parents dont know much about their parents and there are not or relatives to ask. I found out yesterday that my dads moms maiden name was Makohnik buy I not finding a thing anywhere, its like there is no trace of this family. I know my grandmas was Mary Makohnik and my grandpas name was Jacob Kitchur, these are my dads parents. So if u can help me in any other way, it would sure be appreciated. my email is kippenab@shaw.ca