Our images of name changing are frequently clichés: movie stars who adopted new names or Ellis Island officials who changed immigrants’ names.

Kirsten Fermaglich, Professor of History and Jewish Studies at Michigan State University, upends these clichés by examining previously unexplored name change petitions.

In twentieth-century New York City, thousands of ordinary Jews legally changed their names to respond to institutionalized antisemitism. While name changing allowed Jewish families to achieve middle-class status, the practice also became a source of family pain and community stigma.