- This article or section should be merged with anglicisation
Anglicized or anglicised refers to foreign words, often surnames, that are changed from a foreign language into English.
During the influx of large numbers of immigrants from Europe to the United States and Great Britain during the 19th and 20th centuries, the names of immigrants were changed. This was either by officials entering their names into immigration records or by the immigrants themselves to make their names more accessible to their new American or British neighbours.
One such example of an anglicized name would be the case of Jochaim Grün. Grün is the German word for Green. Grün lived in Luxembourg during the early 18th century. When his descendants moved to the United States in the mid 19th century, the family name was anglicized from Grün to the current form of Green [example from personal genealogy].
The first or given name is also subject to being anglicized. For instance, a common change that was made by men emigrating from Europe was to change Johann to John [example from personal genealogy]. An example from fiction occurs in the 1987 movie The Untouchables where one of the characters anglicized his name from Giuseppe to George in order to assimilate into American society. First name changes are less common today for Europeans coming to the United States than they are for people originating in Asian countries. For instance, Xiangyun might be anglicized to Sean [example from personal communication].
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