Name changes upon immigration at Ellis Island

Question

I'm trying to help a cousin enter her grandfather's profile.  He was told his name was too long and the officer changed "Augustenion" to "Gus" and shortened the last name from "Jonesapolous" to plain "Jones".  He used "Gus Jones" for his legal name in the United States.  How should this be entered in the name slots in the profile form?

Comments

Thank you for everyone's suggestions.  It was close to what I thought was correct so when she is ready to move the rest of her family onto Wikitree I feel more confident in making suggestions.  We have a great supportive group for solving problems!

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Should the original name be Αυγυστενιον Ιονεσαπολουσ?

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The granddaughter's information is what she was told by her mother's family.  Her correct spelling of the LNAB is not currently available to her without going to records she doesn't have.  We plan on working on this in the fall and I assume she plans on using English for her names.  I am trying to get my ducks in a row before giving her bad advice.  Thankyou for suggesting a situation I never considered.

Answer 1

My belief is that the name on his birth certificate (or a comparable document) should be listed as his first name with his preferred name being entered as "Gus."

Likewise, his Name at Birth should be the one on this document with the "Current Name" being Jones.

Support with birth documentation at "sources" and enter the interesting narrative surrounding this story in biographical materials.Also any naturalization paperwork could be referenced in "sources."

Note to leaders: please correct me if I'm wrong, we do NOT need inaccurate info floating about.

Signed: "This Little Old Reference Librarian " Dorothy C.

Comments

I'm not a leader, but I completely agree with your answer, Dorothy.

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Lacking a readily available "thank you" button, I'll just type the words in. THANK YOU so much!

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Under the changes currently planned, he will normally appear as Augustenion (Jonesapolous) Jones, or occasionally just Augustenion Jones, but hardly ever as Gus.

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Oh, oh.

Anybody else have a relative who changed their name? Raise your hand please….do I see a sea of waving hands? 

"Changes currently planned" translates to "being contemplated" in my thesaurus. 

Which means that someone might want to jump in to tell us how to deal with what has to be a fairly common scenario. Should the "changes currently planned" occur. 

Right-o! 

I'm ready to change. Whenever. Meanwhile...

 

 

 

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Is there another word for "Thesaurus"?  :D