[alfa] Re: Zippo Alfa content (ZAC), but reopening a few recent threads

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's altogether probable that many people took the name of where they 
are from when they emigrate. My family name is Graves - a prominent 
wine-growing region in France, for instance. My people are mostly 
Norman, so originally the name could have been De Graves, meaning 'of 
or from Graves region'. There is a scene in the movie "Godfather II" 
where we see a young Vito Andolini from Sicily entering Ellis Island. 
The official asked the boy his name and he replied "Vito Andolini a 
Corleone", meaning Vito Andolini from Corleone. The official didn't 
understand, and wrote "Corleone" on the boy's paperwork. Thus Vito 
Corleone was born. I suspect that this happened a LOT to immigrants 
coming to the USA.


George




On Nov 30, 2004, at 12:58 PM, alfacybersite wrote:


> The first part is primarily to George Graves. Was it fairly common for 
> people to take the name of a city / town they were from, especially 
> when moving to a very distant locale say in the nineteenth or earlier 
> centuries? There are numerous stories of how last names got mangled at 
> Ellis Island since the people doing the processing couldn't pronounce 
> many of the names, so they just shortened them, or...?
>
> I believe it was in the 70's but had several Biba relatives visit 
> Czechoslovakia (when it was one country) and tried to look up the 
> family name. They had no problem finding Kovanda's (my grandmother 
> Biba's maiden name) but Biba was a dead end. I was told at the time 
> there "might" be an Egyptian connection. Seemed pretty illogical.
>
> The day after Thanksgiving a fellow and two of his friends stopped by 
> my shop and seeing what I do asked if I could / would restore his 
> Austin Healey. I said yes, but there was a waiting list. When I gave 
> him my business card, he said, "My mother is from Biba Egypt." Oy! Who 
> knew? Biba is still there. Just checked.
>
> Might my grandfather or his parents, etc., have somehow ended up in 
> Czechoslovakia and it was simply easier to go by Biba than their 
> actual last name?
>
> Just the day before had a longish phone call with #1 daughter (and 
> only child on my part) Kyla and lo and behold, she is great with 
> child. The father is Jewish. After the possible Egyptian connection, 
> thought, "Hmm, Jewish father, "possibly" Muslims in the Biba 
> background, not to mention a number of other countries of origin mixed 
> in...the kid sure better have a great sense of humor.
>
> Which leads to (sort of) license plate names: After finding out the 
> news, I used my imitation of Joey Tribinani (of Friends fame) "God, 
> why me?" Actually I congratulated daughter afterwards. Bottom line is 
> I Shall Not be called Grandpa or anything even smacking of the word. I 
> just ain't the type. It is now up to me to come up with a daughter 
> acceptable "title". Would like your input.
> While you can use any number of letters you want, think of it as a 
> license plate problem - for say, an Alfa with a British license plate 
> (I know, the British have no vanity). Oh, yeah, kid will have a middle 
> name of Biba, no matter what the flavor - but no hyphens. Believe one 
> has to be of the landed gentry to include hyphen's. If it's a girl I'm 
> currently going with Dude and Dudette. I had suggested to Kyla - Biba 
> 1 and Biba 2, and we could just shorten it to 1 and 2 like the Bush 
> guys do. She didn't picked up the connection and when I mentioned the 
> George's refer to each other as 41 and 43, she made it Very clear I 
> was Not to use numbers.
> Obviously reply off-digest.
>
> Biba
> Irwindale, CA USA
>
> After just doing a quick edit...what do you think of Oy for me and Vey 
> as a nickname for the kid? I like short, quick names.
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