>>Just curious, when a family immigrates in the US or Canada or Argentina or whatever country, do they eventually alter the first name and surname. If so, why and how?
>>
>>I'm asking this, because here in the Netherlands this is currently not the practice. The result is that a lot of immigrants have names that 'we' can hardly or not at all pronounce. A solution I see is that people alter their original name when they immigrate.
>
>Convenience. When I immigrated to the USA 24 years ago I quickly found out they where breaking their teeth (or jaws) trying to properly pronounce 'Alejandro'. So I changed it to 'Alex' a couple of years later. No problems since.

Alex;

What would be wrong with Al? :)

When my wife came from Peru she had a problem with people pronouncing her name which is Enriqueta. At home her nickname is Quety, so I called her Katy. Her drivers license and our checking account all say Enriqueta (Katy) Whiteley. When someone asks her, "What is your name?", she will reply, "Enriqueta Cristina Mendivil- Bojorquez de Whiteley or Katy for short"! :)

Tom