place. John Smith may be No. 49 in Black’s shop and No. 375 in White’s shop, but he is always John Smith. So the Jew may be Simon son of Benjamin in the privacy of the Jewish circle, while to the world he may be Mortimer Alexander.
In the United States it is hardly to be doubted that business and social reasons are mostly responsible for the changes in Jewish names. The designation “American” is itself much coveted, as may be gathered by its frequent use in firm names, the members of which are not American in any sense that entitles them to blazon that name throughout the world.
When Moses is changed to Mortimer, and Nathan to Norton, and Isadore to Irving (as for example, Irving Berlin, whose relatives, however, still know him as “Izzy”), the concealment of Jewishness in a country where so much is done by print, must be regarded as a probable motive.
When “Mr. Lee Jackson” is proposed for the club there would seem to be no reason, as far as reading goes, why anything unusual about Mr. Jackson should be surmised, until you know that Mr. Jackson is really Mr. Jacobs. Jackson happens to be the name of a President of the United States, which names are quite in favor with the name-changers, but in this case it happens also to be one of the “derivatives” of an old Jewish name.
The Jewish Encyclopedia contains interesting information on this matter of derivatives.
Asher is shaded off into Archer, Ansell, Asherson.
Baruch is touched up into Benedict, Beniton, Berthold.
Benjamin becomes Lopez, Seef, Wolf (this is translation).
David becomes Davis, Davison, Davies, Davidson.
Isaac becomes Sachs, Saxe, Sace, Seckel.