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As of now there really is no family reunion to describe. I have researched my mother's background for a project I did in an Anthropology class at Boston University. My final paper described the common practice of changing one's name when immigrating to the United States. On my father's side, when coming to New York from Cuba, the children in the family took American names. Arturo became Arthur, Alfredo became Al, Elena became Elaine, and when little George was born in America he was named George rather than the Spanish, Jorge. In addition my father dropped his middle name, Serafin. On my mother's side, they too came to New York, but from Finland. My great Uncle was asked what his surname, Virtanen, meant in English. He responded stream and so he was therefore known as Arnie Stream. My grandmother and Aunt changed the spellings of their first names to more American spellings. Aunt Alice (pronounced Lisa) became Liisa and grandma Merri became Mary.
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