general info on Americanization of names

[Donaldson1774]

AS far back as I can go, our name has always been Donaldson. The earliest reference states John Donaldson, a Scot, came to American from Northern Ireland in 1774. Seeing as this was before the revolution and long before the states had an immigration service where so many names were changed, is it more likely that John began his trip as a MacDonald or that he was Donaldson before he left Ireland? Jumping the Atlantic is going to be a 'needle in a haystack' search as it is, so I'd like to follow the most likely path first. Thank you.

[Polwarth]

Originally posted by Donaldson1774
AS far back as I can go, our name has always been Donaldson. The earliest reference states John Donaldson, a Scot, came to American from Northern Ireland in 1774. Seeing as this was before the revolution and long before the states had an immigration service where so many names were changed, is it more likely that John began his trip as a MacDonald or that he was Donaldson before he left Ireland? Jumping the Atlantic is going to be a 'needle in a haystack' search as it is, so I'd like to follow the most likely path first. Thank you.

As Donaldson is just the English version of MacDonald - I suppose it is possible that your ancestor changed the name himself - but whether that was before or after he moved to the USA is a mystery that only your research would be able to tell!

When you have found his port of entry to the USA, then you might be able to work out from passenger list information if indeed he had changed his name during the journey from Ireland, or before. People who emigrated often travelled in family groups - so there may be clues to be gleaned from the names of fellow passengers.

Good luck with your research - it must be so hard for so many of you to make the leap over the pond. I'm lucky, my relatives are buried no more than 150+ miles from my home town - and many of them are buried in the local churchyards!