Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

Presidential hopeful John Kerry's grandfather was born to a Jewish
family in a small town in the Czech Republic as *Fritz Kohn*.  He
changed his name to *Frederick Kerry* in 1902 and immigrated to the
United States in 1905. (Source: a Brandeis-U-linked page.)

Something's wrong here.  First, in 1902 there was no "Czech Republic,"
not even  "Czechoslovakia."  That area consisted of the four
Austro-Hungarian provinces Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and Ruthenia and
in 1918 became "Czechoslovakia."  On January 1, 1993, the "Czech
Republic" was born, now separated from Slovakia.  Thus Fritz was born in
Bohemia or Moravia, the Czech areas of the former "Czechoslovakia" and
future "Czech Republic."

Second, his name change to *Frederick Kerry* could not have taken place
in Bohemia or Moravia in 1902.  The Austrian bureaucrats who ran these
provinces would not allow a citizen to change his name to an
English-(Irish-)sounding name.  Something ain't quite kosher here.