It is my understanding that many European Jews had no fixed patronymics. They were using the traditional system of using the given name of his/her father: Samuel ben Jacob or Sarah bar Jabob would be the children of Jacob. Samuel's son would be "ben Samuel." Napoleon as part of his decrees across the empire in the early nineteenth-century imposed a system of fixed patronymics. Poland instituted official fixed state names in 1821 and Russia in 1844. People chose a range of arbitrary names--their village, natural objects (rose, stone, mountain) for registration with the state, while thinking of the traditional naming system as their real name. Therefore, several generations later, they arrived at Ellis Island, once more they had to formally register with the state, and chose some other symbolic name--for instance, "Eagle" or willingly Anglicized their former state name. Their "real" name remained the same. Cheers, Trish