Surnames

Episode notes

Alex Schmidt is joined by comedy writer/podcaster Andrew Ti (‘Yo, Is This Racist?’, Sub-Optimal Pods) for a look at why surnames are secretly incredibly fascinating.

Visit http://sifpod.fun/ for research sources, handy links, and this week’s bonus episode

LINKS FOR THE GUESTS:

• Sub-Optimal Podcasts
• See Andrew Ti and Tawny Newsome LIVE in Brooklyn this coming Saturday, September 10th! Here’s the link for tickets.
• Andrew Ti on Twitter

RESOURCES USED TO INFORM THE EPISODE’S LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

• native-land.ca
• U.S. Department Of Arts And Culture
• The True Native New Yorkers Can Never Truly Reclaim Their Homeland (Smithsonian)
• Mapping Manahatta: 10 Lenape sites in New York City (6sqft)

RESEARCH SOURCES:

• Why 1.2 billion people share the same 100 surnames in China (CNN)
• The Geographic Distribution of China’s Last Names, in Maps (The Atlantic)
• TVTropes.org page for Judge Dee
• examples of Fraktur font, from Typewolf.com
• The Penguin Dictionary of British Surnames by John Titford
• What’s In a Name? Your Link to the Past (BBC History)
• Hispanic Surnames and Family History by Lyman D. Platt
• SBS Cultural Atlas: Mexican Culture: Naming
• Andrés Manuel López Obrador, president of Mexico (Britannica)
• Abreu owes ‘absolutely everything’ to devoted mother (MLB.com)
• SBS Cultural Atlas: Russian Culture: Naming
• Vladimir Putin, president of Russia (Britannica)
• IDMb biography of Milena Markovna “Mila” Kunis
• SBS Cultural Atlas: Egyptian Culture: Naming
• blog post by Jayson Casper: “Why Egyptians Get Confused by Our American Children’s Names” — this is an additional anecdotal example of Egyptian naming conventions today.
• Dear Mona, What’s The Most Common Name In America? (FiveThirtyEight)
• Why Aren’t There More John Smiths in the U.S.? (Slate)
• Did Ellis Island Officials Really Change the Names of Immigrants? (Smithsonian Magazine)
• GovDocs to the Rescue! Debunking an Immigration Myth (American Library Association)
• How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history (Pew Research Center)
• Wall Street Journal story from 2002: “Half-Brother of Osama bin Laden Plans Line of ‘Bin Ladin’ Clothing”
• British royal family change their name to Windsor – archive 1917: One hundred years ago, King George V changed the name of the British royal family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor (The Guardian)
• YouTube upload of Ellis Island scenes in The Godfather Part II (1974)
• YouTube upload of name change scene in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)