WHAT’S IN A NAME?

In 1938 I was on my way from London to New York and, on board ship, shared a cabin with a Jewish man from Chicago. When he heard that I was planning to change my name from Kirchheimer to Kirk, he warned me against it. I remember that he said, “Call yourself Kirch or something else if you want, but not Kirk – that’s misleading”

He was of course right: for many years while giving my name over the telephone, I’d often be taken for a Scot. For instance, giving my name as Kirk when in Los Angeles telephoning for an apartment for my parents, I was told to come and see it. When people there recognized that this Kirk was probably not a Scot but a Jew, a number of them said, “Sorry, our place has just been rented.”

 ……….. Yes, Los Angeles had lots of antisemitic people at that time!