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My last name is an Americanized version of the Armenian name "Baranian" (although I may be spelling that incorrectly). My dad's dad changed it because he thought it would help him further his career as a court stenographer and band leader (and maybe it worked -- he was pretty successful). This isn't a strange concept; the Irish did similar things during that era of of U.S. immigration. Same goes for the descendants of African slaves.
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