Read the text below. I was born Gudrun Hildebrandt and married Moller, Mr. Moller, who was from Denmark. He immigrated here many years later and we met in New York. However when I started school in Chicago, where I grew up, needless to say, first of all, I couldn't speak a word of English, and I was the only child in the school that couldn't speak English. And (she laughs) it wasn't too happy the first couple of years but my mama said "Take heart because some day you're going to be able to speak two languages and all the ones that were teasing you will speak only one." And it was true. She was always right. So, my teacher suggested, since none of the children could pronounce Gudrun, which is an old Germanic-Scandinavian name, and a very beautiful name (I hear), she gave me a list of girls' names to choose from. So that all the kids could converse, you know, know what to call me. So I picked the name starting with a g, as with my name, and it was Gertrude. I'm not very happy with it, but it has stuck with me all of these years.

—"Gertrude Remembers Changing Her Name,"
Ellis Island Oral History Project,
National Park Service: Ellis Island

Use the drop-down menus to choose where you would find an answer.

How does the speaker feel about speaking a different language later in life?

How might the speaker have felt living in a new country with an unfamiliar language?

How many other immigrants changed their names once they arrived in the US?-