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[Facts] Re: My friend's weird surname
This is probably a "half-translation" of Morgenstern, the German surname (often Jewish but not always) that means "morning star". There are other examples of "half-translations" or "partial Anglicizations" among Jewish families in the USA. Greenberg and Greenbaum, for example, are from Grünbaum and Grünberg, while Silverberg is from the German or Yiddish Silberberg.
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Yes, and don't forget the somewhat British Battenbergs who became Mountbattens.
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