Last Name Basis

Did you know Ellis Island never changed a single immigrant's last name? The clerks never even wrote names down. …We looked into it.

Welcome to Valid Source? The podcast where we investigate the internet myths, viral claims, and trending gossip you've been thinking about but haven't had time to research. We're not experts. We're just two friends willing to do the extra digging.

This episode: Ashley comes back from the beach with vacation brain, and a stranger's question about Harley's ethnicity sends us down our biggest rabbit hole yet. Where do last names actually come from? We break down the four buckets every last name on Earth falls into, then take apart the Ellis Island name-change myth, so stop blaming them (and The Godfather Part II). We get into the heavier history of the names freed people chose for themselves after emancipation.

Then Ashley spills everything she learned from a Netflix documentary about Thomas Jefferson, we connect Kim Kardashian and Lewis Hamilton's new relationship back to last names, because of course we did, and we wrap with the Blake Lively legal saga, Jimothy the so-called Seattle cryptid, and the no-eyelash trend we are pretty sure we started. Valid Source? verdict on the Ellis Island name-change story: never happened, your family's name got butchered somewhere, just not there.

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Opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts and do not reflect any affiliated companies, employers, or sponsors. Valid Source? is for entertainment and informational purposes only, nothing here constitutes professional legal, medical, or financial advice, and should not be acted on as such. We actively welcome listener feedback, corrections, and differing perspectives. We reserve the right to change our minds, that's kind of the whole point.