In this way
_La Ramie_, _La Rabie_, _La Reintree_, etc. are now usually spelled Laramie,
Larabie (or, in some instances, Larrabee), Lareintree, etc.; the
pronunciation of the newer form being Americanized in the usual way. But
this change in form is one which might easily have occurred even in
France.
Most of these French and Dutch names have been in the country for a
comparatively long time, and, indeed, many of them date back to the
early colonial period. Like the Spanish-American names of Texas,
California, Florida and Louisiana, to which the same rule generally
applies, they belonged to members of organized foreign communities,
proportionately large enough to preserve their names from a complete
assimilation with the ideas of the English-American population. And in a
lesser degree this is also true of those early German emigrants, mainly
from the Palatinate, who settled in Pennsylvania, Western Maryland and
the Shenandoah Valley.
The tendency at the present day, however, seems to be strongly in favor
of the process mentioned first--that of changing the sound of the names
to suit American ears, and altering the spelling so as to conform to the
new pronunciation. There is every indication that this will be done with
regard to a very large majority of the foreign surnames that have been
introduced among us within the last fifty years, or which may be brought
into our country in the future. And as the changes so made are quite
arbitrary, the result will be that the future student of American
nomenclature will often be sorely puzzled by some of the surnames to
which his attention shall be drawn.
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