Michael Moritz is an avid genealogist with over 15 years of family research experience. He has researched families with ancestry in over 35 countries, using records written in over 10 languages. His research has been featured on the PBS show Finding Your Roots and was cited in The New York Times. Michael is also the Director of JewishGen's Romania Research Division and a frequent contributor to its German Research Division, and he has transcribed thousands of vital records for those groups. Michael also moderates groups for those with Jewish ancestry from Hamburg, Germany, and Iasi, Romania. His academic paper on acquiring birthright citizenship in the European Union is available online and has been downloaded thousands of times.

Introduction to Jewish naming practices and how names changed when coming to English-speaking lands. We will touch on Yiddish and Ashkenazi naming practices, Eastern European surnames, the "Ellis Island myth," and explore how to find an ancestor's "original" name through records research, including naturalization records, name change records, gravestones and ship records.