I loved this article in the New York Times:
As American as Vartan, Luis and Na
(note: if you haven't already registered, you'll probably have to do so to view it)
As someone who grew up being called Meeeg-ann Smooo . . .(this was my cue to jump in and helpfully offer the correct pronunciation), I can totally relate to the folks in this article. The odd thing is that people in Europe and elsewhere never had a problem with my name -- it's just in the U.S. that folks find it intimidating. And now I've made it worse by doubling the scary Smolenyak part!
But it turns out I'm not the only one sticking to her name -- and honestly, I'm glad to hear that. I had a doozie of a time locating a fairly close branch of my own family because they had changed Smolenyak to Simmons -- and who knows how many other relatives are out there unconnected due to past Americanizations of names, eh?