Our family name underwent a slight modification in the late 1930s just before World War II.

Why and how did this happen?
John, the oldest family member left home before he was twenty. He left the farm, his many siblings and ventured into the world. He worked in British Columbia and later returned with a motorcycle that he bought with his earnings.

During his travels John noticed that people had difficulty with his name. It would be advantageous to have a more English sounding name. So, on his return to Alberta he made a few small changes. For thirty-five dollars he could change as many as three letters to his original name. So he legally changed it to ‘Bidulock'.

At first Father had mixed feelings about his son's actions, but then accepted it without much fuss. John suggested that Father change his name too. In that way the whole family, at last, would have the same name. Dad would consider it but at that time he had more important issues on his mind; like providing for his family. He put it off and never did get around to doing it.

The other members of the family liked the change John made and soon began using the new name too. The girls were not affected much because through marriage their names would be changed anyway. They would only have difficulties if they wanted passports to travel abroad. In those days travel within the USA presented few problems as long as one was born in Canada.

It was a different story with the boys; especially if they did government work. For instance when Nick was employed by the government he was questioned about having a different name on his birth certificate than the one he now used. It was necessary for him to have his name legally changed too. I am not sure if Dan, Steve and George made similar changes.

A short while later when John joined the RCAF he was truly glad he had made the change.

By the way, when I attended the Boian Romanian Reunion several years ago, I noticed a monument on the grounds near the church that had all the Romanian pioneers from the surrounding area engraved on it. I was delighted to see our name on it. However, our name was spelled ‘Bidulac'. I have thought about this spelling and think that since the Romanian alphabet has no ‘k', the English ‘k' was substituted for a definite ‘k' sound. (‘C' in English sometimes sounds like ‘s', as in ‘face').

I know that Dad would nave been delighted to see his name on that monument but by the time of the reunion, Dad was already gone. He was proud of his Romanian heritage. Before he died he had occasion to attend a service at the Boian church. He enjoyed hearing a sermon in his language and was overwhelmed by the music and the beautiful voices of the ladies' choir. He regretted that he had not been a member of that church.

I've had a lot of fun remembering the Romanian first names that our parents called us at the farm. I thought that you might enjoy it too. Through personal preferences and to make names easier for teachers and schoolmates, several of our family chose to change their given names. Not all such changes were errors made by our postmaster. Even Dad's name changed over time. Romanian friends and acquaintances in the Hairy Hill area always called him Todor. In time, some referred to him as Fred and the name stuck.

As for my siblings' names, new arrivals were often given a relative's name. I'll begin with the oldest:

John's name (likely named after Mother's oldest brother) was an error at registration. I guess when my father told the postmaster “I want him called John”, the post master who spoke Ukrainian said “Oh yes, Ivan (Ukrainian name for John)” and wrote down ‘Ivan' (pronounced Ee-van). At the farm John was called the Romanian name Iwon (Ee-won).

Sanfira; named after her maternal grandmother, later became Sadie and eventually Gladys.

Mike (likely named after Mother's sister's husband who was liked by both our parents), was called Mihai.

Dan (I have no idea who he was named after) was called Metro and then Dan and Daniel

Helen (named after Mother's sister) was Elena.

Nick (named after Mother's brother) was Nickolai

Steve was Stefan (named after his maternal grandfather); accent on the first syllable whereas the Ukrainian name is accented on the last syllable.

Katrina (named after Father's sister) became Kathrine, Kathleen, Katie, Kay. Use what strikes your fancy.

Pearl (named after her paternal aunt) in Romanian is Pacitsa.

George (named after Mother's youngest brother) at home was called Georgie with the ‘g' sounding like the ‘g' in ‘go'.

By the time our three younger sisters came along, we spoke mostly English at home so we referred to them by their English names. But there were changes there too.

Dominica (named after Father's sister, Dora) was rarely called Doreen, but became Lucille.

Veronca (named after a cousin on her father's side) became Bertha and has now adopted Beth.

Adeline was named after cousin Andrew Hutzkal's lovely wife. Her Romanian name is Anitsa (Annie).

Confusing? Surprising? Funny? Enjoy. Well, that's all for now!